Fulton County, GA, slashed its public funding for Grady Memorial Hospital by $30 million over issues of spending accountability. The board, however, promised more money if Grady provides an annual audit and monthly reports of income, patient numbers, and standard of care. Fulton commissioners voted 4-3 to give the charity hospital $50 million this year, down from $80 million last year and $100 million in 2007. The county budget commission had only recommended paring the allocation this year by $3.5 million, to $76.5 million.
Park Nicollet Health Services has become the first healthcare system in Minnesota to require doctors to publicly disclose their financial relationships with drug and medical device companies. The move by Park Nicollet is designed to allay concerns that these relationships pose a conflict of interest by influencing doctors' treatment decisions. Drug and device companies defend the payments, saying doctors' expertise is needed to make their products better.
Resurrection Health Care is looking at consolidating operations of its two hospitals in the Near West Chicago suburbs to deal with declining numbers of patients amid the economic downturn. Resurrection executives say eliminating senior levels of management at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park is under way. The facilities are two of eight hospitals the Catholic-owned healthcare system has in the Chicago area.
The public board tasked with overseeing construction of St. Bernard Parish's first post-Katrina hospital held off on considering an offer from the Parish Council to take over the project. Hospital Service District Chairman Daniel Dysart said the five-member board wants to discuss the intent of the council's resolution, which was passed January 20. The wording in the council's resolution stated that the council "has at its disposal the full resources of the parish" and that the hospital board has limited or no resources at their disposal to execute the construction of a hospital. "My understanding was that this resolution was passed as an offer of help to the HSD," Dysart said. "We just want to talk about it and see where it's coming from."
The faltering economy has stalled plans to move the Shriners Hospital for Children in St. Louis. Construction on the new 247,000-square-foot pediatric orthopedics hospital on Clayton Avenue was set to start in April on a six-acre site currently used as a parking lot. Shriners officials are now looking for at least a six-month extension on the construction start date, said John O'Shaughnessy, administrator of the Shriners Hospital for Children. The construction project is expected to cost $150 million and include space for 40 patient beds, four operating rooms, and 30 exam rooms.
The Statewide Health Coordinating Council voted unanimously to clear the way for Hoover, AL, get its first hospital. Hoover, with an estimated population of 72,596, is the largest city in Alabama without a hospital. The council voted to amend the State Health Plan to stipulate that any city with at least 60,000 residents and no hospital should be allowed one, even if the city is in a county with an overall excess of licensed hospital beds. That description describes only Hoover.
A study by California officials of hospital death rates shows that for eight common conditions and procedures, the rates vary widely. The study looked at mortality rates for 2007 and 2006, and found that, in 2007, 25 hospitals had death rates that were significantly better than the state average on at least one indicator, while 94 were significantly worse in at least one area. The state plans to update the study annually and to expand the categories.
The average bill for patients that contracted an infection during their hospital care in Pennsylvania was nearly five-and-a-half times the bill for those who did not get in infection, according to a study by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council. The Council's examination of hospital-acquired infections found 27,949 patients got infections during their care in 2007. That was a drop of nearly 8%, from 19.2 per 1,000 patients in 2006 to 17.7 per 1,000 patients in 2007.
The petition for the proposed merger of Philadelphia's Independence Blue Cross and Pittsburgh's Highmark Inc., the state's two largest health insurers, was withdrawn by the companies. The decision by Independence and Highmark came in advance of what they knew would be an adverse ruling by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance. The proposed merger would have created the state's largest health insurer and one of the largest in the nation.
As President Obama gets down to the business of increasing access to health coverage, some liberals in Congress are suggesting he follow the Bush administration's lead and expand community health centers, according to this Wall Street Journal health blog posting.
