Under the new program known as BadgerCare Plus, every every family in Wisconsin will have access to affordable health insurance for their children. The insurance will cost $10 to $90.74 a month for each child, depending on family income. The program consolidates and simplify three existing programs that provide health insurance to low-income families in Wisconsin.
SynergyHealth, which operates St. Joseph's Hospital near West Bend, WI, says it will begin "in-depth discussions" with Froedtert & Community Health about an affiliation. The announcement is the latest development in a wave of consolidation sweeping healthcare in the Milwaukee area.
In an effort to identify areas in healthcare that need improving, the Seattle-based Puget Sound Health Alliance conducted a "community checkup" of 1.6 million patients. Fewer than half of residents over 50 in the Washington counties surveyed have received recommended preventive care, the report found. While the Alliance hopes the findings will be a starting point for improvement, some physicians questioned how consumer-friendly the results will be and if anything beyond talking about the findings will be done.
Under a proposal from Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, health or social workers would visit some of the state's poorest neighborhoods looking for uninsured people to help them get medical attention or get enrolled in government healthcare programs. The $64 million pilot proposal would be aimed at neighborhoods in 14 counties with a high number of uninsured and where officials say the use of hospital emergency rooms for primary healthcare is particularly high.
Fox Chase Cancer Center will proceed with a planned $800 million expansion project after Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter brokered a deal between the hospital and a city council member. Fox Chase will be allowed to build on 19 acres in Burholme Park, and in exchange the center will contribute $4 million to the city's capital program to be earmarked for projects. A spokesperson for Fox Chase said that the hospital was optimistic that the expansion project "will move forward on a pretty rapid timetable."
State Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta) has filed a bill to prohibit the head of the Grady Memorial Hospital board from also serving as the hospital CEO. The legislation came the day after Grady board chairwoman Pam Stephenson announced the board had fired hospital CEO Otis Story and named her to temporarily replace him at the Atlanta facility. Jacobs called Stephenson's new position "a conflict of interest of epic proportions."
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has proposed a $150 million incentives plan to expand physicians' use of electronic medical records. The five-year project would reward doctors in smaller practices who begin filing patients' health history electronically. Those who do so would get more Medicare money, but Leavitt did not specify how much. A dozen communities nationwide can apply to be in the pilot program.
In a hearing before the chairmen of two Washington, DC, City Council committees, administrators said of Greater Southeast Community Hospital will have a different name and an active community advisory board within months. The hospital's new board of directors has also approved the purchase of $5 million worth of radiology equipment and hiring is taking place in almost every department, administrators said.
Patients admitted to the top-rated hospitals in the United States have an average 27 percent lower risk of dying than patients admitted to other U.S. hospitals, according to a study by an independent healthcare ratings organization. The analysis also found that patients who have surgery at the top-rated hospitals have an average 5 percent lower risk of complications during their hospital stay.
St. Louis Children's Hospital's "Building for Care, Searching for Cures" five-year campaign raised more than $130 million, administrators have announed. The funding will be used for ongoing programs and services, facility expansion and the establishment of the Children's Discovery Institute.
