In a settlement, the Los Angeles city attorney's office said that College Hospital had dumped more than 150 mentally ill patients on skid row in 2007 and 2008. As part of the settlement, the hospital will pay $1.6 million in penalties and charitable contributions to a host of psychiatric and social-service agencies.
Ambulatory Services of America Inc. said a joint venture that includes its dialysis subsidiary has completed acquiring three dialysis centers around Gallup, NM. The centers served more than 360 patients through outpatient, acute, and home dialysis programs in New Mexico.
Concerned about the potential for medical errors as the number of non-English speakers grows, Illinois hospitals are rolling out a live video system that can translate from medical-care providers to patients in 150 languages. The Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council and California-based Paras and Associates have launched the effort in three hospitals in Chicago and a fourth in Salem; 25 other facilities are considering adopting the technology.
A decade after HMOs provoked an angry public backlash for being too focused on the bottom line, managed care is making a comeback, particularly among Democratic policymakers now shaping a proposed overhaul of the nation's healthcare system. The "medical home" is based on the idea that high quality care and stronger relationships between patients and their primary care doctors will save money in the long run.
After a four-year delay, Boston-based Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is resuming plans to move out of its current building into a $200 million facility. Spaulding is proposing to build an eight-story hospital with 132 rooms, down from its current number of beds of 196. The 221,000-square-foot facility would have larger rooms and an array of amenities, including swimming pools, therapy rooms, gyms, community space, and an outpatient clinic. Officials said the hospital's current building, built in 1970, is obsolete.
Johns Hopkins is the latest big name in healthcare to try to restrict doctors' ties to the drug and device industries, implementing a new policy "on interaction with industry" that bans free drug samples and says doctors can't participate in consulting gigs in which they're essentially paid for not doing anything. The policy, which applies to Hopkins's medical school, hospitals and clinics, also prohibits gifts, entertainment or food from drug and medical device companies. It bars drug and device sales reps from patient-care areas, and says they're only allowed in other areas when invited by doctors or other staff. Donations from industry will have to be given to Hopkins itself rather than individual doctors.