"Super user" is a new name coined to describe people who turn to the ER with astonishing frequency and at an astonishing cost to a health system already under siege. Researchers studying the crisis of America's overcrowded emergency rooms are beginning to focus on this largely undocumented phenomenon. The researchers say a seemingly intractable problem could be solved, in large part, by focusing on just the top 1% of emergency room users, who in Camden, NJ, alone cost $46 million over five years.
The University of Chicago has signed an affiliation agreement with Evanston Northwestern Healthcare to educate and train future doctors at Evanston's three hospitals. Evanston Northwestern ended its 78-year-old relationship with Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in June. Following a one-year transition that began July 1, residents and students from the training programs of the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine will begin to train at Evanston Northwestern facilities that include hospitals in Evanston, Highland Park and Glenview in July 2009.
Managers have known for months that a number of workers at Los Angeles County medical facilities have criminal records, but they took little or no action, Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer William T Fujioka has announced. Fujioka said the information was discovered after the county ordered fingerprints from all 1,600 employees working at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor hospital when it closed inpatient services nearly a year ago. The California Department of Justice returned with information that some employees had previously undisclosed criminal histories, but the county's Human Resources Department did not take appropriate disciplinary action against them, Fujioka said.
More doctors, particularly women, are now choosing to work part time, and some health providers are accommodating them. The percentage of physicians practicing on a part-time basis rose from 13% in 2005 to 19% in 2007, according to the 2007 Physician Retention Survey released by Cejka Search and the American Medical Group Association. Though working part time adds balance to a physician's high-stress lifestyle, some experts say that these work-hour decreases are worrisome due to the nationwide shortage of doctors.
Hundreds of service workers at the University of California's 10 campuses and five hospitals began a five-day strike in a dispute over wages. University officials reported "minimal impact" from the walkout, however. Campus shuttles were idled at UC Berkeley and cafeteria hours were curtailed at UC Irvine, but patient care was not affected at any of the university's five medical centers, said UC officials.
In the last decade, there's been a tenfold increase in the number of charity clinics in the Dallas area identified by an association formed by the Dallas County Medical Society. The clinics, now numbering more than 40, are among the only option for growing numbers of people without health insurance, especially illegal immigrants who are fearful to use government-affiliated clinics or hospitals. The growth in charity clinics "really shows the alarming situation in our community of the uninsured growing," said Connie Webster, community health director for the Dallas County Medical Society.