A world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 but for years did not report much of this income to university officials, according to information given Congressional investigators. By failing to report income, the psychiatrist and a colleague may have violated federal and university research rules designed to police potential conflicts of interest, according to Senator Charles E. Grassley.
Doctors at a community hospital in New York City that is part of a large system of hospitals say they are being squeezed out so the system can sell off property in popular neighborhoods. The doctors contend that the parent company, Continuum Health Partners, has been downsizing the institution where they work, Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, and diverting resources to its more prestigious hospitals in Manhattan, primarily Beth Israel Medical Center. The doctors estimate that the system had already sold off $50 million in property belonging to their hospital, and have filed formal complaints with the State Health Department and attorney general's office seeking to terminate membership in the Continuum system.
The number of U.S. residents who have health insurance but not the ability to afford adequate medical care continues to climb. About 25 million Americans did not have sufficient coverage last year to shield them from financial hardship if they ended up in the emergency room or were seriously ill, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund. The continuous rise in medical costs, combined with a growing number of insurance plans that require patients to pay a higher portion of their medical bills, has led to a 60% increase in the number of underinsured adults from 2003 to 2007, according to the study.
A new study of diabetes patients has found stark racial disparities even among patients treated by the same doctors. The lead author of the study said he attributed the differences to a systemic failure to tailor treatments to patients' cultural norms. The problem may be that physicians do not discriminate in the way they counsel patients, he said.
The St. Bernard Parish Hospital Service District has contracted with Wisconsin-based Hammes Co.to manage the planning, design and construction of a proposed hospital in Chalmette, LA. Hammes Co. will help the district develop a facility of at least 40 beds on a 20-acre site. Officials hope to have the new hospital, to be called St. Bernard Parish Hospital, built by late 2010.
After three years of waiting for the IRS to approve its mechanism for disbursing millions in grants to Pittsburgh-area physicians to help them upgrade their electronic record-keeping capabilities, Highmark has announced it is tweaking the plan to get around the need for IRS clearance. In 2005, Highmark announced plans to establish a $26.5 million fund that would have distributed grants of up to $7,000. Physicians were to use the money to invest in electronic record-keeping technology. But because the money was funneled through the eHealth Collaborative before reaching the doctors, the collaborative needed to obtain tax-exempt, charitable status from the IRS.
As the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center searches the world for new revenues and exporting opportunities, hospital administrators say a key tool in the nonprofit's quest to become a "global health enterprise" is a multi-million dollar jet. Flight plans submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration during an eight-month period in 2007 and a 40-day period in early 2008 show slightly more than half of all of the jet's trips were taken internationally. Many of these were to or from cities in Italy, Ireland and the United Kingdom, where UPMC has existing arrangements with local hospitals and cancer centers. UPMC Vice Chairman Mark Laskow acknowledged that other nonprofit healthcare systems do not typically lease private airplanes, but "they are not generating intellectual capital of the kind we are creating."
Beginning on October 1, accredited hospitals that provide acute inpatient psychiatric services will be able to use The Joint Commission's Hospital-Based Psychiatric Services measure set to meet current Joint Commission ORYX performance measurement requirements.
In addition, general medical/surgical hospitals that provide acute inpatient psychiatric services will be able to select the Hospital-Based Inpatient Psychiatric Services measure set as one of their four sets of core measures needed to meet 2008 ORYX requirements, according to a release from The Joint Commission.
The final measure set includes:
Admission screening for violence risk, substance use, psychological trauma history and patient strengths completed
Hours of physical restraint use
Hours of seclusion use
Patients discharged on multiple antipsychotic medications
Patients discharged on multiple antipsychotic medications with appropriate justification
Post discharge continuing plan created
Post discharge continuing care plan transmitted to next level of care provider upon discharge.
The Joint Commission will publicly report hospital performance on the measure set once it has received National Quality Forum endorsement and Hospital Quality Alliance approval, according to the release. For more information, visit The Joint Commission Web site.
William Bobbitt Paschall's death at Louisburg, NC-based Franklin Regional Medical Center led to three federal investigations at Franklin Regional. Beyond Paschall's case, investigators found that the hospital violated dozens of federal standards designed to keep patients safe. Nurses and doctors failed to record critical medical information, and the hospital allowed nurse anesthetists to work without required supervision, according to two federal investigations. The third investigation has found problems with the hospital's pharmaceutical and respiratory services, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Atlanta.
Ohio-based University Hospitals Case Medical Center is opening a new cancer hospital in December 2010, and officials want to have everything in place to receive more government money for cancer patient care. University Hospitals is lobbying Congress for an exemption from limits on Medicare reimbursements, which would provide the hospital with millions of dollars more each year for treatments, research, and top physician talent. But nearby rival Cleveland Clinic wants the proposal blocked.
