The Joint Commission has granted Chicago-based Stroger Hospital full accreditation seven months after downgrading its status to "conditional." In May 2007, The Commission cited the hospital for 16 areas of non-compliance, all of which have been addressed, Stroger representatives said.
Patients of a physician who is charged with running a "pill mill" linked to 56 overdose deaths plan to sue the government. The patients claim prosecution of the doctor has put patients in mortal danger and created a public health disaster. The lawsuit names Attorney General Michael Mukasey, U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren, the state of Kansas and the Kansas Board of Healing Arts as defendants.
St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City is seeking a sleek new upgrade. The project would tear down the facility, replacing it with a high-rise that would dwarf many buildings in the neighborhood. The 159-year-old Catholic hospital calls the deal its best hope for safeguarding its own health and that of its patients. The plan, however, has drawn considerable opposition from residents of Greenwich Village.
New York City hospitals of all sizes and types are spending hundreds of millions of dollars renovating, rebuilding and expanding their emergency rooms. The hospitals are often dividing them into treatment areas for the sickest patients with the most dire injuries and using quieter corners for the patients using ERs for routine medical care. An increasing number are also taking steps to bring civility and hospitality to the emergency room because they are seen as vital points of entry for paying patients whose eventual admission accounts for needed revenue.
Healthcare remains a top concern among voters: A recent national survey showed healthcare ranked third (after the economy and the war in Iraq) among Democratic voters; among Republicans, healthcare ranks among the top 10 issues. But many people across the country remain confused on just how the front-runners compare on key healthcare issues.
The Greater Cincinnati region has about 4,900 doctors now, 748 fewer than it should have for its population, according to the Cincinnati MD Resource Center. Doctors claim low pay from insurers is causing the shortage. Those who hire doctors say it's difficult to attract new ones to the region unless they have family there or have lived in the area previously.
Under a health reform bill being considered, Iowa hospitals and nursing homes would need state permission before they could build replacement facilities anywhere but their current sites. The proposed requirement would close an exemption that has allowed new healthcare facilities to be built without state approval as long as they are replacing similar facilities in the same county. Without the exemption, such projects would need permission from the Iowa Health Facilities Council.
A report from the Birmingham-based Alabama Policy Institute argues that the state's certificate of need laws limit hospital competition that might drive down medical costs and give patients more choices. Alabama currently requires certificate of need approval for new medical construction or renovations costing more than $4.5 million, and for medical equipment purchases over $2.3 million. Hospitals that want to offer a new service must also get the OK from state health planners.
Boynton Beach, FL-based Bethesda Memorial Hospital's new heart institute is a $57 million endeavor that brings Palm Beach County its fifth open-heart surgery program. With open-heart surgery a lucrative procedure and cardiovascular disease the No. 1 killer in the United States, centers such as Bethesda's are highly coveted. Bethesda officials expect to perform about 150 open-heart surgeries in the program's first year, and seven surgeries were done during the institute's first week alone.
A new conflicts-of-interest policy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center aims to make doctors' decisions free from influence created by gifts or improper relationships with the drug or medical device industries. The policy bans gifts provided by industry representatives as they work to present information about their products at doctors' offices. The policy does not only target doctors--the policy directly applies to about 50,000 faculty, staff and students of the university's Schools of the Health Sciences and other professionals and staff employed or contracted by UPMC's U.S. operations.
