When Sandy slammed into the Northeast nearly two years ago, hospitals were dealing with surges in patients, lost power supplies and employees who couldn't get to work — problems that a new federal report finds they were not prepared to handle. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Inspector General Office released a study Wednesday on the emergency preparedness and response during the storm at 172 hospitals in the hardest-hit areas of New York, most of Connecticut and all of New Jersey. The report, based on surveys of the hospitals and in-person visits to 10 of them, finds that 89 percent of them experienced "critical challenges," such as electrical and communication failures or problems getting enough fuel or beds to meet their needs.
Temple Community Hospital of Los Angeles has closed its doors after more than 70 years in business, citing low revenue and increasing costs of maintaining its aging building. The independently operated hospital, about three miles northwest of downtown, closed Sept. 9. It had been in business since 1937 and employed more than 300 people. Another factor in the decision was the large pending expense of retrofitting the hospital to meet state earthquake safety requirements, Temple said in a statement. But there were other issues. "Ultimately, low reimbursement rates, changes in service-delivery models, regulatory requirements, an aging building, and the need for increased capital expenditures made TCH's operations unsustainable," the hospital said.
David Rosen is the president of Midwest Anesthesia Partners, a physician group in the Chicago area that has more than 150 anesthesiology nurses and physicians. As is common in the industry these days, MAP formed from smaller physician groups banding together to try to resist being purchased by a large hospital system. Now, Rosen says, the future of health care is so uncertain that many anesthesiologists feel worried about how they'll be paid. Despite the uncertainty, Rosen says new technologies and best practices can make anesthesia better than ever. He spoke to Tennessean reporter Shelley DuBois about how his group will play its part to keep surgeries safe and pain-free.
By the time Donnie Missouri met Rosaleita Fulford, the soft-spoken 44-year-old woman had funded a drug habit with prostitution and theft. "I was off the chain," she says. Fulford's T-cell count was low; she missed doctor's appointments to look for her next high. She got sick often, and when she did, she went to the emergency room instead of to an inexpensive clinic. It all came at the government's expense. Fulford represents the nation's "super-utilizers," the 1% of the population who account for 22% of health care spending, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In the states' Medicaid programs — which increased by at least 3 million people in 2014 because of the Affordable Care Act — 5% of users account for 54% of spending.
HealthCare.gov is still not fully secure two months out from its second launch date, federal investigators said in a report Tuesday. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that while health officials have strengthened parts of the website's security, they failed to implement best practices across the entire system, leaving small weaknesses that place sensitive information "at risk." The report is likely to dominate a House Oversight Committee hearing scheduled for Thursday, where Republicans have urged CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to testify. Lawmakers are concerned about news that a hacker breached part of HealthCare.gov this summer, though no consumer information was apparently viewed or taken.
Although few healthcare organizations view first-adopter status as a business advantage, those that more quickly implement new technologies do reap valuable returns on these investments, a new study suggests. Consumer behavior and expectations are the primary factors driving healthcare market changes, according to 61% of respondents in "The Digital Dividend: First Mover Advantage," a study conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services and sponsored by Verizon. Today's consumers expect their providers to use electronic health records; a year ago 41% of patients said they would be willing to switch doctors to get online access to their medical records, according to an Accenture study.