The Czech Constitutional Court has ruled that the government had the right to demand fees from patients using the healthcare system. Earlier this year, the Czech government began charging about $1.85 for a visit to the doctor or a prescription and twice that for each day spent in the hospital. The upfront payments were intended to reduce unnecessary visits to the doctor and medications.
Prince George's County's finance chief and the deputy chief of staff to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley have been appointed by the county and the state to negotiate with buyers for the hospitals in Prince George's hospital system. The next step is appointing an independent seven-member authority that will run the bidding process to find new hospital owners. The hospital system, which includes Prince George's Hospital Center, Laurel Regional Hospital, Bowie Health Campus, and two nursing homes, is owned by the county and managed by the nonprofit Dimensions Healthcare. In the effort to lure hospital bidders, the county and state must agree to pledge operating money and funds to help refurbish facilities.
Only one in eight cardiac arrest patients transported by Washington, DC, ambulances make it to an emergency room with a pulse, while in nearby communities the rate is twice as high. Officials say the city is meeting a national standard of getting advanced life support units to critical cases within eight minutes 90% of the time. Experts say success in keeping cardiac arrest patients alive is one of the most telling indicators of the overall quality of an emergency medical system.
Six Michigan health systems have announced the creation of a joint venture to offer an emerging and costly type of cancer radiation therapy. The health systems are Ascension Health of Grand Blanc, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit, Henry Ford Health in Detroit, McLaren Health Care in Flint, Trinity Health in Novi, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Each system has agreed to contributed at least $13 million to the project, and they face a Sept. 6 deadline from the state's Certificate of Need Commission to develop a business plan for the facility. Proponents say the joint venture could create a model of cooperation among hospitals that have competed fiercely to promote new technology purchases.
The issue of how to regulate self-funded insurance plans is affecting medical practices and patients across the country, and one that will likely become more prominent in the coming years as more employers choose this approach, says St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Mary Jo Feldstein. Between 1999 and 2007, the percentage of workers covered under a self-funded plan rose to 55% from 44%, she says. She adds that for years, courts have debated how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act intersects with state laws regulating other health plans. The debate will have a big impact on the regulations of self-funded plans in the future, Feldstein says.
JPS Health Network is moving forward with plans to build a community health clinic in Grand Prairie, TX. Because Grand Prairie straddles the border between Tarrant and Dallas counties, officials with JPS had been discussing the possibility of operating a clinic with Parkland Memorial Hospital. After the joint clinic idea proved problematic, the JPS board of managers approved a plan to develop a clinic on the Tarrant County side of the city. The 10,000-square-foot clinic is expected to open in the first half of 2009 and have four full-time physicians and a full-service pharmacy. Parkland representatives said it still hopes to build its own clinic on the Dallas County side of the city.