Trent Crable has been named chief executive officer and managing director of Washington, DC-based George Washington University Hospital. He had been serving as the interim CEO since June 2008, and previously served as the hospital's chief operating officer.
President-elect Barack Obama intends to nominate the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids head William Corr as deputy secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, Obama's transition office has announced. "Corr has extensive management and healthcare policy experience both in Congress and at the Department of Health and Human Services," Obama's office said.
A good family health history is important in predicting future medical needs, but it's hugely underused. But now the government will beging offering a free new service to help people compile one at home, e-mail it to relatives who can fill in the gaps, and even pop it straight into their doctors' computers. The goal is to create a family health tree that will help genetics specialists look for patterns of inherited illnesses that can provide a powerful window on someone's brewing health risks.
The three-year legal battle that allowed Christ Hospital to withdraw from the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati is over after the two sides reached a financial settlement. All of the remaining legal claims will be withdrawn as part of the settlement, terms of which were not disclosed. Christ Hospital has been operating independently for more than a year with the two sides haggling in court over the amount of assets the hospital would take with it.
Plans to significantly expand Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, MN, have been put on the back burner until the economy improves. Officials from Lakeview Hospital were expected to seek approval from the Stillwater City Council early this year for their 20-year expansion plan. Now the four-phase project has been postponed because of the economy. The delay could last six months or maybe even a year, said hospital officials.
The Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut is set to unveil its proposal calling for major changes in the state's health system and a plan that the group says could insure 98% of state residents by 2014. It is the first of many state and federal proposals expected to be aired in what many people say is the year for health reform. Connecticut legislators are expected to address the issue in the current session.
A year ago, Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, DC, was in a dilapidated building. The ceilings and floors of the top levels were waterlogged and bowed from untended roof leaks. There was no working radiology equipment, and at one point the institution was on the verge of running out of food for patients.
But now the hospital's new owners have begun implementing changes to revive the once dilapidated building and business. The hospital is being revamped to meet the increasing need for long-term-care facilities for the city's aging and chronically sick. This month about 50 beds at the hospital, now called United Medical Center, will be set aside for what is known as long-term acute care.
A deepening recession that is demolishing jobs and family finances has led more Americans to struggle to pay their medical bills. For years the booming economy camouflaged the burden of medical debt. Patients borrowed against their homes or used credit cards, including some specially designed to pay medical or dental bills. But falling house prices and tightening credit have eliminated those options for many. As a result, the problem of medical debt is climbing the income scale, affecting not just the poor or the uninsured.
Worried that Kaiser Permanente may be letting unlicensed staffers make medical decisions, California is investigating the HMO's call centers and plans to demand documents that Kaiser has refused to surrender. The probe began in response to a nurse's complaints that mishandled calls are leaving Kaiser patients vulnerable to misdiagnoses and delayed care. The investigation is also shedding light on a 2003 state law that was intended to block using a semi-automated system to let people with no medical training determine how quickly a patient is seen. Kaiser contends those call center employees have so little discretion they don't actually make any medical decisions, they just follow scripts written by doctors.
Hospital emergency departments are full of patients who don?t belong there. It's not just neurotic parents, either; there are scores of people who come in for a sniffle or sore throat. +
If your hospital has recently undergone layoffs, don't expect "surviving" employees to work harder or pick up the slack out of sheer gratitude for not getting canned. +
Jerry Miller, MD, president of Holston Medical Group in East Tennessee, talks about strategizing on investments needed to make in strategic initiatives to diversify revenue streams. +
