Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and Web from October 17-23.

Iowa Headlines

Three Iowa Democrats hail Medicare breakthrough
The three Iowa Democrats who serve in congress says there’s been a “major breakthrough” on health care reform that will ensure Iowa doctors, hospitals and other health care providers are more fairly paid when they treat Medicare patients.  (October 22, Radio Iowa)

St. Anthony fears taking big hit with health reform
St. Anthony Regional Hospital president and CEO Gary Riedmann and Ed Smith, vice president and CFO, say they don’t know what the final form of the health-care reform will be. But they are worried that existing Medicare-reimbursement disparities in Iowa, and its medium-sized rural hospitals, will be exacerbated – and that some provisions may run afoul of their Catholic mission.  (October 20, Carroll Daily Times Herald)

Iowa a ‘big loser’ if health reform fails, hospitals CEO says
Reforming health care will increase access and improve quality, says the head of Iowa Health Systems.  But CEO and President Bill Leaver believes it will also help Medicare recipients, a group of Iowans that is often nervous about health care reform proposals.  (October 19, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)

UI leaders reflect on legacy of Ignacio Ponseti
University of Iowa leaders today remembered the lasting legacy of Ignacio Ponseti, M.D., University of Iowa professor emeritus of orthopaedics, whose pioneering non-surgical, low-cost clubfoot treatment has benefited tens of thousands of children worldwide. Ponseti died Sunday afternoon, Oct. 18, at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, following a sudden illness. He was 95.  (October 19, Media NewsWire)

Increasing health literacy
As the leader for the Health Literacy Initiative at Iowa Health System, Dr. Mary Ann Abrams focuses on ways to improve patients’ understanding and use of health information so they can care for themselves and family members.  She brings a background in pediatrics, prevention and population-based public health to the position that she’s held since 2003.  (October 21, Des Moines Register)

Hospital board considers names for new facility
The Hamilton Hospital board of trustees discussed suggestions from the naming committee for the new hospital building Tuesday night, and though no final decision was made, the group stressed that “Van Diest” should be a part of the name.  Board members George Heller, Steve Mourlam and Carroll Ose served on the committee. Heller said the group felt it was appropriate to honor the hospital’s $10 million benefactors.  (October 21, Webster City News)

Shell Rock cuts ambulance service
Shell Rock will cut its ambulance services on Nov. 1 and turn to other towns for assistance in transporting patients to the Waverly Health Center.  A dramatic drop in volunteers for the $65,000 ambulance rig left the town with only one option – switching to a first responder unit.  (October 20, Waverly Democrat)

Permit for vets’ medical center OK’d
The proposed Veterans Affairs Medical Center cleared the first hurdle after the Plan and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a conditional-use permit at Monday’s meeting. Ottumwa Medical Clinic, Inc., had requested the permit to construct a 7,910 square-foot medical center in the area just east of the clinic’s driveway at 1005 E. Pennsylvania Ave. The property is zoned R-1 for single-family residential district.  (October 19, Ottumwa Courier)

U.S.  Headlines

Improving health systems means better care for less money
If there were a way to save $207.4 million, avoid 30,000 unnecessary hospitalizations and more than 2,000 premature deaths, we’d jump at it, right?  That’s what Missouri would gain if its health system performed as well as the systems in Vermont, Hawaii, Iowa and Minnesota. Illinois has even more at stake.  (October 21, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

California hospitals urge nurses union to stop H1N1 scare tactics
The California Nurses Association has announced a one-day strike for Oct. 30 at 39 hospitals across California, Nevada and Arizona.  Although CNA claims that the strike is about H1N1 preparedness, the labor union has publicly acknowledged that it is in contract negotiations or organizing campaigns at these same hospitals.  (October 20, Reuters)

Not quite a house call, but not far off
Set aside your frustration with your doctor: the long waits for an appointment, the hurried visits, the sense that there’s never really time to talk in depth. Now imagine this. The phone rings and it’s the doctor’s office reminding you that it’s time for your flu shot and to have your cholesterol levels tested. This may seem like a fantasy, but it’s a new model of care known as a “medical home” emerging in Illinois and across the country.  (October 19, Chicago Tribune)

Key senator: Healthcare cost disparities must end
Sen. Tom Harkin, leader of the powerful Senate Health Committee, said Friday that vast differences in Medicare costs — as exist between the high-cost Miami and lower-cost areas — must be ended to make for sensible healthcare reform. “These huge disparities can’t continue,” the Iowa Democrat said in a teleconference sponsored by the consumer group Families USA.  (October 17, Miami Herald)

In health debate, those numbers are just numbers
As Democrats try to reform healthcare and essentially reorder one-sixth of the U.S. economy, the Congressional Budget Office is charged by Congress with assessing the effect on the federal budget and the impact on American lives. The Senate majority leader has vowed to hold no vote on a health plan until the CBO passes judgment. But the agency, while almost universally praised for honest and impartial analyses, does not have a crystal ball to determine the exact numbers.  (October 19, Washington Post)

Ill-conceived ranking makes for unhealthy debate
During the health-care debate, one damning statistic keeps popping up in newspaper columns and letters, on cable television and in politicians’ statements: The U.S. ranks 37th in the world in health care. The trouble is, the ranking is dated and flawed, and has contributed to misconceptions about the quality of the U.S. medical system.  (October 21, Wall Street Journal)

GE, Lilly to broaden cancer research
General Electric Co., as part of its $6 billion Healthymagination project, announced it will work more closely with drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. on cancer research and will launch a $250 million healthcare venture-capital fund. The $250 million “Halthymagination Fund” will invest in companies globally that are developing diagnostic, information-technology, and life-science technologies aligned with the Healthymagination campaign GE launched in May.  (October 22, Wall Street Journal)