Darren Rodgers, president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, has a discussion with The Dallas Morning News about insurer-physician tensions, healthcare costs, and the government's role in these issues.
A Madison, GA, hospital plans to build a $35 million facility, countering the recession trends that have stalled similar medical projects. Morgan Memorial Hospital said that it will file for state permission to replace its current structure, built in 1959. The new hospital would feature all private patient rooms and expand outpatient services. It will have 25 beds and connect to a 21-bed rehabilitation unit that was built in 1998.
Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital expects to reopen some areas today that were contaminated with Legionnaires' disease, while implementing $700,000 in measures to prevent another outbreak, hospital officials said. The officials said they could not definitively determine whether the four patients with the disease acquired it in the hospital. But widespread testing pinpointed high concentrations of Legionella bacteria in the patient areas of the 11th and 12th floors of the A tower, where those patients were staying, said hospital spokesman Matt Gove.
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is on the client list of Los Angeles public relations guru Mike Sitrick, whose mission is to help the 20-hospital UPMC market itself worldwide. Sitrick's representatives last week toured the soon-to-open campus of the $625 million Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville. The new Children's is the latest project that warrants promotion by a national PR firm like Sitrick's, UPMC spokesman Paul Wood said.
New Jersey hospitals may soon be required to make public more detailed information on medical errors. A state Senate committee will meet to discuss a bill that requires the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services to publish how often certain errors occur at each hospital. Healthcare facilities already report preventable medical mistakes to the state and federal governments, but New Jersey only publishes the number of errors statewide, not the data for individual hospitals, as the bill would require.
As millions of Americans lose their jobs, doctors and dentists say they're facing a new kind of medical emergency—patients eager to schedule appointments before their healthcare coverage expires. More than 60% of workers have health insurance through their employers, according to a recent report by The Commonwealth Fund. "Thus, when workers lose their jobs, they generally also lose their benefits," the report said.
The only CEO Smyrna, TN-based StoneCrest Medical Center has ever had is stepping down, according to a hospital board member. Neil Heatherly, who started as CEO in 2001 when the hospital was still in the planning stages, announced his resignation at a board meeting. Joe Bowman, who is currently CFO, will act as CEO until a replacement is found.
As Newton-Wellesley Hospital prepares to discuss making monetary contributions to Framingham (MA) if it expands into the town, Newton defends its decision not to pursue such payments. The Framingham Planning Board is holding hearings on the hospital's request to build a $17.5 million outpatient treatment and surgical center. Framingham collects about $95,000 in taxes on the 3-acre commercial property. Newton-Wellesley Hospital, a tax-exempt institution with nearly 26 acres of property in Newton, does not make payments in lieu of taxes to the city. However, it pays nearly $531,500 in taxes on a parking garage, doctors' offices, and other taxable property.
The $630 billion healthcare "reserve fund" described in President Obama's budget relies on a combination of tax increases and savings in Medicare and Medicaid spending. But just what do those spending cuts look like?
Denis Cortese is stepping down later this year from his job as Mayo Clinic CEO. Cortese has had the job since 2002, and he's become more involved in national health policy in the past few years. Here Cortese discusses with the Wall Street Journal Health Blog about what he'll be doing next.
