The Chairman of the Prince George's County (MD) Hospital Authority says there are nine parties interested in buying at least parts of the hospital system. Authority Chairman Kenneth Glover declined to reveal the names of interested parties. Glover is urging a legislative panel to support a bill that would allow the seven-member hospital authority to sell the hospital and four other county health facilities.
As many as 75% of U.S. doctors will be writing electronic prescriptions within five years, thanks to new federal spending to encourage e-prescribing, according to a forecast. The economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama last month included about $19 billion to promote the use of healthcare information technology, including e-prescribing. An estimated 13% of U.S. doctors prescribe drugs electronically, leaving the vast majority writing paper prescriptions, according to Surescripts, which operates the largest U.S. electronic prescribing network.
As they search for savings to redo the nation's $2.4 trillion health system, key congressional Democrats and administration officials are indicating they're open to changing a system that's a burden for doctors but a boon to attorneys and some victims of medical error. "The cost issue is the thing that we actually think is the big driver in this whole debate," Obama told business leaders last week. Research, prevention and "medical liability issues—I think all those things have to be on the table," the president said.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party leaders on healthcare in Minnesota have released a wide range of legislative proposals, including setting up 24-hour emergency dental clinics and birthing centers for deliveries, and said the long-term savings would climb into hundreds of millions of dollars. But they acknowledged that some initiatives would initially cost money, a likely source of conflict in a session focused on erasing a $4.6 billion budget deficit.
The Laurelhurst Community Club has appealed Seattle's environmental impact statement for Seattle Children's Hospital's proposed expansion plan. The proposed hospital expansion would more than double the number of beds and building sizes on the hospital's 22-acre campus and the 1.8 acres facing it. Laurelhurst residents appealed the environmental impact review to the Seattle Hearing Examiner, saying it: "understates the expansion's harmful impacts, including gridlock, and refuses to study any compromise alternatives that would help prevent them."
The University of South Florida is trying to persuade 10,000 Tampa-area doctors to ditch their prescription pads and go electronic. The university said it wants to use $18 million in federal economic stimulus money to help hire more than 100 people to work with doctors to make the change to "e-prescriptions." U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor says the effort will bring well-paying healthcare and information technology jobs to the 10-county region.
Rumbles of discontent continue over whether Texas is keeping promises it made two years ago to improve poor children's healthcare. Attorney Susan Zinn of San Antonio said that although Texas' Medicaid program now pays doctors and dentists more to see poor youngsters, huge challenges remain. Zinn has sent the state a letter urging that it further improve provider reimbursements and spend what it promised on strategic initiatives.
Although the federal and state governments provide services or coverage for uninsured children, adults without insurance are often left with minimal access to healthcare. Often, they resort to using emergency room visits for primary care. But at the University of California-Irvine Outreach Clinic, medical students provide comprehensive healthcare to real patients—most of whom are uninsured, don't speak English, and haven't seen a doctor in years.
Key Senate chairmen Max Baucus and Ted Kennedy will be central to the big health-reform push in Washington this year, but they are part of a larger, bipartisan group that is meeting every week to try and figure out the details of how to actually create a bill that might get broad support. Baucus calls the group, which includes Democratic and Republican leaders of the finance, health and budget committees, the "Board of Directors."
President Obama has dedicated $1.1 billion in the economic stimulus package for federal agencies to oversee studies on the merits of competing medical treatments. The comparative effectiveness research approach is aimed at finding the best treatments at the best prices. Proponents say reducing ineffective or unproven care is one way to rein in health costs. Skeptics, however, say Obama's decision to invest heavily in such research will lead to European-style rationing in which patients are denied lifesaving therapies to save money.
