Plans to establish a medical school at the University of Texas and train its students at a Catholic-owned teaching hospital have rekindled debate over public health care services for women and the impact of Vatican rules against birth control.Local health and university officials said they don't see a problem with a partnership between UT, the Seton Healthcare Family and Central Health, Travis County's hospital district. Services for women will continue to be offered in the same way they are being provided now, officials said. But critics in Austin and elsewhere are concerned about the relationship between public bodies and a religious organization, along with the extent of training that medical students and recently minted doctors will get.
Heather Stickney was suspended last month after taking home scrubs she had worn during a rotation at Catholic Medical Center. If her appeals of the suspension are rejected by college administrators, she may not be able to afford to start the year over again in the fall, and doesn't know when or if she could earn her degree, she said. Her professor and clinical adviser failed Stickney on the grounds that she had stolen the scrubs and then lied about it. Stickney says it was a misunderstanding, citing an unblemished academic record and testimonials from other students and nurses. Her first appeal to the department chairwoman was denied, but she's filed for a second with another administrator.
In a development that could complicate Republican efforts to limit funding for a key provision of President Barack Obama's healthcare law, a top congressional researcher said the issue of restricting subsidies never arose in producing the legislation. Congressional staff involved in the creation of the law did not suggest that federal insurance subsidies be restricted only to states that run their own healthcare exchanges, the head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday. "Nor was the issue raised during consideration of earlier versions of the legislation in 2009 and 2010," CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf informed Republican Representative Darrell Issa in a letter dated December 6.
Citing uncertainty over costs, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation Thursday that would have established a state-run health insurance exchange in New Jersey. Christie's move—which mirrored his veto in May of a similar bill approved by Democratic lawmakers—came eight days before the federal deadline for states to declare whether they intend to create the local marketplace for individuals to buy health-care coverage that debuts in January 2014. In his veto message, Christie said information from Washington about the exchanges has been missing or erratic.
The UT System Board of Regents approved the creation of a new university in south Texas with an accompanying medical school that will be made up of UT-Brownsville, UT-Pan American and the Regional Academic Health Center. The proposed university, which has not been officially named, was referred to as the University of the Americas in the Rio Grande Valley and would consolidate UT-Brownsville and UTPA but would maintain both campuses functioning for academic and research purposes. The new medical school will be known as the South Texas School of Medicine. An official timeline for the establishment of the school has not been announced because of pending legislative approval. The proposal received unanimous support from the regents during a meeting Thursday.
A Pennsylvania insurance network announced this week that it was canceling its Medicaid contract with the two Lancaster HMA hospitals, as well as with a Carlisle HMA hospital. The move will affect about 3,000 patients. In the wake of the developments, the head of the two local HMA hospitals said they remain dedicated to patient care. "The associates and physicians at Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center and Lancaster Regional Medical Center are always focused, first and foremost, on providing the highest-quality care possible in our communities," said Bob Moore, market chief executive officer of the two HMA hospitals here.