A judge has ruled Urbana, IL-based Provena Covenant Medical Center owes more than $6 million in property taxes, the latest development in a five-year battle over the facility's tax-exempt status. Earlier this year, a court agreed with the state Department of Revenue and local tax authorities, who said Provena doesn't provide enough charity care to be tax exempt. Now Champaign County Judge Michael Jones denied a motion from Provena Covenant to reconsider the earlier ruling.
Columbus (IN) Regional Hospital plans to resume surgical and inpatient services on October 27, more than four months after the hospital was closed by flooding that caused more than $200 million in damage to the complex. The week of Oct. 27 will be a transition period before being ready to handle a full volume of surgeries and patients by Nov. 3, hospital CEO Jim Bickel. The June 7 flood heavily damaged the hospital's first floor and basement, which was filled by floodwaters, and forced its evacuation and closure. The emergency department reopened Aug. 1, but patients needing care that requires admission to a hospital have been sent to other hospitals.
With ethnic minorities and immigrants fast becoming the collective U.S. majority, there is a push in medical circles to be more sensitive to cultural nuances. Now hospitals nationwide are trying to come to grips with how to treat cancer patients who come from cultures that believe a cancer diagnosis should be kept secret.
More than one-third of all Americans will soon receive better insurance coverage for mental health treatments because of a new law that requires equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses. The requirement is included in the economic bailout bill that President Bush signed last week. Advocates described the new law as a milestone in the quest for civil rights, an effort to end insurance discrimination and to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
Healthcare is one of the largest industries in the country, and is projected to grow as the ranks of aging baby boomers swell. Now aspiring doctors and medical technicians can often get lessons in anatomy, disease, or radiology before college. There are an increasing number of rigorous classes for high school students seeking an early glimpse into the growing healthcare field, and a head start on the training they'll need.
In India, 44 bomb blasts in six cities have killed more than 150 people since May. But medical experts say the toll would be lower if ambulance services and public hospitals had the resources to treat more people during the "golden hour," the crucial period after a trauma in which a life can be saved.