The effort to pass a healthcare overhaul is being frustrated by divisions among Democrats over a wide range of issues, including how to pay for the measure and its impacts on small business. A House bill is expected to be released July 14, but concerns voiced by moderate Democrats prompted party leaders to delay release of details and have spurred a round of high-level meetings on Capitol Hill.
Children's Hospital and Touro Infirmary have finalized an agreement that creates a two-hospital system called the Louisiana Children's Medical Center, with Children's top administator Steve Worley serving as chief executive officer. The parent corporation's governing board, which includes members from the existing Children's and Touro boards, also announced the hiring of former Tulane Medical Center executive James Montgomery to lead the Touro campus, which has struggled financially since Hurricane Katrina.
Most Americans say it's important to overhaul healthcare this year, a USA Today/Gallup Poll finds, but they are less enthusiastic about some of the proposals to pay for it. And while a majority say controlling costs should be the legislation's top goal, more than nine in 10 oppose limits on getting whatever tests or treatments they and their doctors think are necessary.
Pennsylvania hospital officials reiterated their estimate that a budget bill passed by the Senate and now under discussion in the House could lead to the loss of about 8,300 jobs in healthcare. They said proposed cuts to Medicaid could lead to cuts in trauma, burn, and obstetrics care and even force some hospitals to close.
Atlanta-based Grady Memorial Hospital officials approved a plan that would close its outpatient dialysis unit and shift the patients to a private care provider. The Grady board instructed management to draft a contract with Fresenius, a major provider of dialysis services in the United States, with about 60 centers in metro Atlanta. The plan would close the existing clinic at Grady and shift its 90 patients to a new location by Sept. 14. The financial burden on the patients would not change.
Atlanta-based St. Joseph's Hospital recently notified patients that it may end its relationship with medical insurance giant United Healthcare, effective Aug. 7, unless a new contract is reached. Kirk Wilson, St. Joseph's president and chief executive officer, said the two parties were "still negotiating in good faith" and expect an agreement to be reached.