Disease-tracking experts say California lags behind at least 15 other states that monitor drug-resistant infections in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Experts are now saying the state should require healthcare facilities to publicly disclose information on infection rates in order to provide more public oversight.
The DeKalb County (GA) Commission is set to vote on whether to approve a lease transferring management of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta to a private nonprofit corporation. The county's OK could bring hundreds of millions of dollars in capital funds, but consultants have said some cuts or changes in services could be needed to turn around the hospital's huge financial losses of the past decade. Now some of Grady's top doctors are weighing in on their prognosis for the healthcare system as it faces a potentially historic transition.
The United Auto Workers and attorneys representing several retirees have sued General Motors Corp. in an effort to get court approval to shift billions in retiree healthcare costs from the automaker to an independent trust fund. The fund would cover about 500,000 GM retirees and spouses, plus current UAW workers when they retire. The lawsuit is not a hostile action--GMwill not oppose its major points and joined the UAW and retirees in filing a settlement agreement that would govern how the trust would be run.
A new partnership among a team of doctors, Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, MA, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston is the latest healthcare affiliation aimed at providing more care locally that patients formerly sought in Boston. The joint venture will give the 26 doctors the resources to refer patients to minor care at the local level and specialized care in Boston, under the same network.
Hartford (CT) Hospital has tapped Elliot Joseph, 53, to take over the 867-bed teaching hospital when longtime president John Meehan retires in April 2008. Joseph is now a senior executive with St. Louis-based Ascension Health and previously ran a seven-hospital system in Warren, MI, that is part of Ascension's network.
Connecticut's first universal health insurance plan promising coverage to thousands of uninsured residents will begin taking enrollees in July 2008. The Charter Oak Health Insurance plan will insure those whose employers do not provide healthcare coverage and those who do not qualify for the state's HUSKY Medicaid or Medicare plan. Over the next four years, about 32,000 uninsured Connecticut residents will be eligible for the plan.
Governors of both parties have strongly objected to new federal Medicaid regulations that they said would shift billions of dollars in costs to the states, forcing them to consider cutbacks in services. The rules would reduce federal payments for public hospitals, teaching hospitals and services for the disabled, among others. One would ban the use of federal Medicaid money to help pay for the training of doctors, and another would set new limits on Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes operated by states, cities, counties and other units of government.
Healthways Inc. says that it can save healthcare dollars for companies by having its nurses make phone calls to the chronically ill to ensure proper care. But questions are mounting about whether the practice saves significant amounts of money.
AT&T Inc. is partnering with Tennessee to provide a statewide system to electronically exchange patient medical information. The system is designed to securely transmit detailed patient information between medical professionals, and will allow doctors to access medical histories, prescribe medicines over the Internet and transfer images.
Under a new proposal, Ascension Health would take over the struggling Prince George County (MD) hospital system. The system would be subsidized by $495 million in public money, with $297 million coming from the state and $198 million coming from Prince George County. The transfer would take five years and be overseen by an authority with seven members, five appointed by the county and two by the state. The proposal, however, could run into trouble with state officials because of its cost.
