First was a failing grade for access to the Florida's emergency rooms, then came a forecast of doctor shortages. And the latest report on mass layoffs in health are is yet another sobering report on Florida healthcare. The final month of 2008 left a lot to chew on for healthcare officials and state lawmakers' evidence of an erosion in the state's healthcare system that isn't expected to improve in 2009.
Some healthcare centers are having to delay hiring and some patients are having to travel longer distances because Idaho inspections are not being carried out, officials say. Twelve dialysis stations at the $1 million Fresenius Medical Care/Hayden Lake Dialysis center have not been used for a year because state inspections have not been done, forcing patients to travel outside the area. The $19 million Life Care Center of Post Falls is facing similar delays because it has not been inspected.
Thanks to video-game technology, realistic rubber skin, fake organs, mannequins, and other simulation devices, budding surgeons at the University of Washington now test their skills in the virtual world. The UW is increasingly moving toward requiring all medical, nursing, pharmacology students and others to master such simulated realities before ever touching a live human being.
A handful of new laws are going into effect across Florida, including one that requires hospitals and healthcare facilities to give patients a good-faith estimate of anticipated charges for planned procedures if requested. They must also post notices in reception areas advising patients how they can get information on charity and discount policies. Another new measure requires the Agency for Health Care Administration to compile data on the non-discounted costs of some 150 common procedures and diagnostic treatments for comparison purposes.
Linda Quick, the president of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association, warns that groups she represents are not recession-proof, and that could be very bad for everyone.
By early March, Iowa regulators plan to offer a centralized computer system that will track purchases of most kinds of prescription drugs anywhere in Iowa. The goal is to block the practice of drug abusers who visit multiple doctors and complain of pain or other symptoms so they can receive duplicate prescriptions for powerful medications. The patients then take the prescriptions to a series of pharmacies so pharmacists won't notice they're filling multiple orders for the same person. The system was approved by legislators in 2006, but it has been delayed by controversy and technical complications.