Even the formerly steady commercial real estate market has seen some recent volatility. But not when it comes to medical properties, says Sean Tu, a vice president in Cain Brothers Real Estate Group's Chicago office, who says investors are looking for a safe investment in uncertain times.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is campaigning hard around the state for his health insurance plan, which aims to offer coverage to 3.8 million uninsured state residents. Fellow Republicans in the Legislature, however, are intent on budget cuts that healthcare officials say will add tens of thousands of people to the uninsured.
A pilot program aimed at reducing the cost of Medicare lab tests has been put in limbo after a federal judge found it could threaten quality of care. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had been scheduled to announce winners of a bidding contest to provide 303 tests to Medicare patients in San Diego County. The judge blocked the pilot program after finding that the program would cause harm to patients of two healthcare systems that said they would be forced to lay off workers and reduce medical services if they lose their guaranteed fee income from lab services billed to Medicare.
An investigation of San Francisco's 911 dispatch system found that 27 percent of first responders arrive late on the scene of high-priority medical emergencies. Many of the delays are the result of slow processing of 911 calls. The review of about 200,000 emergency medical calls during a four year period found that at least 439 people died while waiting for a late ambulance or after delayed medical help arrived. San Francisco officials are exploring potential solutions to reduce ambulance delays.
In 2006, Renaissance Healthcare Systems announced plans to renovate the former Dallas/Fort Worth Medical Center in Grand Prairie, TX. Nearly two years after the purchase, and more than a year after the scheduled February 2007 opening date, the hospital remains empty. Construction crews abandoned the site in December 2007, and Renaissance officials say the system needs more funding to complete the hospital.
Since Pam Stephenson assumed the top role at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital, critics have said she lacks experience and qualifications and brings with her conflicts of interest. Some people have been pushing to oust her from Grady, and Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said Stephenson is "obviously unqualified" and exercising "personal greed" in pursuit of the $600,000-a-year job.
Rather than stepping aside, however, Stephenson is poised to step up as a candidate in the national search for a permanent Grady CEO.
Congress is under pressure to remedy the national doctor shortage that could worsen on July 1, when physicians who treat Medicare patients get a 10 percent pay cut. Lawmakers want to stop the upcoming pay cut, and Congress is considering the Physician Shortage Elimination Act. The Act would spend millions to provide more scholarships for medical students and expand residency training programs throughout the country.
Critics say the proliferation of heart transplant centers in the Chicago area is unnecessary, enormously expensive and of questionable benefit. Chicago is tied with Philadelphia for having the most heart transplant programs for adults--five--of any city in the country. In this case competition appears to have backfired, leaving the Chicago heart transplant centers operating below capacity.
SSM Healthcare, the owners of St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island, IL, said that they will work with local leaders on a last-minute attempt to keep the facility open. The system would sell the hospital to another firm if financing works out, but plans to close the 410-bed hospital are still in the works, said SSM officials. The officials offered no specifics on what they would attempt to keep the hospital open.
Costs are soaring surrounding Massachusetts' healthcare law and lawmakers are weighing a dollar-a-pack hike in the state's cigarette tax to help pay for a enrollment in the law's subsidized insurance plans. In the two years since former Gov. Mitt Romney signed the law, the number of insured residents has soared by nearly 350,000. No other state has launched as comprehensive a plan. California attempted their own healthcare expansion, but the program failed to get out of a key Senate committee.
