Seattle-based Swedish Medical Center said it will lay off 200 of its roughly 7,000 employees in a bid to cut operating costs.
"Given a tough fourth quarter and the economic head winds we've had, we recognized we needed to do a thorough restructuring," said Chief Executive Rod Hochman. "We are tax-exempt, but we need to remain competitive, with a margin to build buildings." Positions being eliminated include four vice presidents, 22 directors, and an unspecified number of managers and support staff, including nonpracticing medical managers.
A 69-year-old Japanese man injured in a traffic accident died after paramedics spent more than an hour negotiating with 14 hospitals before finding one to admit him. The man, whose bicycle collided with a motorcycle, waited at the scene in an ambulance because the hospitals said they could not accept him, citing a lack of specialists, equipment, beds, and staff. It was the latest in a string of recent cases in Japan in which patients were denied treatment, underscoring the country's healthcare woes that include a shortage of doctors.
UnitedHealthcare announced it has signed a long-term agreement with Connecticut-based MidState Medical Center that will enable all members to get care at MidState facilities in Meriden and ancillary care centers in Cheshire, Southington and Wallingford. Before the agreement, MidState's facilities were part of UnitedHealthcare's network for members of commercial health plans. As of March 1, members of the company's Oxford commercial and Medicare Solutions plans can also get in-network care at MidState's locations.
As the Obama administration prepares to spend $20 billion to speed creation of electronic health records, a study has found that information technology efforts so far aren't sufficient to drive the change that's needed in healthcare. The study from the National Research Council concluded that too much emphasis is placed on automating processes, and recommends more focus on how technology can be used to improve outcomes of care by providing physicians and other clinical staffers better information to help them make decisions.
Even before the Senate had a chance to consider his nomination to be secretary of health and human services, Thomas A. Daschle was hard at work pressing President Obama's goal of revamping the U.S. health system. But after Daschle withdrew his name after acknowledging he paid $146,000 in back taxes and interest, Obama must forge ahead without his close friend and Washington mentor. Health experts across the political spectrum described the setback as serious but not insurmountable.
The Florida-based Medical Tourism Association has been enlisted by the UAE to help further promote Abu Dhabi as a premiere medical tourism destination. According to research by Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Abu Dhabi is expected to attract more than 11 million medical tourists by 2010.
British health officials warn that they will soon implement fines to hospitals that treat patients in mixed-sex wards. Hospitals would no longer be paid for the care of patients, should they fail to comply with the law that was put in place 12 years ago. A fund has been established for hospitals to help them upgrade their facilities to ensure single-sex accomodations.
Apollo Hospital in Bangalore, India, has changed its name to Apollo International Hospital in an effort to boost its medical tourism draw. Foreigners account for about 10% of the facility's patient base. The hospital touts advanced technology and recognition from international health insurance companies.
Malaysia's medical travel industry is benefiting from the recent political turmoil in Thailand and its price advantage against Singapore. Research shows medical tourism in Malaysia will remain this way despite the current economic times.
Discoveries from stem cell research could lead not only to breakthrough treatments for scores of conditions like diabetes, Parkinson's, heart disease, and multiple sclerosis, but they also holds the potential for unlocking how diseases manifest and could bring new preventive therapies to the masses.
Just days ago, the FDA approved the first human trial of an embryonic stem-cell therapy for 10 patients paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. This is exciting news for many who suffer with lifelong diseases or injuries. These poor souls are frustrated by the seemingly glacial pace of research and the political and religious debates that have limited federal funding.
Indeed, as Time magazine points out this week, many of today's leading stem cell scientists are conducting research abroad in Britain, Singapore, China, and other destinations where the government is more supportive and receptive. Thanks to modern technology these clinical researchers have networked across the globe to advance their discoveries well beyond the hype.
As legitimate and ethical research has emerged abroad, private stem cell clinics have also set up shop in countries friendly to their business. Numerous clinics around the world are aggressively marketing unproven and perhaps risky stem cell interventions directly to patients, according to the International Society for Stem Cell Research.
No one has figured out how many patients have sought stem cell therapy abroad, but experts suspect they number in the thousands. Far too many of these desperate people are paying thousands of dollars on stem cell injections based on empty promises and patient testimonials.
ISSCR says the new guidelines were created by a multidisciplinary task force of stem cell researchers, clinicians, ethicists, and regulatory officials from 13 countries. The group warns: "The marketing of unproven stem cell interventions is especially worrisome in cases where patients with severe diseases or injuries travel across borders to seek treatments purported to be stem cell-based 'therapies' or 'cures' that fall outside the realm of standard medical practice. Patients seeking medical services abroad may be especially vulnerable because of insufficient local regulation and oversight of host clinics."
Private clinics that market stem cell tourism without real evidence these therapies work threaten more than just the patients they treat; they run the risk of casting the medical travel industry as a whole in the role of the snake oil salesman. Often in this space I discuss the rising demand for medical travel options, but ethical considerations of medical travel will continue to be debated for a long time to come.
Bottom line, the spirit of caveat emptor has no place in medical travel or the healthcare industry as a whole.
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