The Prince George's (MD) Hospital Center and other health facilities in Prince George's County have received $5.6.million in state and county money, the latest funding in a public effort to stave off the collapse of the hospital system. Dimensions Healthcare System, the nonprofit company that runs the center and the four other county health facilities, received the payment. The county and the state are scheduled to pay about $24 million each in quarterly installments over two years.
An estimated 25% of Hispanics in the United States don't have a regular healthcare provider to treat their medical needs, and these people tend to be the newest immigrants and those without health insurance, according to a survey. One key finding of the survey was how many Hispanics lack a a regular provider to supply medical care, which could pose problems because rates of diabetes are high among Hispanics.
Two Waterbury, CT, hospitals are fighting to keep their heart center open, saying that heart attack victims could die needlessly unless the state approves an extension of the program. The Heart Center of Greater Waterbury was started in July 2005 at Waterbury Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital to provide open-heart surgery and angioplasty. It serves 18 towns and cities. The state's approval of the center as a three-year "demonstration project" has expired, and the center has failed to do its required number of open heart surgeries, however. Now the hospitals have asked the state Office of Health Care Access for a six-month extension of the contract.
The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board has ruled that Plainfield does not need its own hospital and deferred a decision on whether DuPage County should get a second proton therapy cancer-treatment center. This is the third time in five years that the board has rejected plans by Naperville-based Edward Hospital to build a $234 million, 162-bed hospital. Edward officials say the hospital is needed because of the area's rapid growth and because one-third of the patients at its crowded Naperville campus come from the Plainfield area.
About 3,400 Californians whose health insurance was canceled by Kaiser, Health Net, and PacifiCare will soon receive notification that they may be eligible for new coverage and for compensation for medical bills they paid while they were uninsured. In a deal with state regulators, the insurers agreed to offer former members new coverage regardless of preexisting medical conditions and to reimburse them for medical expenses. In exchange, the state Department of Managed Health Care will close investigations into the companies' rescission practices.
Brookwood Medical Center appears ready to compete with Baptist Health System in the race to be the first to build a hospital in Hoover, AL. An amendment to the State Health Plan proposed by a lawyer for Brookwood would smooth the way for approval of a 140-bed hospital in Hoover. Baptist Health System filed a similar amendment in late July, but key differences distinguish the two. Baptist's version was tailored to its desire to transfer up to 140 beds from Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham to a medical complex Baptist owns in Jefferson County. Brookwood's version would not restrict the hospital to Jefferson County and would allow the creation of newly licensed beds and not restrict the project to a transfer of existing beds.