A $1.75 million surgical robot bought with taxpayer money is collecting dust at an Arlington, TX, hospital because too few doctors at the public hospital district know how to use the state-of-the art equipment. The one physician most proficient at using the da Vinci robot left the JPS Health Network in January. The equipment allows surgeons to perform procedures using incisions only about the diameter of an ink pen.
Plagued by a lack of funding and lengthy bankruptcy proceedings, Brownsville (PA) Tri-County Hospital has closed twice in the past five years. Most recently, it stopped operations on Feb. 12, after its board of directors recognized it would fall $200,000 short on payroll. Six days later, it filed a Chapter 11 petition as well, listing more than $12 million in debts to several hundred creditors, including employees who weren't paid. But now hospital representatives have sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking for federal stimulus money. They say their project perfectly meets the criteria for such funding, such as providing medical care for a rural, impoverished area.
Dozens of community health centers around in Pennsylvania and its surrounding region got a boost when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced $338 million in stimulus grants nationally to clinics that care for large numbers of uninsured patients. In Pennsylvania, the department said, 36 organizations will share $9.5 million, giving them the capacity to provide care for nearly 60,000 new patients, including 20,000 uninsured.
Nashville's Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center will get more than $700,000 in federal stimulus funds to offer more community health services, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced. The medical and dental facility got the largest single share of a $6.5 million pot of stimulus money released for community health centers in Tennessee.
Two critically ill infants who died earlier this month in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Miami Children's Hospital succumbed to infections from an extremely common bacteria found on many humans, health administrators said. The two infants were infected with strains of the Pseudomonas bacteria, which is widespread throughout nature, found in water, soil, plants, and animals. The three children were infected by three different strains of the bacteria, said a senior physician with the Miami-Dade Health Department.
Providence Health Care is planning to trim staff at its Eastern Washington hospitals, but says it hopes to avoid layoffs. The move is being prompted in part by a growing amount of unpaid medical bills as a result of the recession. In a memo to staff, the chief executive of Providence's regional operations said the nonprofit healthcare system is $9 million behind its budget.