Rural Tioga County sprawls across more than 1,100 square miles along the New York border in the north-central section of Pennsylvania. It suffers from high unemployment, low income and high rates of chronic disease. It also has far fewer employers than do most urban sections of the state, and most businesses are too small to offer health insurance to their employees. As a result Tioga has a higher percentage of uninsured (35.6%) residents than any other county in the state.
In Bucks County, PA, there is emergency department construction and renovation. New outpatient facilities are opening, and there are expanded clinics, and renovated laboratories. A new hospital building is also in the planning stages. The boom is being fueled by demographic shifts, technological advances, competition, and an evolution of care that makes changes necessary.
According to data released by the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia's five Level 1 adult and pediatric trauma centers collectively lose an estimated $8 million annually in caring for victims of violence who cannot pay for healthcare. In 2004, for example, 786 Philadelphians were hospitalized for gunshot wounds. About 13% of those victims had no insurance at all, and a little over a third had Medical Assistance coverage. Medical Assistance reimburses the hospitals about 85% of the cost of care, but the hospitals must absorb the remaining 15%.
New American Medical Association president Nancy Nielsen, MD, vowed at the organization's annual meeting to use "all of the power" of her presidency and the clout of the AMA "to let the nation know that we must cover America's uninsured." Nielsen is only the second woman to become president of the 161-year-old AMA. She also has worked as a medical educator and health insurance executive.
A mobile emergency room that arrives on a tractor trailer and can be set up within 30 minutes will open for business next to Columbus, IN's flood-damaged hospital. The Carolinas MED-1 unit will provide intensive care beds, operating rooms and other resources so hospital staff can resume treating patients. Columbus Regional Hospital has been closed since it was flooded June 7, causing damage estimated at more than $125 million.
Private health consultants are trying to fill a gap in healthcare created by overworked primary care doctors who have less time to coordinate patient care. Consultants, many of whom are registered nurses, social workers, or physicians, help clients find specialists and also will make calls to ensure that a patient's various doctors are communicating with each other. The trend also caters to the desire of a growing number of patients to take charge of their healthcare.