Waves of flu patients have been arriving at their doors of hospitals across the country, doubling their emergency room volume. And while a relatively small number of flu patients are requiring intensive care, some are so ill they will need round-the-clock care for weeks. As a result, many hospitals are struggling to keep up with the growing number of swine flu patients, USA Today reports.
With fewer medical school students choosing the lower-paying fields of family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics, lawmakers and others say something has to be done to attract them. Helping students repay their loans could help fill a shortage of general physicians that one report estimates could reach 44,000 by 2025, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
In 2010, Dallas County will lead the state of Texas in the percentage of uninsured children, a rate nearly triple the national average, according to a report Children's Medical Center Dallas is releasing. More than half of the 730,000 children in Dallas County have limited access to primary and preventive healthcare, Children's said in its report, "Beyond ABC: Growing Up in Dallas County."
Amid growing concerns over the H1N1 virus, some hospitals in Illinois have begun revising their guidelines on visitors, in some cases prohibiting children. Edward Hospital in Naperville announced that people under 18 will be prohibited from visiting the hospital unless they have a medical issue. The hospital asked others, especially people with upper respiratory problems, to refrain from visiting patients if possible. Edward's decision came two days after President Barack Obama declared swine flu a national emergency and as concerns mount over a limited supply of vaccine. Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago also began restricting children or people with flulike symptoms from visiting patients, and restricted each patient to a maximum of two visitors.
The nation's preeminent seniors group, AARP, says many of the healthcare proposals under consideration will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans. But not advertised in the lobbying campaign have been the group's substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that could come its way from many of the reform proposals, according to the Washington Post. The group's dual role as an insurance reformer and a broker has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks from congressional Republicans, who accuse it of having a conflict of interest in taking sides in the fierce debate over health insurance, the Post reports.
Caris Diagnostics, the anatomic pathology and oncology testing services provider, has announced the appointment of Jerry Martino as senior vice president/CFO. Most recently, Martino, a CPA, was the executive vice president/COO for Par Pharmaceutical Companies. Before that, he was with Schering-Plough Corporation for 12 years, most recently as vice president, Global Materials Management and Global Supply Chain Operations.