Indiana University plans to have students take clinical rotations at hospitals outside Indianapolis starting in fall 2008. After launching pilot rotations in South Bend and Fort Wayne, IU eventually plans to expand to several other cities. In addition to helping the medical school accommodate its larger class sizes, officials hope to expose students to parts of the state they might want to return to for work.
Preservationists are expected to battle a controversial development proposal for St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, fearing that New York City will sanction the destruction of nine buildings in a historic district to allow the construction of two enormous towers. Opponents say the towers would blight their low-rise neighborhood and undermine the value of landmark protection throughout the city. St. Vincent representatives say the project is necessary to reach the hospital's goal of providing a top-level trauma center and advanced teaching hospital to serve more than a million people.
A majority of American doctors support the concept of national health insurance, according to a survey by researchers at Indiana University's Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research. The survey findings represent a shift in thinking over the past five years. The survey found that 59 percent of physicians support "government legislation to establish national health insurance." A similar survey conducted in 2002 found that 49 percent of physicians supported the concept.
In some states, ambulance crews who suspect a stroke are required to seek out a designated stroke center, unless the nearest one is an unreasonable distance away. Now health officials in Virginia and Washington, DC, are considering similar plans. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has signed a bill requiring local health officials to rush stroke patients to Joint Commission-certified primary stroke centers. In Washington, DC, the medical director of Fire and Emergency Medical Services said he soon will issue a protocol requiring transport of suspected stroke patients to Joint Commission-certified stroke centers.
With the opening of a four-story women's hospital, Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth (TX) is seeking to draw women and their doctors away from downtown rival Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital. The $95 million Paul and Judy Andrews Women's Hospital features dozens of labor-and-delivery rooms, state-of-the-art operating rooms and a neonatal intensive care unit.
Indianapolis-based Riley Hospital for Children is using a new system to ensure babies get the rest they need to develop. The Sonicu system has warning lights that hover over snoozing babies in the intensive care unit, and the lights flash whenever sound levels creep beyond normal conversation. As decibels rise, the colors on the new monitoring system change from green to yellow to red. Inventor Chris Smith has sold his Sonicu system to several Indiana hospitals and wants to expand nationally. Some doctors are promoting the system, saying interering with a baby's sleep can slow development and healing because their bodies do most of that work while they sleep.
The Slidell (LA) Memorial Hospital board of commissioners have approved a three-year contract with TeamHealth to provide emergency room doctors beginning June 1, 2008. Citing increased wait times and general patient dissatisfaction, the hospital sought to part ways with Emergency Medical Physicians and Services, its former emergency room service provider. During a meeting on the matter, all of the hospital's doctors who spoke said the emergency room doctors had expressed concerns about working for TeamHealth, in part because it is a large, national company and in part because the current emergency room director likely would not stay on under TeamHealth's management.
Plans to reassess the details of a proposed $1.2 billion, 484-bed teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans are raising some concerns about the future of the facility. Louisiana Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine says he is worried that the hospital's current configuration is too expensive and might not qualify for bond financing. As a result, Leveine wants to hire outside experts to "challenge the assumptions" in a business model that said the new hospital would be financially viable.
While an increasing number of doctors perform surgery in their offices instead of hospitals, researchers have found a higher risk of death and complications in offices compared with other facilities. However, many health leaders, doctors, insurers and patients support office surgery, because the setting is convenient and more private. It also allows physicians to control the schedule and use their own staff. There's less risk of infections spread by sick hospital patients as well. In addition, patients may save hundreds or thousands compared with outpatient surgical centers and hospitals.
The Palm Beach County (FL) Medical Society is offering a pilot group of 25 patients access to concierge care. The medical society is partnering with MDVIP, a national network of physicians who pare their practices to about 600 patients to offer more personalized healthcare. Those in the pilot group are uninsured and are at 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The program will add 25 to 75 patients after a few months, according to medical society representatives.
