The city of Miami Beach and Mount Sinai Medical Center have again joined forces to try to obtain state financing to build workforce housing for nurses at the hospital's main campus. The goal is to get $5 million in state money to cover a portion of the costs associated with renovating two floors of an existing hospital building into rental apartments for nurses. The new housing would be a tool for attracting new nurses and retaining current ones.
Representatives from StoneCrest Medical Center in Smyrna, TN, say construction will begin in April on a $15.8 million expansion that would give it another 26 beds and four surgical suites. Stonecrest has seen admissions grow 30 percent since 2004, while the number of surgical cases performed annually has risen by about 25 percent.
As the debate over the residency status of the nation's illegal immigrants boils, another battle is simmering over what benefits they deserve. Some of the most heated arguments on the issue focus on healthcare. Illegal immigrants can get emergency care through Medicaid, but they can't get non-emergency care unless they pay. One thing is clear--undocumented immigrants are driving up the number of people without health insurance.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts is proposing to overhaul the way it pays doctors and hospitals, in what company officials said is an attempt to slow runaway healthcare costs and improve quality. The insurer wants to stop paying providers for each patient visit or treatment and instead pay a flat sum per patient each year, adjusted for age and sickness, plus a significant bonus if the providers improve care.
With CVS planning to open dozens of medical clinics in Massachusetts, critics have warned of inferior care driven by profit. Some have predicted that patients would sacrifice an ongoing relationship with a doctor because of the clinics. Increasing evidence presented by independent researchers, insurers, and regulators in other states have painted a far more positive portrait, however.
Midwest healthcare startups attracted a record $1.2 billion in new investments in 2007, according to the Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report released by BioEnterprise. The total represents a 55 percent increase over 2006, a sharp rise that both outpaces national venture industry growth and even surpasses the 25 percent increase that occurred in the previous year.