The 1.9-million-member Service Employees International trying to force nonprofit groups like hospitals to comply with standards of governing similar to those that federal law requires of private companies. In particular, the union argues that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston violated those standards by including its losses from bad debts in its tally of the charity care it provides.
Motivated by mounting medical costs, lawmakers and executives are urging doctors to embrace prescribing medications online. The move could save billions of dollars per year, and proponents say electronic prescriptions will make transactions more efficient, reduce medication errors and entice doctors to prescribe less expensive drugs.
Patients who go into cardiac arrest while in the hospital are more likely to die if it happens after 11 p.m., according to a study. The study didn't examine why days and overnights differed, but researchers found among the late night cases a higher portion of instances where patients were discovered with no heart electrical activity. Staff who are fatigued, less experienced or too few in number could also be a factor, researchers speculated.
Ambulance diversions have long served as crucial safety valves for busy emergency rooms in the Kansas City area. But as ER overcrowding reaches ever-higher levels, the tactic is becoming routine. Overall, Kansas City-area hospitals diverted ambulances an average of 6.25 percent of the time in 2007, a significant increase from 3.95 percent in 2004.
Faced with crowding in its adult unit and only limited use of its beds for children, Jefferson Memorial Hospital at Crystal City (MO) has closed its small pediatric unit. Jefferson Memorial has had a small pediatric unit since 1980, but the hospital's board decided that the need was greater for adult beds. The hospital recently has been running at or near its capacity of 170 adult beds.
Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins have taken root in Palm Beach County, FL, and are offering new options for top-rated care. But critics say their growing presence is pulling paying patients away from local hospitals. In response, officials at Cleveland Clinic say they're capturing patients that have been turned away by doctors switching to small concierge practices.