The board of directors at Mercy Health Ministry has named Lynn Britton president and CEO of Mercy Health System, which operates 19 acute-care hospitals in seven states. Britton has served since 2004 as senior vice president with responsibility for Mercy' information services and supply chain divisions, as well as oversight of Mercy's healthcare services in Arkansas. Britton joined the health system in 1992 as director of materials management at Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City. In 1999, he moved to St. John's Mercy Health Care in St. Louis as executive director of materials and resource management. Britton transferred the following year to Mercy's corporate office as vice president for resource optimization. Britton succeeds John Sullivan, who served as president and CEO since 2007.
The Florida Health Care Association, the state trade association for Florida's nursing homes, has named J. Emmett Reed as its new executive director and CEO. Reed previously served as the CEO of the Florida Home Builders Association for 11 years. Reed replaces William J. Phelan, who is retiring from FHCA after 28 years of service.
Under the $787 billion economic stimulus bill approved by Congress, researchers will receive $1.1 billion to compare drugs, medical devices, surgery and other ways of treating specific conditions. The bill creates a council of up to 15 federal employees to coordinate the research and to advise President Obama and Congress on how to spend the money. The program responds to a growing concern about the soaring cost of healthcare and that doctors have little or no solid evidence of the value of many treatments. Supporters of the research hope it will eventually save money by discouraging the use of costly, ineffective treatments.
The $19 billion in Congress's economic stimulus package to bring America's healthcare records into the electronic age is an opportunity for information technology firms seeking to build market share in a still-young industry. Although the federal government set a goal five years ago of creating an electronic health record for every American by 2014, the effort has lagged. Roadblocks include concerns over lack of universal protocols for collecting data as well as rules that establish how, with whom and under what circumstances the data can be shared. Many healthcare providers fear liability if private information gets into the wrong hands. Embedded in all these issues is the cost, an estimated $150 billion, which has proven to be a significant barrier to that 2014 target.
General Motors executives are locked in negotiations with leaders of the United Automobile Workers over ways to cut its vast bills for retiree healthcare. GM will file what is expected to be the largest restructuring plan of its 100-year history on Feb. 17, and GM pressed union leaders in a meeting in Detroit for a deal on financing a perpetual, GM-financed trust to cover healthcare costs of hundreds of thousands of retired hourly workers and their surviving spouses.
When Thomas A. Daschle, embroiled in controversy over failing to pay more than $100,000 in back taxes, stepped down as director of the White House Office on Health Reform and withdrew his nomination to be secretary of health and human services, it left a hole in President Obama's leadership team. The vacancy is one that healthcare advocates say has stalled what they hoped would be speedy action on high-priority measures. Administration advisers still are not talking publicly about who might replace Daschle or when a nomination might be made.
Acinetobacter doesn't garner as many headlines as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the dangerous superbug better known as MRSA. But a January report by the Infectious Diseases Society of America warned that drug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii and two other microbes could soon produce a toll to rival MRSA's. The three bugs belong to a large category of bacteria called "gram-negative" that are especially hard to fight because they are wrapped in a double membrane and harbor enzymes that chew up many antibiotics. As dangerous as MRSA is, some antibiotics can still treat it, and more are in development, experts say.
The Oklahoma Hospital Association launched a Web site giving patient quality and safety information for 80 Oklahoma hospitals. The site also will help hospitals learn best practices for improving care, said Craig Jones, the hospital association's president. The Oklahoma site allows users to search and compare hospital data on 45 patient safety measures.
Navigating the bureaucracy of public assistance programs and fighting for legal entitlements ranging from disability benefits to special education requirements are tough tasks for many people. Low-income families are in even more of a bind, social service advocates say, because they often aren't aware of resources and can't afford legal representation. But a pilot program in Missouri brings lawyers into hospital settings when a medical diagnosis alone can't solve the problem. The program, the Children's Health Advocacy Project, is expanding now with a $573,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health.
Independence, MO-based Centerpoint Medical Center has settled some disputes with the Nurses United union, a move that could hasten the effort some nurses have taken to oust the bargaining unit. Early in February, Centerpoint posted notices throughout the hospital that it will not prohibit employees from discussing union activities or distributing union literature at nurses' stations. The Independence hospital also said it will not fail to bargain with Nurses United on weekend-duty issues involving some nurses. About 370 Centerpoint nurses are represented by Nurses United Local 5126, and voted to join the bargaining group in November 2007. However, negotiations have failed to result in an initial contract.
