The number of reports of deaths linked to all versions of the blood thinner heparin have tripled, according to a report released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA said there are now 62 reports of deaths of patients who experienced one or more allergic reactions and who were infused with heparin from Jan. 1, 2007 through the end of last March 2008. That compares to just 19 deaths from an earlier FDA report.
SSM Health Care, parent of St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island, IL, said it has been approached by parties interested in taking over the 410-bed hospital. SSM recently announced the hospital will be closing due to rising numbers of uninsured and the lack of a buyer. Despite the interest, SSM Health Care representatives said as of right now it is unilikely a deal would emerge.
In an effort to get employees to live healthier, an increasing number of employers are offering wellness coaching to employees at on-site clinics. Some three in 10 large employers have on-site clinics that offer everything from primary care to travel medicine, pregnancy support and nutrition counseling. Walt Disney Co. recently began construction on a $6 million health-and-wellness center for employees at Walt Disney World in Florida.
The latest Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study shows that from 2004 through 2006, patient safety errors resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths of Medicare patients and cost the Medicare program $8.8 billion. The analysis found that patients treated at top-performing hospitals were, on average, 43 percent less likely to experience one or more medical errors than patients at the poorest-performing hospitals.
A delay in performing a Caesarean section during Jacob Tomlian's birth will cost Plantation, FL-based Westside Regional Medical Center and Mark Grenitz, MD, $30 million. The delay left the 16-year-old with cerebral palsy, mental retardation, a spastic gait and deafness in one ear, according to jurors in Broward County. Jurors found the hospital 85 percent responsible and Grenitz 15 percent responsible in the medical malpractice case, according to attorneys.
The bacterial super bug Clostridium difficile thrives in unsanitary hospital conditions and in response to antibiotic treatments. As a result, there is a vicious cycle where the healthcare industry feeds the problem it is trying to treat. Facing pressure from infection-control physicians and the federal government, doctors and hospitals are now trying to enforce sanitation standards and curb the overprescription of antibiotics in an effort to curb C. diff.
U.S. hospitals employed more than 5 million people in 2006 and had an economic footprint of nearly $1.9 trillion, according to a report from the American Hospital Association. The report showed that hospital jobs produced $284 billion in direct pay and benefits in 2006. In addition, every hospital job supported nearly two additional jobs, and every dollar spent by a hospital supported more than $2 of additional business activity on a national basis, according to the AHA.
Through a collaboration between the University of Kansas Hospital and the Kansas City Cancer Center, physicians are seeking better results for patients and for fewer area residents to go out of town for treatments. The collaboration allows a group of blood and marrow transplant physicians to pool resources and do more research.The program's five physicians also perform transplants on outpatients at KU Hospital's Westwood campus, while inpatients receive transplants at the hospital's main campus in Kansas City, KS.
Private South African hospitals are reacting angrily to a Council for Medical Schemes' report on private healthcare costs, saying it is riddled with errors and casts them unfairly as the villains responsible for increasing healthcare bills. The Council and private hospitals have a long history of arguing about their capacity to produce data on the private hospital industry, and the latest report is contributing to the tensions.
England Health Secretary Alan Johnson has appeared to have averted the threat of industrial action across the NHS in England with a pay offer for 1.2 million nurses and ancillary staff worth almost 8% over three years. The nurses will get an immediate increase of at least 2.75%, which will raise the minimum starting salary for a qualified nurse to more than £20,000.
