Internet shoe retailer Zappos has a policy to filter out uncommitted workers before they even start. One week into training, employees are offered $1,500 to quit-an offer that Zappos execs say shows how committed new employees really are. Between 2% and 3% take the money and leave the company, according to Zappos executives.
Hendricks Regional Health is set to break ground on a $60 million surgery wing, another sign of increasing competition for patients in the Indianapolis suburbs. The expansion will allow the hospital to replace six existing operating rooms that were built in 1962 as part of the original Hendricks County hospital.
A proposed teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans will not turn a profit as planners originally envisioned, and instead will require a steady infusion of state cash to survive. The 424-bed hospital, however, will be in a better position to succeed than other hospitals in the state's charity system because a new business plan developed by the health department accounts for depreciation, said Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine. That will allow the hospital to pay for equipment and upkeep in a way that other state hospitals have been unable to do, he added.
Los Angeles leaders are calling on state lawmakers to nix Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts to county healthcare. Long waits at emergency rooms are endangering lives, and further cuts will cause a bigger crisis, according to county supervisor Gloria Molina. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky added that if the cuts go through, more emergency rooms will close and insurance premiums and medical bills will go up for county residents.
Several consumer groups and a labor union that represents healthcare workers want the Pennsylvania to appoint an independent consumer advocate to help review the proposed merger of Independence Blue Cross and Highmark Inc. The groups say such an advocate would ensure that consumers' interests are represented. The groups made their request in a petition filed with acting Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario, but they would like Gov. Ed Rendell to make the appointment.
Philadelphia-based Fox Chase Cancer Center has announced that it is exploring opening a second campus in Delaware. Representatives from the healthcare center said it remained committed to finishing 19 building projects under way at its Northeast Philadelphia campus, including outpatient facilities, a urology suite, and a clinical research pavilion. They added, however, that Fox Chase is prepared to look elsewhere to grow.