Hospitals around the country are using music as a way to ease patients' pain, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and depression and improve coping abilities to get patients well, faster. A 2007 survey by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, along with the Joint Commission and Americans for the Arts, found that of the 1,923 healthcare facilities surveyed, 35% offered some type of music to patients. Besides promoting relaxation and reducing stress, music therapy has been shown to affect sleep patterns, improve stroke patients' memories and decrease the amount of sedation medication needed for some patients.
The latest New Jersey budget proposal is a little kinder to hospitals than its predecessor, but the state's healthcare providers say some facilities probably won't survive even the smaller funding cuts. At issue is funding for charity care: Gov. Corzine's original budget would have cut the program $143 million, to $573 million, and focused money on hospitals that treat the highest proportion of poor people. Some hospitals with a better-insured clientele would have lost charity-care funding entirely.
Under the new proposal, the cut was reduced to $111 million and all of the hospitals got at least some money. The state also plans to create a $44 million hospital-stabilization fund, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association.
Some healthcare professionals think healthcare workers wearing scrubs outside the hospital presents a health risk to both the general public and patients. Some of the professionals note that while hospitals say they have strict rules not to leave the hospital with scrubs, they often do not enforce them.
A former healthcare executive was sentenced to five years in prison for helping his Philippines-based company swindle $100 million from the U.S. military health insurance program. Thomas Lutz, 41, took responsibility for the six-year scheme in which Health Visions Corp. bilked $99.9 million from the military's Tricare program through inflated and fraudulent claims. The scheme deprived Tricare, which insures 9.2 million current and retired service members and dependents, of money it could have used to provide care for others, said U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb.
Despite the slow economy and credit crunch pushing many developers to the sidelines, healthcare real-estate investment trusts are expanding their development pipelines. Some of the biggest health-care REITs by stock-market value are expected to build $675.9 million of properties by year's end, up from $236.5 million in 2007, according to stock-research firm Stifel Nicolaus. Aging baby boomers who want cheaper outpatient care are fueling demand for medical-office buildings, said Stifel Nicolaus representatives.
As part of an ongoing restructuring, SSM HealthCare-St. Louis has dismissed 75 members of its management team, including all hospital chief operating officers and vice presidents. After taking over in 2007, Chief Executive Jim Sanger reorganized the hospital system into north and south geographic regions and by areas of patient care. During the reorganization, system leaders realized the hospitals needed more consistent practices to improve patient care and efficiency. SSM hopes eliminating most top management positions at individual hospitals will reduce redundancy and help the transition, and Sanger thinks fewer people making decisions will lead to more consistent decision-making.