An organization of Christian physicians argued against an impending rollback of a federal rule allowing healthcare workers to refuse to provide certain reproductive services, saying it's discriminatory. Under the rule, workers in healthcare settings can refuse to provide services, information, or advice to patients on subjects such as contraception, family planning, blood transfusions, and even vaccine counseling if they are morally against it. The Obama administration is expected to reverse the rule shortly.
Seattle Children's Hospital stands to lose nearly $60 million in Medicaid funding over the next two years—possibly the largest proposed budget cut to any hospital in the state, hospital officials said. That is forcing Children's to make some decisions that would affect thousands of kids in the region. Among the programs being considered for reductions: dental care, outpatient psychiatric visits, and home-care help. The hospital is also pondering the future of its nurse-consulting phone line, a longtime service for parents wanting information about various ailments.
Nevada lawmakers challenged officials from Las Vegas-based University Medical Center about their decision to end outpatient cancer treatment at the hospital. Officials from UMC said that their own budget crisis forced them to examine which services they could cut. In order to re-establish service, UMC would need to have an additional $3.5 million in revenue per year, the officials said.
In a settlement, the Los Angeles city attorney's office said that College Hospital had dumped more than 150 mentally ill patients on skid row in 2007 and 2008. As part of the settlement, the hospital will pay $1.6 million in penalties and charitable contributions to a host of psychiatric and social-service agencies.
Ambulatory Services of America Inc. said a joint venture that includes its dialysis subsidiary has completed acquiring three dialysis centers around Gallup, NM. The centers served more than 360 patients through outpatient, acute, and home dialysis programs in New Mexico.
Concerned about the potential for medical errors as the number of non-English speakers grows, Illinois hospitals are rolling out a live video system that can translate from medical-care providers to patients in 150 languages. The Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council and California-based Paras and Associates have launched the effort in three hospitals in Chicago and a fourth in Salem; 25 other facilities are considering adopting the technology.
A decade after HMOs provoked an angry public backlash for being too focused on the bottom line, managed care is making a comeback, particularly among Democratic policymakers now shaping a proposed overhaul of the nation's healthcare system. The "medical home" is based on the idea that high quality care and stronger relationships between patients and their primary care doctors will save money in the long run.
After a four-year delay, Boston-based Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is resuming plans to move out of its current building into a $200 million facility. Spaulding is proposing to build an eight-story hospital with 132 rooms, down from its current number of beds of 196. The 221,000-square-foot facility would have larger rooms and an array of amenities, including swimming pools, therapy rooms, gyms, community space, and an outpatient clinic. Officials said the hospital's current building, built in 1970, is obsolete.
Johns Hopkins is the latest big name in healthcare to try to restrict doctors' ties to the drug and device industries, implementing a new policy "on interaction with industry" that bans free drug samples and says doctors can't participate in consulting gigs in which they're essentially paid for not doing anything. The policy, which applies to Hopkins's medical school, hospitals and clinics, also prohibits gifts, entertainment or food from drug and medical device companies. It bars drug and device sales reps from patient-care areas, and says they're only allowed in other areas when invited by doctors or other staff. Donations from industry will have to be given to Hopkins itself rather than individual doctors.
A robot is helping doctors and nurses at Clearwater Valley Hospital in Idaho expand their access to big-city medicine. The 5-foot-2-inch robot connects primary care doctors with psychiatrists and other specialists at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. It also allows nurses, while they treat patients or assist in the operating room, to be critiqued and guided by experts at the larger hospital. Casey Meza, chief executive officer of Clearwater, said the robot is opening a new realm of medical services that wouldn't be available otherwise.
