Birmingham-based St. Vincent's East and Brookwood Medical Center have received Alabama approval to add psychiatric beds. Brookwood was given final approval to add 45 psychiatric beds to its current tally of 93. St. Vincent's East won approval to spend $6.7 million to construct and equip an 80-bed psychiatric unit. Both hospitals won emergency approval for psychiatric beds to absorb patients without care after the closing of Physicians Medical Center Carraway and its 95-bed psychiatric ward.
Critics and county commissioners say plans to eliminate some services at Las Vegas-based University Medical Center to offset $8 million in state Medicaid funding cuts will endanger the health of indigent patients. Commissioner Lawrence Weekly called it a "crisis," and Commission Chairman Rory Reid called for Gov. Jim Gibbons, legislative and community leaders, and officials from nonprofit and private hospitals to meet to discuss healthcare in Nevada.
Employers are dramatically shifting healthcare costs onto workers, so much so that the average annual deductible for an individual surpassed $1,000 for the first time this year, according to a study by benefits consulting firm Mercer. Millions of workers must now pay an average of $1,001 out of their own pockets before their health insurance coverage begins paying a share of the expenses. That's up 17% from $859 in 2007.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has announced that he has extended through June 30 his executive order enabling the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, known as PHC4, to remain open. Without that action, the independent agency would have been forced to shut down at the end of November. PHC4 is widely recognized for its reports on health quality and cost, including the nation's first statewide study of infections contracted by patients during hospital stays.
The dismal economy has U.S. hospitals ailing, with data showing declines in overall admissions and elective procedures, plus a significant jump in patients who can't pay for care, the American Hospital Association said. Hospitals also have been hurt by losses on their investments due to the economic turmoil, and many are finding it more expensive to borrow money, according to a report from the association.
The Greater New York Hospital Association, developer Extell, and a financier are teaming up in hopes of building a 60-story glass-and-steel tower on the West Side of Manhattan that would function as an international showcase and permanent conference center for the hospital industry. The developers or their representatives said they imagined the building as a permanent exhibition center for hundreds of vendors to the medical industry.