California's labor battle over who will represent tens of thousands of hospital workers will be determined in voting booths around the state. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, formed last week by the ousted leaders of United Healthcare Workers West, has asked state officials to conduct elections at 64 healthcare facilities where it says a majority of employees currently represented by Oakland-based UHW want to join the new group.
After months of quiet planning for a new academic medical complex in New Orleans, the temperature is rising between Louisiana State University System officials and opponents of the school's proposed site. LSU leaders say they are reacting to what they say is misinformation and cheap shots by preservationists and other opponents of the proposed complex. Walter Gallas, the New Orleans field director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said LSU officials have earned the criticism, and he said the university is to blame for any rhetorical escalation.
Harvard Medical School plans to strengthen its conflict-of-interest rules for doctors and researchers. The move comes amid a U.S. Senate investigation into several faculty members and a new state law that will make public some of the payments doctors receive from pharmaceutical and medical-device companies. Many top medical schools have adopted stricter policies in the past two years. Last year, the American Medical Student Association graded Harvard with an F on its conflict-of-interest policy because it does not address issues like whether companies can provide gifts and meals for faculty.
A consumer group seeking Medicare billing records to help grade doctors on quality said it's not giving up despite a reversal from a federal appeals court. The case is being closely watched as an important battle in the effort to reshape the nation's healthcare system. Consumer advocates, employers, and insurers argue that access to Medicare claims filed by doctors' offices could help independent groups monitor quality and ferret out waste. But doctors are worried that such disclosures would violate their privacy, and that ratings could portray some physician's offices inaccurately.
Access Carroll is a medical nonprofit organization that offers free healthcare to residents in Carroll County, MD, with low incomes and no health insurance. The number of patients treated by Access Carroll more than doubled between 2006 and 2008, when more than 2,300 patients were seen in 5,700 visits. And with the economy projected to continue its downward spiral this year, organizations such as Access Carroll will be in greater demand, said Tammy Black, executive director of Access Carroll.
Tom Daschle's former Democratic colleagues were rallying to his defense after he met behind closed doors with the Senate Finance Committee to discuss problems with back taxes and potential conflicts of interest, but lawmakers promised he will face more questions. Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, is President Barack Obama's nominee to oversee the Health and Human Services Department.
A Florida anesthesiologist has been arrested, accused of threatening former co-workers at Morton Plant Hospital and breaking windows at medical centers in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Benjamin Sanchez, MD, showed up at the anesthesiology building at Morton Plant and threatened the employees, according to Clearwater police spokeswoman. Court records suggest that Sanchez has disagreed with his co-workers before.
With just a month before the Death with Dignity Act takes effect in Washington, hospitals and other healthcare institutions are racing to learn the details of the law, decide if they will participate, and put together policies that address the law's many nuances and complexities. Statewide, many healthcare systems and hospice programs have not yet come up with final policies on whether, or how, they will participate.
For the third year in a row, Miami-based Leon Medical Centers Health Plans made a huge marketing push during the Super Bowl—rubbing elbows with the nation's advertising biggies. For viewers, the seamless transition between commercials made it seem that Leon was a nationwide marketer, but in fact it was purchasing local spots at much less than the $3 million for 30 seconds that the big boys were paying. ''It gets that buzz going,'' said Leon spokesman Rebecca Larger. ''It gets the phones ringing. It does not necessarily reach our demographic''—senior citizens on Medicare—''but it definitely targets the children, the sandwich generation, the decision-makers for the seniors'' about which Medicare health-maintenance organization is right for their parents.
Largely under the guise of economic stimulus, Congress and the president are moving quickly to infuse—perhaps not large and perhaps not permanent—but significant temporary cash into healthcare. Is this good news for hospitals and health systems?
