A New Jersey task force is warning that pregnant women most at risk of losing their babies aren't getting enough care, and is calling for better education and improved access to health insurance. A report from the Prenatal Care Task Force cited a 2007 National Women's Law Center study that ranked New Jersey 40th among the states in the percentage of women who received prenatal care in the first three months of pregnancy. A review of state data found that the greater a woman's access to health insurance, the more likely she is to receive prenatal care in the first three months, according to the task force.
Tampa (FL) General Hospital’s plan to fix safety problems in its psychiatric unit has been approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Regulators identified the problems after two patients committed suicide in the psych ward in July, and investigators have been at the hospital reviewing the improvements. Tampa General will post its improvement plan on its Web site once the plan has received final approval.
Patient care costs increased by less than 1% between 2005 and 2006—prior to that, the average increase had been about 5.3% annually. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, nearly 47% of overall cost increases was the result of hightened intensity of hospital care.
Dr. Douglas Wallace will soon leave his practice in Fresno, CA, more than nine months after he was linked to a number of patient infections at Saint Agnes Medical Center. According to officials, Saint Agnes did not call for Wallace's resignation, as patient infections have plagued the hospital over the past year.
The Pennsylvania Patient Authority has enlisted a liaison to help improve patient safety at hospitals throughout the state, beginning in the northeast region and expanding statewide next year. The agency, established in 2002, works to reduce medical errors at hospitals and outpatient centers, requiring that all errors be reported. Since its inception, the agency has received nearly one million such reports.
Two Greater Cincinnati organizations, the Health Improvement Collaborative and HealthBridge, have joined a federal program geared toward making healthcare quality and price information widely available. The two organizations are part of 11 community collaborations to across the country to become "chartered value exchanges," a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initiative. The communities will have access to information from Medicare that gauges the quality of care that physicians provide to patients.