Florida emergency doctors, hospitals and health leaders are pushing a bill that would protect emergency healthcare workers and hospitals from large legal claims. The bill would make healthcare workers "agents of the state" when they are treating emergencies, and any lawsuits against such workers would be limited to $200,000 unless legislators pass a special bill to authorize more. But opponents to the bill say such protection would be unfair to injured patients and open the door to extending protection to doctors in non-emergency cases.
UCLA's neuropsychiatric hospital has banned all cellphones and laptop computers after a patient posted group photos of other patients on a social networking website. The decision was part of "UCLA Health System's ongoing efforts to enhance patient privacy and confidentiality in compliance with California's patient rights law," according to a statement from the hospital. In response to UCLA's move, officials at the California Hospital Assn. said they are hearing more and more hospitals express concern over how to deal with cellphone cameras.
Massachusetts hospitals that care for lower-income residents said they have been hard hit by the ongoing transition due to the state's healthcare reform law. Officials at the so-called "safety net" hospitals said that because the new system phases out payments for free care provided to the uninsured, hospitals are facing budget shortfalls and have been forced to cut back on investing in new equipment.
Drugstore operator Walgreen Co. has announced plans to buy two operators of worksite health centers as part of a new health and wellness division. Once the deals close, the new division will manage health centers and pharmacies at large company worksites. Walgreen Co. plans to eventually operate more than 500 worksite and retail health centers in 40 states.
Franconia, VA-based family practitioners Brett Wohler and Andrew Wise are switching to concierge care, leaving 5,000 Northern Virginia residents with some important questions about their healthcare. The two doctos will join a national doctors' network and will charge each patient an annual retainer of $1,500. In return, the physicians will offer perks such as round-the-clock cellphone access, same-day appointments and time to accompany their patients to specialists. The move follows a nationwide trend that is a reaction to what some doctors see as the excesses of managed care.
No one envisioned a sprawling medical center in Greenville when East Carolina University began its quest for a medical school 40 years ago. Since then, the medical school has transformed Pitt County Memorial Hospital and the region. Not only did the school boost healthcare in Greenville--now there are about 500 doctors and 1,200 nurses on the hospital staff alone--but it also fostered a far-reaching regional healthcare system serving 1.2 million people in 29 eastern North Carolina counties.