The United States will issue strict new guidelines telling American health workers to cover their skin and hair when dealing with Ebola patients, a top health official said on Sunday, while some of the dozens of people being watched for possible exposure to the virus are expected to be cleared. In Texas, a lab worker who spent much of a Caribbean holiday cruise in isolation tested negative for the deadly virus and left the Carnival Magic liner with other passengers after it docked at Galveston early on Sunday morning. The new guidelines for healthcare workers and the precautions taken for the cruise passenger reflected widespread anxiety over Ebola in the United States, including calls from some lawmakers for a travel ban on West Africa.
An electrocardiogram, used to monitor heartbeats, will cost a Medicare patient about $5 at the average hospital but nearly $33 at a rural, critical access hospital. ECGs and nine other frequently provided outpatient services cost from two to six times more for Medicare patients at the nation's rural, critical access hospitals compared to other hospitals, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Inspector General. Critical access hospitals are typically more remote, have fewer beds and require shorter stays. Ohio has 34 of them, or 1 in 5 hospitals in the state.
Eight rural hospitals in Georgia have closed or downsized and another 15 are teetering on the brink of closure and could be gone in the next year or two, according to a group representing rural hospitals. While some say expanding Medicaid could help, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said he is against expanding "entitlements" and would rather see more poor people get subsidies to buy private insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Rural hospitals have taken hits from every direction, from higher unemployment rates in their counties, to physician shortages, to Medicaid cuts that mean payment covers about 85 percent of costs, said Jimmy Lewis, the CEO of HomeTown Health LLC, which represents 70 rural hospitals in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.
Pat Dolan of Oakmont will lose his health insurance plan next year because it doesn't meet the Affordable Care Act's minimum standards for medical coverage. A comparable plan under President Obama's health reform law will cost the 56-year-old $1,800 a month ? three times more than the $588 he spends on individual policies for himself and his wife. He is considering going without coverage. Barb Valaw, a 53-year-old developer from Carrick, is having a better experience and is thankful for the health law. She paid $30 less for coverage this year and added prescription drug coverage by shopping on the federal marketplace.
Topeka hospitals are looking for savings on the supplies they use every day through broader partnerships. Jan Ferdon, director of supply chain management at Stormont-Vail, said in a statement that the health system was one of the six first members of Mid-American Service Solutions, a purchasing group under Texas-based health company VHA that now includes about 120 Midwestern hospitals and health systems. MSS allows for contracts with larger groups, making it easier for hospitals to negotiate lower bulk rates and to consolidate services like distribution, reducing costs, Ferndon said.
Patricia Wanderlich got insurance through the Affordable Care Act this year, and with good reason: She suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2011, spending weeks in a hospital intensive care unit, and has a second, smaller aneurysm that needs monitoring. But her new plan has a $6,000 annual deductible, meaning that Ms. Wanderlich, who works part time at a landscaping company outside Chicago, has to pay for most of her medical services up to that amount. She is skipping this year's brain scan and hoping for the best. "To spend thousands of dollars just making sure it hasn't grown?" said Ms. Wanderlich, 61. "I don't have that money."