As California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez sought the endorsement of two major labor unions for his plan to overhaul healthcare in the state, he added several provisions to the legislation sweetening the deal for union members. The legislation as approved gives unions unilateral authority to create and operate trust funds to provide employee healthcare.
Philadelphia City Councilman Brian J. O'Neill said that Fox Chase Cancer Center's planned $800 million, 25-year expansion was not threatened by delays that have pushed final passage of needed legislation into 2008.
Standard & Poor's has lowered its rating on bonds issued on behalf of Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, PA. S&P cited "an unexpected operating loss" in fiscal 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 and "persistently weak liquidity." The lower rating affects about $179 million in debt.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced healthcare professionals should defer giving most children the Hib vaccine booster shot because of a vaccine shortage.
A study has found that doctors who specialize in the general care of hospital patients, or hospitalists, reduce the average hospital stay by 12 percent. The study also found, however, that hospitalists only modestly lower treatment costs.
A former Pfizer Inc. official has accused the company of illegally boosting sales of its top-selling drug Lipitor through a campaign of misleading educational programs for doctors. The former official claims that the educational campaign was a key part of a marketing strategy that "led thousands of physicians to prescribe Lipitor for millions of patients who did not need medication."