by Dan Royer on Thursday, March 12, 2009
Leave a CommentIowa Senator Tom Harkin has announced plans to visit four Iowa cities this weekend to meet with community leaders and discuss the billions of health care dollars included in the recently passed economic stimulus package. According to a released statement, Harkin will discuss how the legislation “prevents health care loss and ensures states can prevent eligibility cuts for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program…strengthens the health care workforce and invests in community health centers.”
Senator Harkin is involved with the ongoing health care reform efforts in Washington D.C. and in November he accepted an invitation by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to lead a working group tasked with crafting the prevention and public health components of health care reform.
Senator Harkin will be hosting meetings at the following times and locations:
March 13
- 4:00 pm
Mt. Mercy College
Flaherty Community Room, Basile Hall
1330 Elmhurst Drive NE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402
March 14
- 9:30 am
St. Ambrose University
Rogalski Center – Third Floor
518 W. Locust Street
Davenport, Iowa 52803 - 12:30 pm
Broadlawns Medical Center
Hunsaker Conference Room – Fourth Floor
1801 Hickman Road
Des Moines, Iowa 50314
March 15
- 1:15 pm
Community Health Center
300 West Broadway #6
Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503
by Dan Royer on Thursday, March 12, 2009
The fifth annual 100 Great Iowa Nurses celebration, a ceremony created for the state of Iowa by nurse and community leaders, will be held on May 3, 2009 in Des Moines.
Each year 100 Great Iowa Nurses are selected for this honor, representing many sectors of health care, including hospitals, long-term care facilities and school and office nurses.
Recipients from prior years are invited back to be recognized at the event and the 2009 awardees will invite family, friends and colleagues to share in the recognition of their outstanding achievements. You can see a state map showing the represented counties and their recipients on the Great Iowa Nurses website.
The Iowa Hospital Association is proud to be a supporting sponsor of this statewide event.
by Dan Royer on Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Recognizing how health care and legal issues have become so intertwined, two Iowa universities have partnered to offer a joint program that will prepare grad students for careers in health law.
The two programs from Drake and Des Moines University (DMU) offer students the opportunity to earn joint Master of Health Care Administration or Master of Public Health and Juris Doctor/law degrees. Students are allowed to transfer up to 18 credits between the institutions.
“The health-care industry is extremely regulated, and health-care providers, payers and attorneys who specialize in health law need to be able to collaborate on compliance solutions. The joint-degree programs provide students with these collaborative learning opportunities.” - Stacey Tovino, director of the Health Law and Policy Center at Drake University Law School
It was also mentioned in the Drake press release that this partnership may serve as a springboard for other potential collaborations between the two universities.
For more information on DMU’s joint degree programs with Drake Law School, visit the Drake Law School website or the DMU website.
by Dan Royer on Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Obama administration held a summit last week, officially titled the “White House Forum on Health Reform,” involving 150 participants including members of Congress, hospitals, doctors, business groups, insurance companies, consumer organizations and labor unions.
The summit, structured similarly to the economic summit held the week prior, was an opportunity to bring groups together and begin discussing the initial plans to overhaul the nation’s health care system.
The president provided opening and closing remarks to attendees who spent the remainder of the day in five break-out sessions focusing on a variety of topics, including health care cost, quality, coverage and access.
During his remarks, Obama notably indicated some flexibility on the reform plan he introduced during the campaign saying, “I put forward a plan for health care reform. I thought it was an excellent plan. But I don’t presume that it was a perfect plan or that it was the best possible plan.”
Obama indicated that there is room for discussion on the specifics, and doesn’t believe that an entirely public nor entirely private reform plan will work and said, “If there is a way of getting this done, where we’re driving down costs and people are getting health insurance at an affordable rate…and we could do that entirely through the market, I’d be happy to do it that way. If there was a way of doing it that involved more government regulation and involvement, I’m happy to do it that way as well.”
President Obama had said that he would like Congress to act on health care reform by the end of this year.
Details on upcoming health reform regional forums are available on the newly launched HealthReform.gov website, managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
