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

Iowa News

5 killed as roads turn treacherous
Blizzard conditions contributed to the deaths of at least five people as Iowans battled snow and wind for more than 24 hours beginning Sunday evening. Melted snow from a weekend thaw refroze Sunday, and then a fresh layer of snow covered the ice. Visibility dropped to a single car-length in some areas Monday as 35-mph winds whipped the snow across icy roads, according to the National Weather Service. (Des Moines Register)

Hunger sharpens in Haiti
An Iowa City physician went toe-tp-toe with hungry and angry Haitians who demanded food at a makeshift hospital be distributed. The communal rationing, along with signs all over the city that say “SOS” and “we need food,” suggest that the food crisis here is growing. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Cedar Rapids disaster specialist heads to Haiti with actor John Travolta
Cedar Rapids’ Peter Teahen — disaster specialist, funeral director and recent candidate for the U.S. Congress — is flying into disaster-hit Haiti this evening with actor John Travolta and a medical contingent in Travolta’s jet. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

U.S. News

Health care a question of fairness among the states
The question of equality, or inequality, among states is a major reason President Obama’s overhaul of America’s health care system, and the legislation in Congress to make it happen, seemed to reach the brink of collapse last week. And it is a reflection of one of the biggest challenges Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders have faced since they began tackling health care last year: how to devise a national solution for a problem that varies sharply from state to state. (New York Times)

GOP struggles for consensus on health care
Seeking to avert the collapse of major health care legislation, the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress face a crucial decision about whether to use a procedural maneuver that would allow them to advance the bill despite the loss of their 60-vote majority in the Senate. (National Public Radio)

Poll shows growing fear on health care overhaul
A survey shows a majority are following the health care debate in Congress, and 33 percent of respondents said they believed their access to care would be worse if a healthcare overhaul occurred. That is a jump from 25 percent in a poll released last month. (USA Today)

Innovative Alaska health plan outperforms many others
The buzzwords of health reform can sound abstract and confusing. Yet ideas like patient-centered medical homes, integrated care teams and chronic disease management are already reality in what some might consider an unlikely setting for a health-care innovator – Southcentral Foundation, a nonprofit health provider owned by, led by, and serving Alaska Natives. (Kaiser Health News)