The Medical Society of Milwaukee County is developing a database that will allow doctors to check whether their patients have gotten prescriptions for potentially addictive painkillers from anyone else. In time, the medical society wants to bring pharmacies on board to flag doctors who prescribe large amounts of the drugs.
Richard Miller, the president and CEO of Virtua Health and the newly installed chairman of the New Jersey Hospital Association, has attacked Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed budget, labeling it a "divisive document" that will end up pitting "one worthy institution against another." Miller predicted the more than $100 million in cuts would lead to "a rash of unplanned hospital closures" and create a "healthcare access crisis" affecting New Jersey residents.
USMD Hospital at Fort Worth (TX) has officially opened for business. The facility is doctor-owned, and will cater to adults and children. USMD will focus largely on outpatient procedures at first, but overnight patients are expected to get treatment there within the first few months of operation.
Students at five Oakland, CA, schools will have access to free healthcare as part of a $3 million grant from Kaiser Permanente to provide services to children who would otherwise end up in the emergency room or with no care at all. The clinics will offer care in mental health, sexually transmitted infections, chronic disease management and other day-to-day health problems. In addition, the clinics will provide preventive health education.
St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, CA, is under state investigation for mistakenly doing knee-repair surgery on a patient's good knee. The incident is the third "wrong-site" procedure to occur at the hospital since January 2006. The California Department of Public Health investigation marks the second time in a few months that a well-known Southern California hospital has come under public scrutiny for medical mistakes.
Kaiser Permanente has suspended a physician who handled high-risk pregnancies at its Fresno, CA, hospital. Perinatologist Hamid Safari allegedly botched at least two deliveries after staff members began raising concerns about his skills and demeanor. In January, federal inspectors criticized the way Kaiser responded to complaints about Safari and said that had the hospital kept a closer watch over its medical staff, two babies might still be alive.