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

Iowa News

Long takes over as Skiff CEO
When Steve Long took over recently as the chief executive officer at Skiff Medical Center, he inherited an operation that was losing nearly a half-million dollars per month, had gone through a painful reduction in force, and had been without a permanent leader for nearly a year. Long believes he knows how to turn the hospital around. (Newton Daily News)

Governor’s budget hinges on state reorganization/tax credit elimination
Culver is calling for the state to spend $5.662 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1, according to the proposed budget released just moments ago. That’s an increase of $412.5 million as compared to the current year’s revised budget but still below the legislature’s original allocation in the current fiscal year of $5.756 billion. (Des Moines Register)

Scholarships help Genesis build relationships with nurses
The Genesis Health Services Foundation is providing scholarships of $10,000 for students who have been accepted or are already enrolled in an undergraduate baccalaureate nursing program in an Iowa or Illinois college or university. (Moline, Illinois, Dispatch/Argus)

U.S. News

Obama appeals to Congress to save health care bill
In his State of the Union address, the president urged Democrats and Republicans to let temperatures cool and take another look at the legislation that passed the House and Senate last year. Obama said his administration and Congress have gotten closer than ever to insuring millions more. (Associated Press)

Pelosi suggests maneuver to pass healthcare overhaul
The speaker says the House should pass the Senate’s version of the plan and then use ‘budget reconciliation’ to make changes that some lawmakers want. The procedure could circumvent a GOP filibuster. (Los Angeles Times)

South Florida hospitals send Haitian earthquake victims north
The U.S. military is evacuating Haitian earthquake victims to northern portions of Florida to make sure Miami emergency rooms are ready for the Super Bowl. In addition, Gov. Charlie Crist formally asked the federal government Wednesday to have other states’ hospitals receive future patients who come to the United States from the quake-stricken nation. (Miami Herald)

Louisiana wins fight for hospital
Ending one of the longest-running disputes left by Hurricane Katrina, a federal arbitration panel ruled Wednesday that Louisiana would receive $474.8 million — nearly all it had requested — to pay for the replacement of Charity Hospital in New Orleans, which has been closed since the storm. (New York Times)

Rising copays for elderly patients linked to more time in the hospital
Faced with rising copayments, elderly people visited their doctors less but ended up in the hospital more often and for longer stays, according to a new study assessing the impact of cost-sharing both on patients’ health and  their health plans’ bottom line. (Boston Globe)