Faculty members at the University of Connecticut Health Center have voted to form a union. Members of the health center's teaching, research and clinical faculty will now form a chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which represents faculty on UConn's Storrs and regional campuses. In addition to negotiating on issues like compensation and working conditions, the union could also work with the health center administration toward common goals, possibly including an attempt to seek funds for a new hospital from the legislature.
The new $43 million downtown Atlanta building for Hughes Spalding children's hospital offers new equipment and more space for the many inner-city children who use the facility for emergencies, specialty clinics and primary care, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The new facility has an enhanced and expanded emergency room, child-friendly inpatient beds, specialty clinics to treat sickle cell and asthma, and a primary care center for children.
For the first time, a program to educate the public about treatment options for dialysis patients will be paid for by the federal Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and disabled come Jan. 1. In the U.S., reimbursement for dialysis is complicated by the fact that fees are paid separately for drugs and doctors office visits, and that leads to more fragmented and less effective service, Medicare officials said. By receiving bundled payments, Medicare officials hope centers and medical care providers will arrange their services in a way that they can operate more efficiently and improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of care, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Germany's century-old universal healthcare system is a model cited by reform advocates in the U.S. Congress, but it is buckling under the weight of a growing deficit that has forced the government to explore an overhaul. Under the German system, everyone is obliged to pay into the system and all who need care can get it. Costs are shared between employers and workers, whose premiums are staggered according to income. Recently, however, the costs of the system have exploded: Rising medical costs and unemployment will leave the system $11.1 billion short in 2010. Germany's sinking birth rate and rapidly aging population mean the gap will only get worse, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The list of things to avoid during flu season now includes a doctor's necktie, the Wall Street Journal reports. A debate has emerged in the medical community over whether they harbor dangerous germs, and several hospitals have proposed banning them outright. Some veteran doctors say the antinecktie campaign has more to do with younger physicians' desire to dress casually than it does with modern medicine. At least one tie maker is pushing neckwear with an antimicrobial coating, the Journal reports.
The business of providing mammograms has been in steady decline in recent years as many clinics have opted out of the screening business because of low insurance reimbursements. For many of the hospitals and free-standing radiology clinics that perform mammograms, the service has become a loss leader, a way to attract patients who might then receive other services. Health insurers, including the federal Medicare program, have said they were unlikely to change coverage of mammograms in the immediate wake of new guidelines issued by the United States Preventive Services Task Force, the New York Times reports. The new guidelines recommend that women in their 40s no longer have annual mammograms and that women ages 50 to 74 have them only every other year instead of annually.