The Swinfen Charitable Trust is a telemedicine charity that uses e-mail to link sick people in poor, remote, or dangerous parts of the world with hundreds of medical specialists in some of the world's finest hospitals. Doctors in about 140 hospitals and clinics in 39 nations use the organization to seek help for patients requiring specialized care beyond their capabilities. Through the trust, they can be put in e-mail contact with one or more of the 400 specialists who work without pay as part of the trust's network.
Orlando-based Florida Hospital is getting ready to open a new $255 million building that holds space for 440 patient rooms and an emergency department that could span a football field. The tower's purpose is to replace the hospital's existing, overcrowded ER and expand its cardiac services. Construction began in 2006, and hospital officials expect to start using patient rooms this month. The emergency department is to open in December with 50 treatment rooms for adults and eight for children.
Nurses at Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, MO, have submitted a petition to decertify from Nurses United Local 5126, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers' healthcare division. In 2007, Nurses at Centerpoint Medical Center voted to select Nursing United Local 5126 as their exclusive agent. Poor communications with management, on-call and vacation issues, nurse-patient ratios, and pay were among reasons cited. But during the ensuing year, Nurses United was not able to negotiate a new contract with Centerpoint.
Steven Hunter is out after less than 18 months as chief executive of Provena Health, one of the Chicago area's largest hospital operators. Provena representatives said it has replaced Hunter with long-time board member and former Abbott Laboratories executive Guy Wiebking. Provena would not comment on reasons for the change. Provena has been engaged in a high-profile battle with the Illinois Department of Revenue over whether its Urbana hospital, Provena Covenant Medical Center, should be paying property taxes. Provena Health operates six hospitals and 16 long-term care and senior residential facilties in Illinois.
In this opinion piece published in the Washington Post, Shannon Brownlee and Ezekiel Emanuel try to dispel "a few myths about how healthcare works and how much reform Americans are willing to stomach." Brownlee is a visiting scholar at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center and the author of Overtreated. Emanuel, an oncologist and author of Healthcare, Guaranteed, is chairman of the center’s Department of Bioethics.
Kaiser Permanente got a perfect four stars for medical care on an annual HMO score card that California officials hope consumers will use to shop for health coverage. The report card rates the state's eight largest HMOs primarily on preventive measures, including what portion of an HMO's enrollees received recommended tests on schedule. Kaiser garnered four stars because the HMO excelled at meeting national standards on 34 clinical indicators.