The pediatric residency program at Sanford Children's Hospital has been accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and will begin admitting residents next year, the Sioux Falls, SD-based health system announced this week.
The residency program is led by Joseph Zenal, Jr., MD, a professor at the Department of Pediatrics for the Sanford School of Medicine of The University of South Dakota. He is also executive director of Medical Education at Sanford Health. The program will hold six residents each year in a three-year training curriculum. Sanford Children's will admit its first residency class in the summer of 2011.
"Sanford Children's Hospital will be the center of training for our residents; however, the program will take advantage of the distinctive characteristics of healthcare in South Dakota, including rural pediatrics and the unique aspects of caring for Native American children," Zenel said.
The program will tap into opportunities at existing and developing Sanford Children's World Clinics in the United States, and international clinics. It will also offer students opportunities with Sanford Research and Sanford Children's Health Research Center. Pediatric residents will work with medical students from the Sanford School of Medicine of The University of South Dakota.
"The immediate goal of the residency program is to enhance the care of children in the Upper Midwest by training specialists in children's health who will populate our communities, both large and small," said H. Eugene Hoyme, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Sanford School of Medicine of The University of South Dakota. "By keeping local doctors in the area, we are taking pediatric care in this region to the next level."
Sanford Children's Hospital has 76 general pediatric beds, 58 neonatal ICU beds, and 12 pediatric ICU beds. The hospital has 200 pediatric and family physicians, and 350 pediatric-trained staff.
A proposal to compile, compare, and make available to the public the cost of healthcare services at more than 300 California hospitals cleared a major hurdle on Monday when the Department of Justice said it would not inhibit competition.
DOJ said the pricing exchange proposal from the Hospital Value Initiative might actually reduce healthcare costs by improving competition among hundreds of hospitals in California and facilitating more informed purchasing decisions by group purchasers of healthcare services.
"The Hospital Value Initiative will likely provide greater information about the relative costs and utilization rates of hospitals in California and lead payers and employers to make more informed decisions when purchasing hospital services," wrote Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division Varney, in a letter to HVI attorneys.
HVI wants to collect, analyze, and distribute comparative data on reimbursements, and the resources used by California hospitals to provide inpatient and outpatient services. HVI is a coalition of three organizations—the Pacific Business Group on Health, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, and the California Health Care Coalition—that represent group purchasers of healthcare services for more than 7 million people.
David Hopkins, director of quality measurement at Pacific Business Group on Health, said HVI was "gratified" by DOJ's decision. "The context for this is transparency and producing information that helps consumers and those who are paying for care know what they are paying for and what they are paying for it," Hopkins said.
DOJ said the proposal isn't anticompetitive because the HVI exchange would involve data that is at least 10 months old, and the program would not disclose disaggregated data or any hospitals' actual service fees. At the same time, DOJ said the data exchange program could benefit consumers by increasing the transparency of the costs and efficiencies of hundreds of California hospitals.
However, Jan Emerson, vice president of External Affairs for the California Hospital Association, said the DOJ's announcement "does not resolve the anti-competitive concerns California hospitals have about this initiative." She noted that DOJ reserves the right to challenge the proposal in the future if it proves to be anticompetitive.
Emerson said California hospitals object to the HVI proposal because it focuses too much on price and not enough on quality. "The initiative's methodology isn't meaningful because every hospital's cost structure is different," she said. "Hospital costs vary based on the amount of uninsured and underfunded Medicare/Medi-Cal patients, specialty services such as trauma care or burn units, unfunded governmental mandates and the need to regularly upgrade their physical plants to meet costly seismic standards and technological requirements."
Hopkins said the HVI members haven't set a date for when they'll launch the project. "We have cleared the antitrust piece and now the question is: 'Are we ready to collect the data and release the results?' We haven't discussed that with our partners yet," he said.
Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, IL, opens its $250 million, patient-friendly South Pavilion on May 1, the Chicago-area hospital announced.
The nine-story, state-of-the-art addition includes:
200 private rooms designed to reduce the spread of airborne infections, patient falls, and medical errors.
Multiple nursing stations on each floor to reduce staff fatigue and improve care delivery.
Green design with rooftop gardens, soothing colors and focus on quiet surroundings all promote healing.
Cuisine on Call, a program that allows patients to order freshly prepared meals at the specific time they are ready to eat.
Advanced monitoring and treatment technologies are built into each patient room, along with Wi-Fi access. Natural light streams in through floor-to-ceiling windows. Handrails that run between patient beds and private bathrooms make navigation easier and safer. And there’s a comfortable sofa for a family member to stay overnight. Patients and families can even take advantage of balconies on each floor for fresh air. The South Pavilion is on track to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified.
The addition also includes a Critical Care Unit, Labor and Delivery area, and Special Care Nursery.
President Obama's executive memorandum last week giving hospital patients the right to grant visitation to same-sex partners was as decent as it was overdue.
The president said he was moved to issue the memorandum after hearing about the plight of a woman denied access to her partner of 18 years who was dying in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami hospital after suffering from a brain aneurism.
However, in this highly partisan atmosphere, where every White House action prompts a dog fight, the reporter in me figured that somebody, somewhere in healthcare was going to be upset. After all, hundreds of hospitals in this nation are affiliated or operated by religious denominations, some of which explicitly denounce homosexuality as a sin.
It seemed like an easy story. Get a few quotes "pro" and "con," a little background, a little brouhaha, and hit the "send" button. The "pro" quotes were pretty easy to come by, but I was surprised when I tried to find someone in healthcare to speak out against the memo. Instead of controversy, I got acceptance.
My first instinct was to check with the Catholic Health Association of the United States, only because the Roman Catholic Church has been quite emphatic in its rejection of homosexuality. Would Obama's memorandum prompt a crisis of faith for some of the nation's largest group of not-for-profit health systems?
No.
"The Catholic Health Association has long championed the rights of all patients to designate who they want to speak for them in healthcare decisions when they are not able to speak for themselves," Sister Carol Keehan, president/CEO, said in a statement on the CHA Web site. "Having that person clearly designated is not only a basic human right, it also greatly facilitates care."
I checked with Baptist Health South Florida. No controversy there "From our perspective, it's not an issue because we have a very flexible and open family visitor policy that we established years ago," said Health system spokeswoman Christine Kotler. Kotler says she hasn't heard of any objections from Baptist employees. "We asked that question of our social work services, our nursing administrators. We did circulate that question and resoundingly everyone came back and said this has never been an issue," she said.
Jackson Health, the inspiration for Obama's memorandum, actually pre-empted the president's announcement by a few days with word that it had worked with with a coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups to create a more-inclusive visitation policy.
Let's be clear: I didn't conduct an exhaustive search on the issue—a few passes through Google and some media outlets—and I'm not saying that everyone within healthcare supports the President's memorandum. I'm saying I couldn't find any healthcare organizations that oppose it.
None of this is surprising. Visitation rights are not abstract talking points for healthcare professionals. Physicians and clinicians see first hand, every day, how important it is for same-sex couples to enjoy the same rights and access to loved ones as everyone else. I suspect that many healthcare professionals have also witnessed the heartbreak—the fundamental unfairness of it—when that access is denied.
Sister Keehan said it best: "All persons of goodwill can understand and agree that when a person is sick, they deserve to decide who they want to visit them."
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There were 12 mass layoffs impacting 50 or more jobs at the nation's nongovernment hospitals in March, resulting in 798 initial claims for unemployment insurance, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today.
March's mass layoffs, combined with 11 mass layoffs in February and 13 in January, are just one mass layoff event off the record pace set in the first quarter of 2009, a year that ended with 152 mass layoffs affecting more than 13,000 hospital jobs. In the first quarter of 2010, hospital layoffs resulted in 2,516 initial claims for unemployment, compared with 3,003 such claims in the first quarter of 2009, BLS data show.
In the overall healthcare and social assistance category, there were 33 mass layoffs in March, resulting in 2,066 initial claims for unemployment insurance, BLS data show.
Despite the layoffs, the healthcare sector remains one of the few job growth areas of the economy. Hospitals created 33,400 new jobs in 2009, while the overall healthcare sector has created 588,000 jobs since the recession began in December 2007. In that same period, the number of jobless people in the nation has risen from about 7.7 million to 15.3 million, BLS data show.
In March, in the overall economy employers reported 1,628 mass layoffs that resulted in job losses for 150,864 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits for the month. The number of mass layoff events across all industries in March increased by 58 from the 1,570 reported in February, and the number of initial unemployment claims fell by 4,854. Both events and initial claims have decreased in five of the last seven months, BLS said.
After 10 years on the job, IASIS Healthcare LLC CEO David R. White will retire by the end of this year but will continue to serve as chairman of the Franklin, TN-based hospital chain's board of directors, the company announced this week.
IASIS CFO W. Carl Whitmer has been named president and will become CEO when White retires. Whitmer, CFO since 2001, also will join the IASIS board, as will long-time IASIS COO Sandra McRee, who becomes vice chair.
"While there is likely never the perfect time to retire, this is certainly the right time to make this transition," White said in a media release. "IASIS is in a very strong position, has a well-planned growth strategy and has an excellent leader in Carl Whitmer, who is poised and ready to take IASIS to the next level."
"Our industry is undergoing tremendous change. IASIS is well situated to take advantage of its strengths, build upon its success and respond to change. Because of our advance planning, we are confident this will be a smooth transition," White said.
Since White took over at IASIS in 2000, annual revenues have grown from $815 million to more than $2.4 billion, and the hospital chain has spent more than $100 million to improve healthcare information technology, the company said.
A national search is underway to fill McRee's COO position, but no specific timeframe has been set. John Doyle, IASIS' vice president and CAO, replaces Whitmer as CFO.
IASIS owns or leases 15 acute care hospitals and one behavioral health hospital in six states, with a total of 2,848 beds. IASIS also owns and operates a Medicaid/Medicare managed health plan in Phoenix, AZ, with more than 198,000 members.
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital, and Washington University School of Medicine have created a joint Fetal Care Center for high-risk mothers and births.
The Fetal Care Center will coordinate access to the maternity center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the nearby neonatal ICU at St. Louis Children's Hospital, and medical and surgical services from Washington University for the nearly 10,000 babies born each year in Missouri and the surrounding eight states who have serious medical conditions requiring specialized care.
It is also the only center in the Midwest offering advanced fetal diagnosis, fetal surgical interventions, and newborn medicine on one medical campus, the three provider institutions said in a joint announcement.
"We don't think a mother-to-be should wait for answers," said Anthony Odibo, MD, co-director of the Fetal Care Center and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University. "That's why we've designed our program to provide results, develop a plan -- even begin treatment, if necessary -- right on the spot."
Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital are adjacent, which will allow mother and baby to be on the same medical campus at the Fetal Care Center. "Delivering at a hospital that doesn't have the capacity to address some of these really important things then mandates the baby be transported from one facility to another," said Brad Warner, MD, surgical directory at the center. "That can be critical time and can sometimes make the difference between life and death."
The center has stress-reducing amenities, such as convenient appointment scheduling, personal nurse advocates, all tests done at one time and place, and an end-of-day physician conference to summarize test results and make team recommendations.
The center will specialize in surgical treatment, both in-utero and after delivery, to correct prenatal diagnoses including congenital heart defects, twin-twin transfusion syndrome, gastroschisis, omphalocele, and congenital diaphragmatic hernia.
North Shore-LIJ (NY) Health System and the Environmental Protection Agency used Thursday's Earth Day celebrations to sign a five-year agreement on wide-ranging environmental stewardship programs.
The memorandum of understanding, signed by EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck and North Shore-LIJ President/CEO Michael Dowling, places the health system's hospitals in Queens, Long Island, and Staten Island into programs for energy and water conservation, solid waste recycling, environmentally sensitive landscaping, combined heat and power plants, sustainable building and construction projects, and green cleaning.
"With a workforce of more than 38,000, the North Shore-LIJ Health System is the largest employer on Long Island and the ninth largest in New York City. We play a leading role not only by providing top-notch healthcare but promoting sustainable business practices to improve public health and minimize our impact on the environment," Dowling said in a prepared release.
"Our collective actions make a tangible difference in terms of reducing greenhouse emissions, conserving energy, wisely using natural resources, and at the same time, benefit from significant cost savings."
Maurice E. LaBonne, North Shore-LIJ's senior vice president of facilities services, said there is an incentive to be energy efficient and cost effective because hospitals operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and continually use power to heat and cool facilities year round.
"Hospitals are well suited to sustainable design and construction because patients often have compromised immune systems; sustainable healing environments contribute to better patient outcomes," LaBonne said.
The agreement calls on North Shore-LIJ to:
Reduce energy consumption by at least 10%.
Implement a recycling program that includes paper, plastic, aluminum and cardboard and explore other opportunities for waste reduction and recycling.
Re-use landscaping materials wherever possible and re-use industrial materials for construction projects.
Increase the use of coal combustion waste products in construction activities. For example, in the Katz Women's Hospital construction project at North Shore University Hospital, cement will consist of 40% fly ash.
Recognize that the use of combined heat and power reduces environmental impacts while meeting the demand for energy. At LIJ Medical Center, a combined heat and power plant supplies electrical energy to the campus boiler/chiller operations and supplementary heat for steam and hot water requirements. The health system will try to enhance this plant and explore the application of this technology to other hospitals.
Continue to certify construction projects that are registered with the US Green Building Council. North Shore-LIJ also plans to certify major construction projects under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system.
Eight in 10 Americans know that President Obama signed the health reform legislation into law, but 55% say they are confused about it, and 56% say they don't understand how it will affect them personally.
That's according to a new Kaiser Health Tracking Poll issued today, the first such poll conducted by Kaiser since the passage of the healthcare reform laws last month.
The survey of 1,208 adults, conducted April 9-14, finds that the public supports many of the provisions of health reform that are set to be implemented in the short term. When asked about 11 specific provisions scheduled to take effect this year, in each case a majority of Americans viewed them favorably, often with bipartisan support.
Still, the public remains divided on the law overall, with 46% viewing it favorably, 40% unfavorably, and 14% undecided. Similarly, 31% of Americans say they expect personally to be better off because of the law, 32% say they will be worse off, and 30% say they don't expect to be affected. The national telephone poll included 801 landline interviews, and 407 cell phone interviews. The poll was carried out in English and Spanish, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.
"People are struggling to understand how the law will affect them and their families and to separate fact from political spin," said Kaiser President/CEO Drew Altman.
The new law includes provisions that take effect this year so that the public will feel immediate tangible results. The poll tested the popularity of many of these early measures and finds widespread support for them, including from Republicans and independents.
For example; nearly nine in 10 Americans favor tax credits for small businesses to provide coverage for their workers, and eight in 10 favor provisions for access to basic preventive care with no copayments, provide financial help to seniors who hit the doughnut hole gap in Medicare drug coverage, and prohibit insurance companies from dropping people with major health problems. In each of these cases, at least two-thirds of Republicans and independents join most Democrats in viewing the provisions favorably.
The poll found that 55% of Americans are confused by the health reform law, with 61% of those who aren't in favor of the reforms expressing confusion, and 44% of those who support the reforms expressing confusion.
Anger is reported by 30% of the public, including16% who say they are "very angry." Asked what about health reform made them angry, that 30% divided as follows: 9% did not like the way the policymaking process worked, 7% did not like the final content, and 12% did not approve of either.
Cable television news was the biggest source of information about healthcare reform for all respondents, regardless of their political leanings. More than one third (36%) cited cable TV news stations and their Web sites as their most important outlet, followed by network news (16%), newspapers (12%), friends and family (10%) and the radio (9%).
Republicans were more likely to name cable TV as their most important news source, with 45% saying so compared to 30% of Democrats. Democrats were twice as likely as Republicans and independents to say that they got most of their information from network news (23% of Democrats compared to 12% of the other two groups).
Overall sentiment about the new law breaks sharply along partisan lines. Nearly eight in 10 Democrats favor the new law, while about as many Republicans do not, a mix similar to that seen before the bill's passage in March. Independents tilt against the law—46% opposed compared to 37% in favor—while self-described moderates favor the measure 55% to 31%.
"The AMA is offering its support to physicians who are now receiving mailings containing details and claim forms regarding the historic UnitedHealth settlement," said AMA President J. James Rohack, MD, in a media release. "The new AMA guide provides physicians with step-by-step assistance in determining eligibility, assembling documentation and filing a claim under the terms of the settlement."
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the settlement with UnitedHealth Group in January, 2009 after a year-long investigation into what Cuomo called "a scheme to defraud consumers" by underpaying patients by hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade.
The investigation was initially sparked by a 2000 lawsuit from the AMA, which was concerned that the underpayments were driving a wedge between patients and doctors.
"The AMA's persistent efforts have earned significant results for physicians that extend far beyond the recovery of damages," Rohack said. "Every physician and patient will benefit from the stand the AMA took against UnitedHealth."
The UnitedHealth settlement is governed by a series of court-imposed deadlines that physicians must follow. The current settlement deadlines include the following key dates:
July 27 – Deadline for filing objections to the settlement or for opting out of the settlement.
Sept. 13 – Date for the final settlement hearing to consider any filed objections.
Oct. 5 – Deadline for filing a claim to share in the settlement fund.