Navigenics Inc., a gene-testing startup, is responding to criticism that the tests could spur bad healthcare choices by teaming up for a broad study of how the results affect behavior. Navigenics charges customers $2,500 to analyze their DNA to assess their risk of developing more than 20 diseases. Several public health officials have said the science on which the tests by Navigenics and other companies are based is too new to be used for making serious medical decisions. Critics fear that some consumers will use positive results to seek treatments they might not need. Negative results, critics say, could inspire others to be less cautious than they should be about lifestyle choices or preventative care. Navigenics is now joining with the Scripps Translational Science Institute in San Diego in hopes of showing those fears are unfounded.
Hundreds of Montgomery County, MD, residents without health insurance will have access to free healthcare with the opening of the MobileMed Upcounty Care Clinic in Germantown. The 3,000-square-foot clinic will provide primary care to residents who are uninsured or otherwise cannot afford to pay for medical care. The services will be free or discounted, depending on each patient's ability to pay. The clinic is expected to serve more than 1,000 residents, and sits next to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital's Germantown Emergency Center. The clinic is a partnership involving the hospital, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, and Mobile Medical Care, which through clinics and mobile medical vans provides primary and specialty healthcare to low-income, uninsured, and homeless Montgomery County residents.
Ten years ago, the Kansas Legislature split the University of Kansas Hospital off from the medical school and other academic departments at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Under the governance of an independent board and free of bureaucratic paperwork and regulations, everything began to change at KU Hospital. Since becoming independent, KU Hospital has filled empty beds and added more, opened state-of-the art cancer and cardiac centers, almost completely updated its hospital building, turned around patient-satisfaction ratings, boosted employee morale, improved its financial situation and been recognized among the country's best hospitals.
A new "ER Diversion" program aims to reduce waiting times in emergency rooms by redirecting patients who use ERs for non-emergency cases to one of five clinics in Nashville. The program is a collaboration between United Neighborhood Health Services and AmeriChoice by UnitedHealthcare. It is funded by a grant to TennCare by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Childbirth is the leading reason for hospitalization in the United States and one of the top reasons for outpatient visits, yet much maternity care consists of high-tech procedures that lack scientific evidence of benefit for most women, according to a report. U.S. hospital charges for maternal and newborn care jumped from $79 billion in 2005 to $86 billion in 2006, and reducing expensive techniques such as C-sections, as well as increasing low-cost approaches such as childbirth assistants, would improve mothers' and babies' health while cutting costs, the authors say.
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said that the union is not willing to accept more overtures by Detroit automakers to delay payments to a trust fund that will take over retiree healthcare costs in 2010. Such requests are a possibility as the U.S. auto industry grapples with weak sales and huge net losses. Gettelfinger said he doesn't want to risk the integrity of the voluntary employees beneficiary association, which was a key feature of a four-year contract signed last year by the UAW and Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.
Auburn, CA-based Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital plans to install a solar energy system in early 2009 that will supply about 50% of the hospital's power needs, hospital officials said. The 736-kilowatt system will include elevated solar panels in an employees parking lot and a ground-mounted tracking system on nearby property to follow the sun throughout the day. Hospital officials said the new system will provide savings on energy costs and more predictable rates than the volatile energy market.
With costs escalating, the healthcare industry may be headed for a crash that could mirror, or even dwarf, the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. At the same time, the industry is finally embracing technology to improve care, cut costs, and give patients a better and safer experience. That was the message from Neal Patterson, the chief executive of Cerner Corp., when speaking to 4,000 healthcare executives who gathered in Kansas City for the 23rd Cerner Health Conference.
A report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that there is an expected health gap between rich and poor children. However, the report also points out a significant gap between the middle and upper classes—one that is seen across the country.
Three small Iowa hospitals have installed an integrated electronic health record system. Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona, Franklin General Hospital in Hampton and Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage recently completed implementation of a regional network called EHR10. The three hospitals are the first of seven Mercy Health Network-North Iowa rural facilities to implement computerized physician order entry and other clinical/revenue systems.
