With President Obama poised to give a healthcare address Sept. 9 before a joint session of Congress, administration officials say that he will deliver a detailed prescription for reform despite the risks of spelling out exactly where he stands. Vice President Biden said the speech will map out "in understandable, clear terms what our administration wants to happen with regard to healthcare, and what we are going to push for specifically."
As President Obama faces conflicting pressures from the left and the right over his healthcare proposal, White House officials are investigating a possible compromise under which the government would offer its own health plan only if private insurers failed to provide affordable coverage. The idea of such a backup plan has emerged in negotiations between the White House and Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, on whom the White House rests its hopes of finding a middle ground, according to the New York Times.
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and state regulators are scrutinizing how HMOs review and pay insurance claims submitted by doctors, hospitals, and other medical providers. The announcement came as regulators said they had stepped up scrutiny of the payment practices of the state's seven largest health plans in response to complaints from physicians and hospitals.
Six Southern California hospitals have been fined $25,000 each in administrative penalties for serious violations. The violations, in some cases, led to death or serious injury, according to state Department of Public Health officials.
Plans for a 56-bed HCA hospital in Spring Hill, TN, took a hit when a judge blocked the project, calling earlier state approval of it "a clear error in judgment." Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman reversed an earlier ruling by the state Health Services Development Agency, which had approved a certificate of need for HCA's project. Bonnyman said the healthcare agency that reviews hospital and other medical construction projects acted "without a reasonably sound factual basis."
Georgia-based Emory Healthcare and Grady Memorial Hospital are requiring employees to take the seasonal flu vaccine, officials announced. In addition, Grady changed its visitation policy to request that no children or adolescents visit inpatients at the facility. Exceptions will be made in those instances in which the children's visits are beneficial for the emotional well-being of a patient, hospital officials said.
A leaked consultants' report has advised drastic staff and budget cuts to Britain's universal healthcare system, and a group of senior doctors expressed concern about the treatment of dying patients. A report from management consultants McKinsey & Co. advised the National Health Service to cut a tenth of its 1.5 million-strong work force over the next five years to make up a budget shortfall. It also suggested the NHS sell off hospitals and cut back on some services. In addition, a group of doctors who treat the terminally ill said they were worried that some are dying prematurely because of guidelines on dealing with patients in their final hours.
New England Baptist Hospital in Boston announced its board of trustees has appointed a new president and chief executive: Patricia L. Hannon, who is currently senior vice president for healthcare operations at Baystate Health in Springfield. Hannon, who is also chief operating officer at Baystate Medical Center, will start her job at New England Baptist on Nov. 2.
While the U.S. is starting to see an uptick in the number of H1N1 influenza cases, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the novel virus isn't becoming stronger.
"The good news is so far everything we've seen both here and abroad shows the virus is not changing," said Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC. The report looked at the impact of the H1N1 virus in five countries in the Southern Hemisphere from May through August.
With a number of poor children about to be dropped from a publicly subsidized health insurance program, California lawmakers voted to levy a tax on insurance companies to help maintain the program, which had been slashed into near nonexistence as part of the state's budget. The deal may well presage efforts by other states to involve the health insurance companies in efforts to insure people as Congress debates similar measures at the federal level.
