Following years of rising revenue and strong profits, the six health systems in the Milwaukee area are on track to spend more than $1.3 billion expanding or building new hospitals. They have spent millions more to buy physician practices, hire physicians, and open new clinics. But all that may be in the past, as the economic downturn has taken its toll on the systems' investment portfolios. It already has led to belt-tightening, forcing the systems to look for projects that could be postponed.
Tarrant County, TX, hospitals are scrutinizing their cardiac care in an attempt to expedite the life-saving balloon angiopasty procedure. The goal is to get patients to a cardiac lab for balloon angioplasty quickly, with a "door-to-balloon time" of 90 minutes or less. In Tarrant County, hospitals' performance varies widely, with some reaching the goal less than two-thirds of the time. Baylor Grapevine has the best results, hitting the target for 97% of the 59 patients they treated for that condition, according to 2007 CMS data.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has received a $6.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund a center to study a rare genetic disease. It will be called the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "Our goal is to translate research findings into patient therapies," said Nancy Ratner, director of the Neurofibromatosis Center at Cincinnati Children's.
In this article from TIME, the magazine uses numbers to measure American health. The findings are something that should concern all Americans, according to the article.
Service workers unhappy with contract offers from hospital management walked picket lines and rallied outside Regina Medical Center in Hastings, MN. About 230 union members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota started their two-day strike after failing to resolve differences with hospital management over pension contributions and health insurance costs.
TennCare officials say relief from a 20-year-old lawsuit is critical for eligible enrollees to maintain their medical benefits at a time when Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is looking to make deep budget cuts. Bredesen, who earlier this year requested 3% cuts, is asking each department for reductions of as much as 15% to take care of a shortfall of potentially $800 million this year. TennCare director Darin Gordon says the state has asked the courts for relief from a class action lawsuit that prohibits them from annually re-evaluating about 180,000 people on TennCare who may not be eligible for coverage.