By demonstrating compliance with national standards for healthcare quality and safety, Slidell Memorial Hospital has achieved full accreditation from the Joint Commission. The hospital received the Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval following an unannounced, on-site evaluation. Joint Commission standards address Slidell Memorial's level of performance in key areas such as patient rights, patient treatment and infection control. The standards focus not simply on the hospital's ability to provide safe, high-quality care, but on its actual performance as well.
After more than a decade of struggle, the House passed a bill requiring most group health plans to provide more generous coverage for treatment of mental illnesses, comparable to what they provide for physical illnesses. The vote was 268 to 148, with 47 Republicans joining 221 Democrats in support of the measure. The Senate has passed a similar bill requiring equivalence, or parity, in coverage of mental and physical ailments. Federal law now allows insurers to discriminate, and most do so, by setting higher co-payments or stricter limits on mental health benefits.
Mounting frustration over the more than seven-year process to bring a new hospital to Madison has reached Alabama governor Bob Riley's desk. Madison Mayor Sandy Kirkindall and Madison County Commissioner Dale Strong wrote to Riley asking for changes to Alabama's decades-old rules for approving new hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities. State lawmakers from the Huntsville area--both Democrats and Republicans--are also pressing for reforms.
The Cleveland Clinic is Ohio's leader when it comes to healthcare lobbying, according to federal disclosure reports. The Clinic last year spent more than $1.36 million to lobby the federal government.
A House committee has approved a bill to set minimum insurance reimbursements for Kentucky kidney dialysis centers that aren't in an insurer's contracted network. The House Banking and Insurance Committee voted 15-5 in favor of House Bill 433, with four members passing. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration. The measure was proposed by the dialysis industry because health insurers have drastically reduced the amounts paid to dialysis centers that haven't joined networks, which require acceptance of negotiated prices.
Leaders of Broadlawns Medical Center in Iowa are vowing that a revolt among staff psychiatrists won't harm patient care, although they acknowledge that they'll have a challenge in replacing the doctors amid a statewide psychiatrist shortage. Four psychiatrists and the mental-health program's director announced in February that they were resigning from Broadlawns, which is Polk County's public hospital. They expressed anger over administrators' attempts to implement productivity standards, which they said could harm patients.
The Florida Supreme Court says patients have a right to check records on past mistakes made by their doctors and hospitals, no matter how old those files are. The justices rejected an appeal from hospitals claiming that right should apply only to records created since November 2004, when voters adopted a "patients' right to know" amendment. The high court also ruled parts of a law limiting patient access to those records are unconstitutional.
You don't have to be a political junkie like myself to have noticed a lot of talk about change in recent coverage of the Democratic and Republican primaries. It's what voters say they want in exit polls, it's what the candidates on both sides of the aisle are promising, and it has been one of the central themes of the 2008 presidential election.
Today I leave for the AMGA annual conference in Orlando where two of the keynote speakers, former Senator Bill Bradley and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, will discuss what all this talk of change means for the healthcare industry. The duo will explore each of the parties' healthcare platforms and discuss how the potential presidential candidates "plan to reshape the future of the U.S. healthcare system." I'm sure at the forefront of many physicians' minds will be the looming 10 percent cut to Medicare fees and whether the presidential election will finally bring a permanent fix to a payment system that has been held together by Band-Aids for several years.
Too often it seems political discussions about healthcare focus on everyone involved except the providers who make the entire system work, so it will be nice to hear politicians address physicians and administrators directly about issues that concern them.
Why don't politicians speak about physicians' concerns more often? Part of the reason may be that physicians simply don't vote at the same rate as the general public. Physicians have other tools, such as behind-the-scenes lobbying, for influencing policy, but votes are politicans' lifeblood and that's often what they respond to. The behind-the-scenes work may not even be as effective now that the AMA has been banned from discussions about the upcoming Medicare package and its accompanying payment cut.
However, many politicians do work to offer tangible solutions to providers' problems; they just often get lost in the political horse races and the broader political discussions about healthcare reform. Earlier this week, for example, Gingrich and Senator John Kerry spoke about the proposed Medicare Electronic Medication and Safety Protection Act, which will offer incentive payments to physicians who invest in e-prescribing. The event didn't make headlines, but the bill will help address the cost barriers that prevent many physicians from adopting the new technology.
Staying on top of issues like this and filtering out political pandering is particularly important during an election year. We'll keep you updated about the changes that politicians are proposing, as well as day to day changes occurring on the ground in medical practices and hospitals across the country. Attending a conference like AMGA gives me an opportunity to speak face-to-face with physicians and practice leaders about the struggles they face on a daily basis and the innovative solutions they've developed to overcome them.
Senior Online Editor Rick Johnson and I will be reporting live from AMGA over the next couple of days, so check in regularly to find out what Bradley, Gingrich, and your colleagues have to say about what's changing--and what isn't--in healthcare.
Physicians are not getting the sleep they need to function at their best and current work schedules may contribute to their inadequate sleep, according to a survey released by the American College of Chest Physicians Sleep Institute. The survey found that most physicians sleep fewer hours than needed for peak performance and nearly half of physicians believe their work schedules do not allow for adequate sleep.
