West Penn Hospital has filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania attorney general in which it accuses Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of violating an agreement to care for all children in the region. Children's Hospital recently decided to stop sending its doctors to West Penn Hospital to perform minor surgeries on infants. Instead, infants needing such care, about 25 a year, will be transported to Children's Hospital. A spokesman for Attorney General Tom Corbett said the office is reviewing the complaint, but he did not offer a timetable for completion of the review. Children's Hospital defended its decision, saying all children continue to have access to the hospital regardless of their ability to pay.
As overcrowding becomes a larger issue, Grady Memorial Hospital says it can't take any additional mentally ill patients. Patients, however, have not been diverted, despite a nearly 48-hour wait time for a bed.
With a growing physician shortage and crowded emergency rooms, an increasing number of patients are utilizing walk-in urgent care clinics. Staffed by physicians, the clinics provide convenience and more immediate care for injuries and illnesses, and sometimes offer discounts and payment plans.
Medicare is adding to its do-not-pay list for hospitals two new categories of preventable conditions it won't cover. Last year, CMS determined it would no longer pay extra costs for treating certain preventable conditions, referred to as "never events." Medicare officials have now announced that it no longer will pay the extra-care costs associated with treating dangerous blood clots in the leg following knee or hip-replacement. The program also will not pay extra for complications stemming from poor control of blood sugar levels. The changes were made as part of a final rule setting payment rates for inpatient hospitals for the next fiscal year.
Two multiple-sclerosis patients treated with Biogen Idec Inc.'s drug Tysabri contracted a potentially deadly brain infection. The news casts a cloud over the revival of the medicine, which was already withdrawn once over safety concerns. Biogen said it had no plans to recall the drug again or restrict its use. The company said that the two patients who contracted the ailment, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, are alive.
More than 800,000 patients became infected with MRSA last year while in the hospital, according to a study by the Association of Professionals in Infection Control. Tired of such statistics, grieving families across the country held a vigil in memory last week for those who have died as a result of hospital-acquired infections.