Crawford Memorial Hospital, in rural Robinson, Ill., is the only hospital for miles around. Just like elsewhere, Crawford's doctors deliver babies, perform routine operations and see thousands of patients in the emergency room. But Crawford, along with one-quarter of the hospitals around the country, is being left out of some of the biggest shifts in American health care initiated by the Affordable Care Act. These changes are aimed at bringing accountability to hospitals by linking Medicare payments to the quality of their care. They also are encouraging hospitals to monitor patients' health so doctors and nurses can intervene before problems become acute.
Lake City Community Hospital and a dozen more rural hospitals in South Carolina that are struggling to stay open may soon forge partnerships with healthier facilities to ensure their survival. Butch McCutcheon, Lake City Community Hospital's chief executive, said McLeod Health and the Carolinas Hospital System, both about 25 miles north of Lake City in Florence, have expressed interest in running the hospital or hiring its physicians. "We're not planning on closing, but we are looking at different models," McCutcheon said Thursday. "It's all just in the discussion process. It's all been going on for six months."
Six months after filing bankruptcy and more than 54 years after opening its doors, Natchez Regional Medical Center's future will rest in one man's hands Monday – but the saga for the hospital creditors will linger for years. U.S. Bankruptcy Court chief judge for the Southern District of Mississippi, the Honorable Neil P. Olack will preside over a confirmation hearing beginning at 9 a.m. at the U.S. Courthouse on Pearl Street in Natchez. For creditors the bankrupt hospitals still owes, repayment may still be up to two years away and even then may only repay half of what is due.
After a period of stagnation in electronic health record adoption in 2013, hospitals in the first and second quarters of 2014 have taken steps to advance health IT efforts, according to the latest HIMSS Analytics data, EHR Intelligence reports. HIMSS Analytics is the research arm of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. HIMSS Analytics uses an eight-stage EMR Adoption Model to track the progress of hospitals and health systems in implementing EHRs. Although the top tier of the model is the seventh stage, hospitals generally can qualify for Stage 1 meaningful use incentives at the fourth stage of EMRAM.
Few rural doctors pay home visits anymore, as the practice has become a liability. And when physicians aren't seeing patients at the clinic, they're bogged down in paperwork. Iowa ranks 44th in the nation in direct-patient-care physicians per capita. According to County Health Rankings & Roadmaps data, for every primary care provider in the state there are 1,381 individuals. The state is dead last in the number of obstetricians, gynecologists and emergency medicine physicians compared with the other states and the District of Columbia. Brian Monsma, Mercy Medical Center-Sioux City's vice president of network development, said hospital research shows patients living in rural Siouxland drive 10 miles on average to get to a clinic.
Certain patients may have to wait a little longer before getting a flu shot. The manufacturer hasn't given a reason for a shipping delay, but hospital administrators say they will be monitoring supplies very closely until more doses arrive. The flu vaccine will combat more strains of the virus and healthcare providers are ready to make sure everyone that wants a flu shot gets one. "We start to vaccinate from October through April," said Christine Zwickel, the director of pharmacy at Easton Hospital. This year providers like Easton Hospital have hit a little snag in those plans.