The Indiana human services agency has reversed course and will seek federal approval for presumptive Medicaid eligibility for low-income pregnant women that would help them get prenatal care. The Family and Social Services Administration also might seek to expand enrollment in its State Children’s Health Insurance Program to children in households earning up to three times the federal poverty level.
The problem of medical identity theft is on the rise, according to Pam Dixon, who heads a non-profit group called the World Privacy Forum that helps victims of identity theft. Between 250,000 and 500,000 people have their medical identities stolen each year, Dixon says. Most of the perpetrators are "people working in the healthcare sector," such as billing or housecleaning staff or clerical workers at large hospitals who have access to confidential patient information such as Social Security and health insurance policy numbers, she said.
GlaxoSmithKline has announced that beginning in 2009 it will issue quarterly reports on its grants to "various organizations including hospitals, teaching institutions, managed care organizations, professional associations, patient advocacy groups, and continuing medical education companies." The announcedment comes as Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has been leaning on drug and device companies to be more open about who they give money to. Eli Lilly, among the first to start reporting this type of information, said that it had given out nearly $12 million in the first three months of 2007 to groups.
A few years ago, executives at the University of Chicago Medical Center were concerned that an increasing number of patients were arriving at their emergency room with what the executives considered to be non-urgent complaints. Michelle Obama, an executive at the medical center, launched a program to steer the patients to existing neighborhood clinics. That effort inspired a broader program the hospital now calls its Urban Health Initiative. To ensure community support, Michelle Obama and others recommended that the hospital hire the firm of David Axelrod, who a few months later became the chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. The medical center's initiative illustrates how the Obamas, their associates at the University of Chicago, and Axelrod, dealt with an intractable social problem that confronts many urban areas: How much care should large, nonprofit hospitals offer the poor in return for tax-exempt status?
Many believe a recently implemented Physician Group Practice demonstration project could be the future of quality care. But where does that leave DM and MHS projects? +
Georgia's budget crisis has cast doubt on the state's ability to provide millions of dollars to expand the network of hospitals that handle trauma care. Advocates want up to $75 million annually from the state, and they are gearing up a $398,000 public awareness campaign to convince state legislators trauma care is a priority. The advocates added that the economic slowdown is hitting the state's 15 trauma hospitals, some of which are considering dropping the specialty service.
Boston-based Tufts Medical Center is seeking to become a major trauma center, a plan that could affect where ambulances take some of the city's most seriously injured patients. Tufts treats some trauma cases now, but it is the only major Boston teaching hospital that is not a state-designated adult trauma center. As a result, ambulances carrying trauma patients often bypass that hospital for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, or Massachusetts General Hospital. Tufts has weathered tough economic times in recent years, and wants to join the system. Opponents, however, say Boston already has too many trauma centers.
In 2006, Medicare officials said that they had reduced the number of fraudulent and improper claims paid by the agency. But according to a confidential draft of a federal inspector general's report, those claims of success were misleading. In calculating the agency's rate of improper payments, Medicare officials told outside auditors to ignore government policies that would have accurately measured fraud, according to the report. As a result, Medicare did not detect that more than one-third of spending for medical equipment in its 2006 fiscal year was improper, according to the report. That would account for about $2.8 billion in improper spending.
The residency program at Des Moines, IA-based Broadlawns Medical Center offers a training ground for family doctors as both Iowa and the country faces a critical shortage in family medicine. Participants in Broadlawns' program encounter a diverse population with a wide range of healthcare needs, said Larry Severidt, director of medical education and the family medicine residency program at Broadlawns. The focus is to provide doctors with intense training in a broad base of skills, and if these doctors work in rural areas they'll know how to deliver babies, how to care for critical patients, how to manage an emergency room, and more, Severidt said.
A new law pushed through by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and set to take effect Jan. 1 will require insurers in Illinois to let young adults stay on their parents' policies until the age of 26. The move reflects a growing trend among states and big business. Although providing coverage to the age bracket will cost money, it won't be a huge factor in contributing to rising healthcare costs, say actuarial analysts at some of the world's biggest health benefits consulting firms.
