Despite efforts by hospitals to curb aggressive collections practices, the uninsured in California still pay more on average for services than government payers such as Medicare, according to researchers for the Rand Corp. and the University of Southern California. Hospital officials are criticizing the study for failing to reflect recent changes the industry has implemented to provide some relief for the uninsured.
A Nashville City Council resolution could extend the repayment deadline on a government loan to Nashville General Hospital at Meharry for the third time. The resolution also would add $11.5 million to the amount, raising the total to nearly $32 million. The deadline to repay the loan would be June 30, 2009, three years later than the original requirement.
With its beeping monitors, bright lights and frequent interruptions, the ICU is not conducive to sleep. Spurred by a growing body of evidence about the health benefits of a good night's sleep, critical-care doctors and nurses have started using low-tech approaches such as eye masks, back rubs and dimmed lights that might make the difference between life and death.
The New Jersey State Society of Anesthesiologists and the New Jersey Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Society are opposing a plan by Aetna Inc. to drop coverage of a type of anesthesia used during colonoscopies. Doctors say patients anxious about colorectal screening may balk unless they are assured that their insurance coverage includes the cost of anesthesiologists who administer propofol.
Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't save money, according to a Dutch study. The study found it costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, countering the common perception that preventing obesity would save millions of dollars in health costs.
President Bush has made Congress a counteroffer on expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Bush's budget would increase spending on the program, which offers subsidized health insurance to children of the working poor, by nearly $20 billion over the next five years. The new offer would generally limit eligibility to children in families that earn no more than 2 1/2 times the poverty level, howeever. Previous bills surrounding SCHIP vetoed by Bush would have allowed states to set the ceiling as high as three times the poverty level.