WellCare Health Plans, the Tampa, FL-based managed-care provider being investigated by U.S. and Florida law enforcement authorities over possible fraud, has hired Thomas L. Tran as chief financial officer. Tran replaces Paul Behrens, who resigned in January along with Chief Executive Officer Todd Farha and general counsel Thaddeus Bereday amid investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and Florida authorities.
Creating a planning group to address healthcare challenges on a national level could help ease the looming shortage of doctors, nurses and other health professionals, a panel told reporters at a news conference. The recommendation by Nancy Dickey, president of Texas A&M University's Health Science Center, and Shelton Retchin, CEO of the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, echoes a study conducted by a nonprofit seeking to improve the country's healthcare system. The Association of Academic Health Centers said that the federal government needs to develop a national health work force policy that would help recruit and retain the hundreds of thousands of physicians needed to serve a growing and aging population.
Patients are now being cared for at Sumner Regional Medical Center's new 87 million patient tower in Gallatin, TN. The tower features 90 new private rooms and includes the latest in healthcare design, patient safety and infection control. Built with eco-friendly features, the tower uses energy-efficient elements, recycled materials, and local goods and services. Other features include a new, expanded emergency department, a new medical imaging department, patient lobby and registration area, 18 advanced critical care rooms, six new surgical suites, and a renovated women's and children's center.
Several geriatricians say that procedures that two decades ago were seldom considered for people in their 90s are now increasingly commonplace. They include hip and knee replacement, cataract surgery, heart valve replacement, bypass operations, pacemaker implantation and treatment for slow-growing cancers. With such rapid growth of centenarians, debate has mounted over how far to go—as well as how much Medicare money to spend—in providing major medical services to extend already very long lives.
A new report from the Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit health advocacy group, has found that community health programs that encourage prevention were a better investment than those concentrating primarily on treatment. Researchers calculated potential decreases in several chronic diseases based on a $10 investment per person. They found that community health programs could reduce rates of diabetes and high blood pressure by 5% within two years and reduce the incidence of some forms of cancer and arthritis within 10 to 20 years.
Piedmont Health Services, University of North Carolina Health Care, and the UNC School of Medicine have teamed up to cut rising emergency room costs and streamline specialty care for uninsured North Carolina residents. Through Carolina Health Net, patients with frequent emergency room visits, diseases, and multiple medications are identified. It encourages them to enroll in the program, which connects them to primary care doctors at Piedmont and specialists at UNC. Approximately 800 patients are currently enrolled.