The state of Utah is hiring a public relations firm to handle "crisis communications" in the wake of a health data breach that put the personal information of 780,000 people at risk. The contract will be short-lived and will cost between $100,000 and $200,000, according to a solicitation published on May 11. It calls for building a communications plan to "rebuild trust with the public, specifically those who were directly impacted by the breach and those who rely on the [Utah Department of Health] for critical health services." The damage-control blitz marks a third attempt by the Utah Department of Health to seek outside aid in managing the breach.
The Chicago-based company that was subject of a scathing report in April from Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is convening national policy leaders to set standards for how hospitals should inform patients about the money they owe for healthcare. In a news release issued Tuesday, May 15, Accretive Health Inc. said the discussion will be led by Michael Leavitt—a former governor of Utah and secretary of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush administration—and will include input from former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and other national policy leaders. The company's news release Tuesday said Donna Shalala, the Health and Human Services secretary during the Clinton administration, and former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., also have agreed to serve as advisers.
As hospitals digitize patient records and amass huge amounts of data, many are relying on companies such as Microsoft, SAS Institute Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp., whose data-mining technologies can help them detect patterns and improve medical care. The analytics industry generated more than $30 billion in revenue last year, according to research firm IDC. That is forecast to increase to $33.6 billion this year as the healthcare industry becomes a bigger customer. The use of data-mining technology has already led to some measurable improvements in patient care.
Registered nurses at a Manhattan Veterans Affairs hospital failed to notice a patient had become disconnected from a cardiac monitor until after his heart had stopped and he could not be revived, according to a report Monday from the VA inspector general. The incident from last June was the second such death at the hospital involving a patient connected to a monitor in a six-month period. The first, along with two earlier deaths at a Denver VA hospital, raised questions about nursing competency in the VA system, ProPublica reported last month. Monday's report documents the June 2011 death of patient in his 80s at the Manhattan campus of the VA’s New York Harbor Healthcare System.
A pair of studies showed hospitals could be discharging patients before they are actually healthy enough to leave. These studies from the University of Maryland looked at patient movement at a large academic hospital in the United States. The results show that the fuller a hospital is when a patient is discharged, the more likely they are to have to come back and be re-admitted. Patients let out when the hospital was busiest were 50 percent more likely to be back in within three days. The researchers said this problem is more likely at large regional hospitals and doesn't happen as often in smaller communities.
A commitment Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center made to Dr. John McConnell, its chief executive, when he was recruited led to a nearly 50 percent increase in his total compensation for fiscal year 2010-11, the center reported Tuesday. McConnell was paid almost $2.5 million in total compensation, compared with $1.68 million for fiscal 2009-10. Because Wake Forest Baptist's fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, the latest compensation figures are 10½ months old. The executive compensation numbers are becoming public six weeks after McConnell told employees the center is considering reducing its workforce as part of a major initiative aimed at improving patient outcomes at a lower cost.