Death rates of every NHS hospital in England will be published on a government Web site, officials have announced. Health Secretary Alan Johnson said patients will gain access to information about mortality rates to help compare the risks of treatment in different hospitals.
Two of the oldest government hospitals in Abu Dhabi will be replaced with state-of-the-art facilities, according to an announcement by the health services company Seha. Once completed, the replacements for Al Mafraq Hospital and Al Ain Hospital will have almost 1,400 beds between them. Both facilities are more than 25 years old.
Closing schools once a student falls ill with swine flu may no longer be worth the toll on students and families, because the illness will soon be present almost everywhere in the country and few cases have been severe, said representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new advice is part of a gradual easing of concerns over swine flu. While the disease has continued to spread across the and around the world, it is far less deadly than initially feared. And in Mexico, where the outbreak apparently had its origins, new cases have begun to ebb.
Senate leaders are working against a tightening calendar in tackling how to provide every American with health-insurance coverage and how to pay for it. Senate Finance Committee leaders want to have bipartisan legislation drafted by June that would remake the nation's healthcare system. But it is taking longer than expected to figure out how much each change will cost, or save, the government. Lawmakers must rely on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, confirmed that the estimates are taking longer than lawmakers would like.
In an effort to defuse an explosive issue in the debate over comprehensive healthcare legislation, a top Senate Democrat has proposed that any new government-run insurance program comply with all the rules and standards that apply to private insurance. The proposal was made by Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, in a bid to address fears that a public program would drive private insurers from the market.
A bill expected to pass any day in the Pennsylvania legislature could help thousands of Pennsylvanians who have lost their health insurance and jobs recently with small businesses. The Governor's Office says 25% of Pennsylvanians employed in the private sector work for companies with two to 19 employees. Forty states, including New Jersey, have passed what is known as "mini-COBRA" legislation, which extends COBRA benefits to small businesses.