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.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office says the state has fielded more than 7,000 phone calls from the public inquiring about the new Charter Oak Health Plan, which is for uninsured adults who are too old for the state's HUSKY healthcare plan for children and too young for Medicare. Charter Oak was launched on June 30, and its Web site is averaging 1,800 hits a day. The state has received 1,950 applications since July 1, and Rell's office estimates that 15,000 to 17,000 people will be enrolled in Charter Oak by the end of this fiscal year.
The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors and patients that electronic devices such as pacemakers, cardiac defibrillators and insulin pumps can malfunction when people get CT scans. The scans can cause medical devices to shock patients or start sending inaccurate signals, the FDA said in a public health alert. The agency has received six confirmed reports of devices that malfunctioned after a CT scan and another nine reports of suspected problems, according to the FDA. No deaths occurred.