St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis is proposing to no longer directly employ its emergency room physicians--a move that has left some of those doctors unhappy and looking for work elsewhere. St. Anthony's hopes the transition will help its ER doctors work more efficiently and cohesively, and ultimately shorten emergency room wait times for patients. The hospital expects a final plan will be in place in the next few months.
Workers represented by Teamsters Local 926 have voted to approve a three-year contract proposal from Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pittsburgh. The agreement averts a potential strike. The union represents about 550 hospital workers such as housekeepers, maintenance and other service employees. In a statement, the medical center said it was pleased employees had approved the contract.
The Nemours Foundation has signed an agreement to buy 60 acres to put its children's hospital in the southeast Orlando "medical city" that eventually will include the University of Central Florida's College of Medicine, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and a VA hospital. The 60 acres will give Nemours enough room to build a 550,000-square-foot hospital and clinic, with plenty of room left for a planned Ronald McDonald House and additional research space, say Nemours representatives.
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.