Two winners emerged from the battle for 41 hospital beds and four operating rooms in Wake County, NC: State regulators approved WakeMed's application to use the beds for a new women's hospital in North Raleigh, while four operating rooms went to the Orthopaedic Surgery Center of Raleigh, a partnership that includes Rex Healthcare. The biggest loser among the applicants was Novant Health, as the Winston-Salem hospital chain proposed using the beds and the operating rooms to build a community hospital in Holly Springs.
A Michigan agency investigating the death of a mental health patient and injuries to two others at a Detroit Medical Center hospital filed a federal lawsuit seeking records the hospital refuses to release. According to court documents, a person died in April after being placed in restraints at Detroit Receiving Hospital's psychiatric crisis center. The subsequent investigation by Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services ended when hospital attorneys denied a request for peer review records of the incident, correspondence with state licensing and health agencies and video and audio records. Hospital attorneys cited privacy law and immunity to the records request.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has again called on state lawmakers to preserve regulatory oversight of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan rates when they tackle health insurance legislation this session. Cox has criticized Blue Cross attempts to change rules covering the health insurance market for individuals. Legislation backed by Blue Cross died last year but likely will be reintroduced. Cox sent lawmakers a letter suggesting they tighten requirements on Blue Cross reporting of charitable spending and reserve levels, along with several other changes, in the upcoming legislation.
Seattle Children's hospital should be allowed to more than double the number of beds and building sizes on its Laurelhurst campus between now and 2030, according to city planners. The determination comes in a recommendation to the Seattle Hearing Examiner's Office, which plans a hearing on the project March 2. The proposed expansion would take in the hospital's 22-acre campus and the 1.8 acres facing it.
The ousted leaders of a California healthcare workers union say they will found a labor organization to rival their former parent union, the Service Employees International Union. The announcement came the day after SEIU President Andy Stern in Washington, DC, wrested control of Oakland-based United Healthcare Workers-West by removing its 100 officers and placing the local under a trustee's care. Sal Rosselli, former president of the 150,000-member local, said it is too early to say who will lead the new national union and how long it would take to get it up and running.
More than one million Pennsylvanians lack health insurance, according to a state survey conducted by the Insurance Department. The results reflect a less than 1% increase over estimates reported in 2004. Officials cautioned that the number of uninsured residents is likely to be even higher given the deteriorating employment situation. Of those without coverage, 880,000 were adults, and 140,000 were children.