Detroit babies are coming into the world earlier and less healthy than babies in other major cities, according to a national report of factors leading to infant death. The report by Kids Count covers numbers over a 15-year period ending in 2005. The report also found that Detroit mothers-to-be smoked more, were younger and had little prenatal care compared to mothers in other cities.
A federal judge has handed down the first sentences to defendants convicted in a $1.9 billion corporate fraud case that federal prosecutors compared to the Enron or WorldCom scandals. Donald Ayers, a former COO with National Century Financial Enterprises, to 15 years in prison for his role in the fraud. Randolph Speer, the company's former CFO, received a 12-year sentence. National Century was a healthcare financing company based in suburban Columbus, OH. Prosecutors said executives authorized millions in unsecured loans to the healthcare providers, then misled investors about the loans.
Florida International University's new medical school is still a year away from opening, but more than 1,600 students from around the country have applyied for the 40 slots in its inaugural class. More than 300 students from South Florida have applied, and FIU has received almost enough applications from its own ranks to fill the first class. Florida is badly in need of new physicians, and FIU hopes the doctors they educate will practice in South Florida, said Sanford Markham, MD, the medical school's dean of students.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is using his amendatory veto to give parents the option of keeping their children on their health plan until they turn 26. The bill revisions Blagojevich announced also would give parents the option of keeping children on their health plan until they are 30 if those children are veterans. The governor says more than 300,000 Illinoisans between the ages of 19 and 25 are uninsured, and that the changes he's proposing will enable them to get the coverage they need to have access to regular checkups and preventive care.
Anaheim (CA) General Hospital, a facility that treats a large share of poor patients, has been slapped with dozens of citations by two independent sets of regulators for inadequate staffing and poor medical care. The findings have placed the hospital's public and private funding at risk. Although the hospital is not expected to close down and is currently appealing the decisions, it must correct the problems to ensure that it remains open. According to one report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Anaheim General put patients "at immediate jeopardy" by not having life-saving medications available, having insufficient food and water for patients in the event of an emergency, and failing to ensure the safety of its psychiatric patients.
Officials with the Prince George's County hospital system in Maryland said that they had not received the first installment of state and county money that was promised under a new law. According to the law, intended to prop up the troubled system while a new buyer is sought, the state and county will each give the system $12 million a year for the next two years. Meanwhile, a seven-member panel will accept bids from healthcare companies interested in buying the hospital system. The law requires that the county and the state provide the funding in installments at the beginning of each quarter of the fiscal year. The first quarter of this year began July 1.
A recently passed Medicare bill takes authority away from the Joint Commission when it comes to hospital inspections, leaving the responsibility to CMS or another federal agency. Some believe this is a positive step toward ensuring accurate hospital inspections and ultimately patient safety.
The average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade, according to statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increase is due to supply and demand, said Stephen Pitts, MD, the lead author of the report. Overall, about 119 million visits were made to U.S. emergency rooms in 2006, up from 90 million in 1996. Meanwhile, the number of hospital emergency departments dropped to fewer than 4,600, from nearly 4,900.
West Penn Hospital has filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania attorney general in which it accuses Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of violating an agreement to care for all children in the region. Children's Hospital recently decided to stop sending its doctors to West Penn Hospital to perform minor surgeries on infants. Instead, infants needing such care, about 25 a year, will be transported to Children's Hospital. A spokesman for Attorney General Tom Corbett said the office is reviewing the complaint, but he did not offer a timetable for completion of the review. Children's Hospital defended its decision, saying all children continue to have access to the hospital regardless of their ability to pay.
A group of large employers in Wisconsin have seen their healthcare costs decrease by 9% over the past two years under a plan put together for the Business Health Care Group. Combined, the 18 unidentified employers provide health benefits for 55,000 employees, retirees and family members. The employer coalition was created to help bring healthcare costs in southeastern Wisconsin in line with other cities in the Midwest. The Group contracted with Humana Inc. in 2005 to put together a health plan solely for its members. That plan, introduced in 2006 and known as Humana Preferred, now covers more than 93,000 people.
