In Stage 1 of Meaningful Use, hospitals must show that their staffs used computerized physician order entry to order medications for at least 30% of patients. According to a new Health Affairs study, that threshold is "probably too low" to reduce the mortality rate of patients suffering from heart attacks, heart failure, or pneumonia by reducing medication errors and improving patient safety. If the threshold were raised to 60% and then to 80% of patients--as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services expects will happen in stages 2 and 3 of Meaningful Use--the death rate could be cut significantly, the researchers said. The co-authors of the study reached this conclusion by applying statistical modeling to American Hospital Association data on electronic medication ordering and CMS data on the mortality rates of Medicare patients.
The family of Edward Harrigan -- a patient who died at Tobey Hospital in Wareham after no one responded to warnings on his cardiac monitor -- filed a federal lawsuit against the hospital and a nurse this week. Harrigan, 87, was a patient at the hospital in September 2008. His electrocardiogram displayed a "flat line" for more than two hours because the battery in his heart monitor had died, but no one changed the battery, according to state Department of Public Health investigators. During that time, his heart stopped. Because the monitor was not working, no alarm sounded to alert staff to his cardiac arrest. They later found him unresponsive and without a pulse. The family's attorney said yesterday that Harrigan's death was caused by alarm fatigue -- when nurses become desensitized to monitor alarms, both audible and visual.
For about 90 minutes Wednesday afternoon, it appeared that the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance had made a crucial decision in the ongoing contract dispute between Highmark and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. On its website, on a page dedicated to answering frequently asked questions about the dispute, the site stated: "Once the contract expires, UPMC providers will be considered out-of-network." After queries from the Post-Gazette, though, the department quickly changed the wording to say UPMC providers "may be considered out-of-network." Insurance department spokeswoman Melissa Fox said it is still awaiting information from the two parties that will clarify whether UPMC physicians will be in-network for Highmark members during a one-year run-out period to June 30, 2013.The issue has been a major point of contention between health system UPMC and insurer Highmark since negotiations to renew their 10-year contract broke down earlier this year.
Several dozen doctors, nurses, employees and community supporters gathered at Knapp Medical Center this week to rally against embattled CEO James Summersett. "CEO's got to go," the crowd chanted, waving signs that read "Summersett we regret" and bearing red shirts proclaiming "Save Our Hospital." The 226-bed nonprofit hospital at 1401 E. Eighth St. opened in Weslaco in 1962 and employs about 1,000 people. Summersett took leadership of it in 2005, rubbing some the wrong way since then. "The final straw was the emergency room doctors had their contracts terminated," said Dr. Sandra Esquivel, a surgeon at Knapp. "It matters who our emergency room doctors are." Esquivel said a communication problem between the hospital and the group contracted to provide emergency services to the hospital had caused the contract to not be renewed.
HealthSouth Corp. CEO Jay Grinney said an Obama administration plan to target rehabilitation hospitals may force him to close facilities and would cost $26 million if it were in place now. The Birmingham, Alabama-based in-patient rehabilitation company fell $1.48, or 9%, to $15.02 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the lowest since Oct. 30, 2009. It's the third straight decline after the administration recommended to Congress $7 billion in cuts to the industry. HealthSouth has about $2 billion in annual revenue. Adoption of the proposal may force the company to shut a "limited number" of its 94 hospitals, 38 of which would comply with the plan, Grinney said. He called investors' reaction "just irrational fear," after Obama proposed Sept. 19 reviving a rule that hospitals show at least 75% of patients meet criteria for rehabilitation. The threshold is now 60%.
Nearly 1 million more young adults have obtained health insurance since the 2010 healthcare law began requiring insurers to let adult children stay on their parents' plans until age 26, according to government data released Wednesday. The jump in enrollment caused the share of young adults who are uninsured to drop from 34% at the start of 2010 to 30% — or 9.1 million people — by March of this year, according to a national interview survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A Gallup poll also unveiled Wednesday pointed to an almost identical pattern. Young adults remain more likely to go without health insurance than any other age group. Still, after the recent stream of dismal poverty and unemployment statistics, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius welcomed Wednesday's findings as "a really great achievement."