A new conflicts-of-interest policy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center aims to make doctors' decisions free from influence created by gifts or improper relationships with the drug or medical device industries. The policy bans gifts provided by industry representatives as they work to present information about their products at doctors' offices. The policy does not only target doctors--the policy directly applies to about 50,000 faculty, staff and students of the university's Schools of the Health Sciences and other professionals and staff employed or contracted by UPMC's U.S. operations.
Michigan healthcare systems are erecting new hospitals and renovating old ones, pumping in at least $2.2 billion into their communities in 13 of the largest projects. The projects promise to make the hospitals into meccas of modern medicine, with the latest in technology, private patient rooms and sunny, landscaped, healing environments. The boom is also a bright spot in the Michigan construction industry slowed by the downturn in the housing market.
HealthPartners and SEIU Healthcare have reached agreement on a new labor contract. If ratified, the three-year deal would cover 1,500 non-physician employees who work in HealthPartners clinics in Minnesota and avoid a possible strike.
The long waits that government inspectors say endanger emergency room patients at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center can also be found in backlogged hospitals across the country, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians. The group surveyed 1,000 emergency care physicians and found that one in five knew of a patient who had died because of having to wait too long for care.
The board that would be charged with turning around the struggling Atlanta-based Grady Health System would include several of the civic and business leaders who recommended a management change, according to a memo the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce sent to Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves. On the list are some of metro Atlanta's most powerful leaders in business and health.
Legal experts say attempts to channel potentially unhappy patients away from the court system and into arbitration are becoming increasingly common in healthcare. Proponents say arbitration is faster, cheaper and fairer than trials, but critics say the system can be weighted against consumers and makes it harder to track complaints or build legal precedents.