Doctors save lives, but they can sometimes be insufferable know-it-alls who bully nurses and do not listen to patients. Medical schools have traditionally done little to screen out such flawed applicants or to train them to behave better, but that is changing. At Virginia Tech Carilion, the nation's newest medical school, administrators decided against relying solely on grades, test scores and hourlong interviews to determine who got in. Instead, the school invited candidates to the admissions equivalent of speed-dating: nine brief interviews that forced candidates to show they had the social skills to navigate a health care system in which good communication has become critical. The new process has enormous consequences not only for the lives of the applicants but, its backers hope, also for the entire health care system. It is called the multiple mini interview, or M.M.I., and its use is spreading. At least eight medical schools in the United States -- including those at Stanford, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Cincinnati -- and 13 in Canada are using it.
A Coral Gables veteran who filed a $30 million medical malpractice lawsuit charging that an improper colonoscopy at the Miami Veterans' Administration hospital gave him life-threatening hepatitis C heads to Miami federal court today in the first of what could be dozens of similar trials. More than 11,000 U.S. veterans received colonoscopies with improperly cleaned equipment at VA hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, TN and Augusta, GA between 2004 and 2009. Of the veterans who had the procedure at the three facilities, five have tested positive for HIV, 25 for hepatitis C and eight for hepatitis B. In Miami, 11 additional suits charging emotional distress have been settled out of court for undisclosed amounts, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Nine malpractice suits have been filed in Tennessee. Officials in Georgia couldn't say how many have been filed there. None has gone to trial until now. Robert Metzler, now 69, a U.S. Air Force veteran, says he got a colonoscopy at the Miami VA hospital in 2007 and two years later was told he has hepatitis C.
Patients who receive frequent intravenous injections to treat chronic illness typically endure arduous hospital visits. A new device could change that. SpringLeaf Therapeutics is developing a drug-filled patch patients can attach to their skin to dispense such medications. "You just put it on and do your daily activities," said Frank Bobe, CEO of SpringLeaf. "You're in control because you don't give control of your life to a nurse or physician, which, psychologically, brings a huge positive impact to patients." On Friday the company announced the completion of its second major round of funding after receiving a $4 million boost from Excel Venture Management, a venture capital firm, bringing its total funding to $19 million. That second round comes mainly from SR One, the venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline.
Health Management Associates' decision to buy Mercy Health Partners came as welcome news for some within Knoxville's elder health system, eager for new leadership to get the organization back on track. With the deep pockets of a shareholder-owned company, some believe HMA has the ability to turn around Mercy's misfortunes, which have been rooted in a large debt load and poor revenue. The Florida-based company is expected to pump significant resources into Mercy for capital improvements and new technologies if the deal is approved. But tough decisions will have to be made as HMA continues to assess Mercy's operations and facilities.
Massachusetts hospitals are buckling under growing financial strains, with 16 - nearly a quarter of them - losing money last year, according to a new state report. Thirteen hospitals in the state also suffered losses in 2009, but the deficits at many of them widened in 2010, the report from the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy showed. Thirty others managed only modest profits last year. Healthcare professionals say the financial squeeze is likely to tighten - especially for community hospitals and those that treat low-income patients - as Medicare and Medicaid payments are reduced. Reimbursements from such public payers account for about 60% of revenue at the average Massachusetts hospital.
The Colorado Health Foundation's $1.45 billion deal to sell its share of Denver's largest hospital group to a for-profit chain may be underpriced in a closed-door deal and undercutting community interests, according to objections lodged with the state attorney general. Prominent former board members want the attorney general to declare the deal a "conversion" from nonprofit to for-profit status, a ruling that would give the state and community interests more power to alter terms. They say the foundation's joint ownership with national conglomerate HCA helped ensure community interests were being served and that those interests need ongoing protection. Declaring the sale a conversion, which Colorado Health Foundation attorneys are trying to head off, would also require replacing the powerful foundation board and its executives. Foundation leaders and attorneys say the conversion statute—meant to guarantee public benefit when a nonprofit sells valuable community assets—does not apply because the Health Foundation has only 40% of the controlling stake in its joint venture with the HCA chain.