Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital and Fulton County, GA, are nearing consensus on what information the hospital must provide to get public support. Since Fulton adopted in January a 2009 budget of $76.5 million for Grady, county finance officials have so far only made the county's $17 million debt payment for Grady. The remaining operating money has been on hold as the two sides have struggled to reach agreement on accountability on indigent patient counts, services provided, costs, and revenues.
The Washington State Medical Association, which represents more than 9,000 physicians, is fighting a bill that would require doctors to screen vulnerable patients for a potentially deadly germ called MRSA. The number of hospital patients infected with MRSA has skyrocketed in Washington, but the medical association opposes any attempt by lawmakers to dictate how doctors attack the pathogen, said spokeswoman Jennifer Hanscom. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, said the evidence is clear that doctors and hospitals have repeatedly failed to protect patients from the antibiotic-resistant germ MRSA.
The Loudoun (VA) Board of Supervisors has laid to rest seven years of debate over a proposed 164-bed hospital in Broadlands, voting 5 to 4 against a motion to reconsider its Feb. 3 rejection of the project. The vote came a day after Inova Health System had moved forward with plans to build an 80-bed hospital in the county. Inova officials announced that they had filed a letter of intent with Virginia officials to build the facility and will seek the required certificate of public need from the state health commissioner. The Broadlands hospital, proposed by HCA Virginia, had a certificate of public need from the state but could not win zoning approval from county supervisors.
The Commonwealth Fund has proposed creating a major new public health program and government-operated insurance exchange as part of a plan to expand coverage and rein in healthcare costs. The health policy research group unveiled a comprehensive plan for changing a U.S. healthcare system, and they hope the Obama administration and lawmakers consider the ideas as they move forward this year with plans for major changes in the healthcare system.
Doctors and patients are speaking out against Nevada Medicaid cuts proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons, urging lawmakers to reinstate funding with money from the federal stimulus plan. Several doctors spoke out against the cuts at a Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee, and said that without adequate reimbursement they could no longer afford to serve Medicaid patients. The state's Medicaid caseload is projected to grow by over 8% in each of the next two years.
Three of the nation's largest nursing unions have announced a merger to ramp up unionization efforts across the country. The three unions to merge are the United American Nurses, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Their new, 150,000-member association will be called the United American Nurses-National Nurses Organizing Committee.