New Orleans Gov. Bobby Jindal has granted an exception to the state's hiring freeze for vacant positions related to direct patient care at the state's public hospital system. The decision will let the interim Louisiana State University Public Hospital in New Orleans proceed more quickly to meet an ambitious hiring plan designed to keep the facility on pace with a growing demand for services.
If Kaiser Permanente's Fresno, CA, hospital had acted on complaints and kept a closer watch over its medical staff, two babies might still be alive, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS began investigating the hospital in October after doctors and nurses had complained repeatedly to higher-ups about perinatologist Hamid Safari's medical and interpersonal skills.
The revival of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta will reach a landmark as the hospital board considers a final agreement to relinquish much of its power to a new nonprofit group. The Grady board's expected approval of the management change marks a critical moment in the effort to save the financially imperiled hospital. Business and political leaders have made clear that their promises to increase financial support for Grady are tied to the management change.
Over the last few years, Connecticut's hospitals have been pleading with lawmakers for millions in taxpayer dollars to shore up their sinking bottom lines. At the same time, the amount those hospitals paid their top executives has nearly doubled. Salaries paid to top hospital executives grew an estimated 95 percent from 2002-2006, according to a task force convened by Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
The Cook County (IL) Task Force on Hospital Governance is finalizing a proposed ordinance that would give control of the county's hospitals and clinics to a seven-member board of directors picked by the Cook County board president and approved by the commissioners. But some critics are questioning whether the new board can be truly independent if the board president alone nominates its members, as opposed to consulting a nominating committee.
Wisconsin Medical Examining Board records show that only 213 of the 2,400 complaints filed about physicians in the state from 2002 and 2006 resulted in some kind of discipline. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also says in a report that the board was slow to look into complaints, and keeps many of its investigations secret.