One of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's legislative priorities this year was to kill certificates of need for hospitals, saying they stifle competition and "have failed to achieve reduced costs and greater quality of care." Hospital officials who decried Crist's initial anti-CON stance are now praising the new, and they say improved, CON law that passed the Florida Legislature on the session's final day.
The Henry Ford Health System is opening a $350-million community hospital and wellness complex on 160 scenic acres in West Bloomfield, MI. In addition to national-class clinical services, the 300-bed hospital will offer amenities ranging from homelike private rooms with couches where relatives can sleep overnight to in-room whirlpool tubs for mothers in labor. But one of the hospital's most innovative elements is its culinary program.
The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati has not filled open positions at its main offices for more than a year as it prepared for three of its hospitals to withdraw. The system, which is losing Christ Hospital in Mount Auburn and the two St. Luke Hospitals in Northern Kentucky, has reduced about 140 jobs during the last 10 months. The Health Alliance now includes Jewish, University and Fort Hamilton hospitals, the Drake Center and the Alliance Primary Care doctors group.
Contra Costa County, CA, leaders are putting a cap on some health benefits as they move to slash nearly $52 million from the county's budget. Supervisors have given approval to a budget intended to slow rising healthcare costs by limiting the amount of money it contributes for healthcare coverage for nonunion employees and managers.
New York City officials plan to dispatch the nation's first ambulance equipped to preserve bodies of the newly dead so that families have time to consider organ donation. The crews would perform procedures on a corpse without consent in order to preserve the organs until the family had time to give consent for organ donation. No organs would be taken without consent, however.
The new Fort Worth's Paul and Judy Andrews Women's Hospital is devoted to women's healthcare, and features a Starbucks, spa and motherhood shops. The 190,000-square-foot facility is an addition to Baylor All Saints Medical Center. The hospital is funded and supported largely by the contributions from the community, and aims to serve women from childbearing age through menopause and beyond.
Despite their large populations, Georgia's DeKalb and Fulton counties reported relatively few cases of serious, drug-resistant staph infections to the state health department for the past three years. Experts are now wondering if Fulton and DeKalb doctors are failing to report MRSA cases in those counties. Fulton County health department officials already said they'll be taking a closer look at reporting.
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has signed legislation aimed at making high-deductible health insurance plans more affordable and more widely available. Purdue said the legislation encourages more consumer choice by making quality, affordable healthcare coverage more available. An analysis of the bill said it would give insurance companies $146 million in tax breaks over five years, and proponents say insurance companies would pass the savings on to consumers.
Three Tennessee legislators chose to support Williamson County and Williamson Medical Foundation by doling out $53,000 in Community Enhancement Grants. The money will be used to help subsidize physicians at the Williamson County Health Department. The grants will also help reduce WMC's subsidy and help the Medical Center cope with rising costs and indigent care, said Williamson Medical Foundation Executive Director Steve Smith.
Small businesses would be able to join together in co-operatives to buy health insurance under a Tennessee bill, but critics doubt whether it would lead to significantly lower costs or more coverage for uninsured workers. The small-business groups likely to form wouldn't be large enough to attract most insurers, detractors say. But proponents say that the improved stability and predictability of rates that comes with larger groups would help ease the burden on small employers when trying to offer affordable health insurance benefits.
