As the number of hospitals with electronic health record systems grows, a new study finds that inpatient physicians who receive patients from the emergency department have begun to do "chart biopsies" of electronic records to prepare for the handoffs. Although the study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) doesn't reach any conclusions about whether chart biopsies are an improvement over traditional handoff methods, it points outs that "chart biopsies appear to impact important clinical and organizational processes. Among these are the nature and quality of handoff interactions and the quality of care."
Against the backdrop of a weak national economy and concerns about the long-term impact of federal healthcare reform, Kentucky's major hospital systems are making high-profile capital investments across the commonwealth. At least a half dozen major construction projects are under way in nearly every urban sector of the state. Louisville's Norton Healthcare System has committed $120 million to convert Suburban Hospital into Norton Women's Hospital and Kosair Children's Hospital, with a project completion date in late 2013. Pikeville Medical Center is investing $130 million for a new medical office building and upgraded parking facility that is nearing completion.
Financially ailing Southern Regional Medical Center has entered into a partnership with Emory Healthcare. The partnership, effective Oct. 1, involves integrated Southern Regional in to Emory Healthcare's network of four hospitals. Southern Regional will pay Emory an undisclosed management fee. Faced with a bleeding balance sheet, Southern Regional said last summer it is considering strategic options that could include a joint venture, or a sale. The health system operates the 331-bed Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverside, Ga. For Emory, the deal would give the health system a foothold in the southern part of metro Atlanta. It would also give Emory an edge over its fiercest rival, Piedmont Healthcare, which is a major health-care provider in Clayton County.
United Memorial Medical Center will "significantly expand its role in medical education" and recruit new doctors by becoming a teaching hospital, hospital officials said Monday morning. UMMC beginning in 2013 will establish a residency program that will bring young doctors to Batavia in hopes they stay and open their own primary care practices once their residency concludes. UMMC and Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine Family Residency Program, the largest in the country, have been working for about 15 months to establish a residency program in Batavia, UMMC CEO Mark Schoell said.
Marin General Hospital released a draft environmental impact report for a roughly $500 million rebuild project that will bring the 235-bed level III trauma center in line with state seismic measures while improving other features. The release of the draft EIR marks the first formal step by the hospital, overseen by the Marin Healthcare District, on the massive project, just weeks after it was declared the "prevailing party" in a dispute with Sutter Health, which operated the facility until 2010.
For the second time in three months, federal authorities have issued a hefty financial penalty stemming from a HIPAA compliance investigation after a relatively small breach. The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights has entered a settlement with Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary that includes a $1.5 million penalty. The resolution agreement cites a number of HIPAA violations discovered during an OCR investigation into the 2010 theft of an unencrypted laptop.