The former director of neonatal intensive care at Research Medical Center and Centerpoint Medical Center has sued Kansas City, MO-based HCA Midwest, owner of the two hospitals, over his firing. The former director alleges that HCA had prematurely terminated his contract without cause because it wanted to replace him.
Shawnee Mission (KS) Medical Center has opened its third urgent-care center. The three centers are staffed by doctors and accept payments in cash, most health insurance and Medicare. According to statistics from the Urgent Care Association of America, new urgent-care centers open almost weekly around the country to meet growing demand.
A Catholic healthcare organization's desire to build an 144-bed psychiatric hospital in Woodbury, MN, is drawing opposition from other nearby hospitals. Allowing Prairie St. John's to open such a hospital would hurt mental healthcare in Minnesota and invite competition for a small number of available psychiatrists and chemical dependency counselors, say those opposed to the project.
Three years ago, Oak Lawn, IL-based Advocate Christ Medical Center teamed up with CeaseFire, an initiative of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention with the goal of reducing gun violence and acts of retaliation. Now that budget cuts have cost CeaseFire its state funding, the hospital has committed its chaplain staff, a budget of $95,000 and management support to the partnership. Hospital officials are banking that their investment will pay off with fewer victims of violence.
Massachusetts hospitals have revealed the rates of pressure ulcers their patients have acquired during hospital stays. The measures follow criteria used by the National Quality Forum, and the rates are compared with state averages for hospitals of similar size and type, said representatives from the Massachusetts Hospital Association. Only two hospitals had rates significantly above average.
Adventist Health Care Systems has developed a program that trains already-bilingual staff in the technical terms and cultural nuances of interpreting in a hospital setting. The program is one healthcare providers are trying to meet the demand for qualified interpreters to help inform and reassure the growing number of non-English-speaking patients.