Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and Web.

Iowa News

Study: Smoking ban beneficial
A recent study from the UI and the Iowa Department of Public Health shows a 24 percent decrease in Iowa hospital admissions for coronary heart disease and a decrease in admissions for heart attacks and strokes since the state restricted smoking. (Iowa City Daily Iowan)

Des Moines hospitals’ visitor policies are eased
Iowa Health-Des Moines and Mercy Medical Center, which together run six of the area’s eight hospitals, announced Monday that they had lifted visitor restrictions, which were put in place in October. Under those rules, children were not allowed to visit most patients, and no more than two adults at a time were allowed to visit any one person. The rules were designed to minimize the risk of infection with H1N1 flu. (Des Moines Register)

RHSHC off to good fiscal start for 2009-10
Regional Health Services of Howard County continues to have a strong fiscal year  for the 2009-10 calendar, despite the poor economy. (Cresco Times Plain Dealer)

Iowa 36th for Medicaid fraud recovery; Missouri No. 1
Iowa recovered $3.99 for each dollar in federal grant money provided to combat Medicaid fraud; Missouri recovered $18.81.  Three states actually lost money on the investment. (KC Info Zine)

A lukewarm response to UIHC’s new health records system
Senior UI officials acknowledge frustrations but say growing pains are to be expected with the new system called Epic. The $61 million system, which is supposed to improve efficiency and patient safety, was necessary to keep pace with changing regulations, chief information officer Lee Carmen said. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

U.S. News

Lawmakers urge fixes in Medicare reimbursement
Lawmakers, including Representative Bruce Braley of Iowa, have told congressional leaders they won’t support a health care bill unless it overhauls a complex Medicare reimbursement formula that for years has shortchanged doctors and hospitals.  (Olympia Olympian)

Senate election in Massachusetts could be harbinger for health care reform
Democrat Martha Coakley’s struggle to stave off a potentially devastating defeat in Tuesday’s special Senate election in Massachusetts marks a critical turning point in the year-long debate about health-care reform. Regardless of the outcome of the race, the two parties appeared headed toward a monumental clash over the issue in the coming midterm elections. (Washington Post)

Tackling a mountain of suffering
Patient number 4, swaddled in a baby blue blanket and pink cap, entered a disaster field hospital yesterday morning cradled in the arms of a young Boston doctor. The dehydrated baby was met by an exultant and determined Massachusetts medical team that, after three days of bureaucratic fumbling, was eager to do what it came to do: save lives. It was the first U.S. government medical mission to treat patients in Haiti after last Tuesday’s massive earthquake. (Boston Globe)

How does U.S. long-term care stack up against the rest of the world?
Even as Congress struggles to reform long-term services and supports here, France is wrestling with its own system. And in Britain, long-term care is rapidly becoming a major political embarrassment for Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown. (Kaiser Health News)

Spain bears brunt of  ‘health tourism’
Most countries in the European Union offer universal health coverage for their citizens. And when a citizen from one EU country travels to, or lives in another one, they also are covered. But now Spain is complaining that rule is making it a victim of “Health Tourism” as more and more northern Europeans chose to retire to its Mediterranean coast. (National Public Radio)