Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said there's much he likes in the recommendations he received from a task force he he appointed to find ways to improve healthcare in the state, but he stopped short of endorsing some of the panel's recommendations. The broad range of recommendations would link doctors, hospitals, employers, patients, insurers, schools, communities and policy makers in initiatives aimed at paring $12.3 billion from healthcare costs otherwise projected to soar to $57.4 billion by 2015.
A pair of highly unusual ballot measures to rebuild Children's Hospital in Oakland, CA, appear to be headed toward defeat. Supporters say the nonprofit hospital is not earthquake safe, and they want to build a new, 250-bed hospital near the existing structure. Opponents said it is unfair for a private business to saddle taxpayers with debt, adding that it would set a bad precedent because other hospitals in the region would seek similar financing.
Overcrowding in the emergency room at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is placing patients in immediate jeopardy, according to California inspectors working on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The investigation was prompted by the death of an emergency room patient who left the hospital before treatment was finished and was found dead in a parking lot across the street.
Several members of DeKalb County's Board of Commissioners said that they need time to digest the details of the proposal to transfer day-to-day administration of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta to a nonprofit corporation. The authority that runs the public hospital approved the new arrangement last month, but both DeKalb and Fulton counties also must approve the change because of their debt arrangements with the hospital system.
Hospital leaders in Des Moines, IA, say an unexplained surge of patients in January gave them valuable lessons on how to handle a sudden bird-flu outbreak or other healthcare crisis. At times, ERs became so full administrators were tempted to tell ambulance crews to take patients elsewhere but could not because of the surge. At times, nearly every hospital room in the city was taken, forcing hospitals' staff to become more sophisticated in how they handle such situations.
Iowa Legislators have announced a healthcare package that would extend coverage to all children in the state. The state would extend existing programs to an additional 25,000 youngsters who are eligible for healthcare but excluded because the state can't afford to pay for their coverage. An additional 19,000 children without coverage would get a state subsidy to enroll them in private plans. Supporters of the plan said they hoped to have all children covered within about three years.
The top two legislative leaders in Massachusetts are considering raising the cigarette tax as one of several funding and cost-cutting strategies for the state's healthcare initiative. The lawmakers said they would also consider stiffer penalties on businesses that fail to insure their workers as a means to raise additional funds. And they are seeking ways to reduce healthcare costs, despite promising not to scale back the health insurance initiative.
The Children's Medical Center of Dayton, OH, could lose $3 million in funding if Congress approves a new budget request that would eliminate $301 million of funding for a federal program that trains pediatricians and pediatric specialists at 60 independent children's teaching hospitals. Children's Medical Center representatives said the funding was critical to its ability to fund the training of future pediatricians and meet the healthcare needs in its region.
William Petasnick, the chief executive of Froedtert & Community Health, has been named 2008 chairman of the American Hospital Association. Petasnick says that the healthcare system needs to be changed and transformed to better meet the needs of communities and patients. The AMA wants to use the coming presidential election as an opportunity to begin the debate about the U.S. healthcare system, he adds.
In response to concerns about patient information security and privacy, hospitals are increasingly turning to auditing software. Analysts said the pressure on healthcare organizations increased in 2007, when HIPAA began a series of audits with the surprise delivery of a list of 42 security and privacy requirements to an Atlanta hospital. Other surprise audits have followed and more are anticipated.
