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

Iowa News

Wellmark’s 18% rate increase scrutinized
Iowa hospitals and doctors say their cost increases for consumers have been moderate. Wellmark boosted pay to doctors 2 percent last year. And hospitals say cost increases range between 6 and 7 percent annually. (Des Moines Register)

Mahaska Health Partnership plans $22 million addition
Mahaska Health Partnership wants to continue to keep their patients well cared for. In order to do this, a new addition is needed, said MHP CEO Jay Christensen. (Oskaloosa Herald)

Health officials: Don’t delay care
Postponing treatment during hard times could result in a more serious condition, Dubuque health officials warn. (Dubuque Telegraph Herald)

Paying for future doctors
“Reimbursement from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for graduate medical education to UIHC is much less than the costs of running this crucial mission for our institution to train the next generation of outstanding physicians,” said Mark Wilson, the director of Graduate Medical Education program at UIHC. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

ORHC creates $62 million impact on local economy
Ottumwa Regional Health Center generated 849 jobs that added more than $44 million to southeast Iowa’s economy in 2008, according to the latest study by the Iowa Hospital Association. (Ottumwa Courier)

Scott County mental health programs brace for cuts
Vera French Community Mental Health Center is bracing to lose up to 15 jobs and more than $800,000 in state funding. That’s as Scott County supervisors prepare to vote on its budget next week. That leaves agencies which serve the most vulnerable population preparing for cuts. And county decision makers really have their hands tied. (WQAD)

Local paramedic sees aftermath of Haiti earthquake
Brett Mayne had seen much devastation as a Marine Corps reservist serving in Iraq five years ago. However, it was nothing compared to what he saw in late January when he traveled to Haiti to help victims of a massive earthquake that struck Jan. 12. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

U of I Hospitals to block social network Web sites
Beginning Monday, the hospital system will implement technology that blocks access from all clinical workstations to Web sites “that are inappropriate for the health care workplace,” Ken Kates, U of I Hospitals’ chief executive, wrote in an e-mail to staff members. (Des Moines Register)

‘Frazzled’ Iowa lawmakers get ready for deadline week
It’s Grim Reaper week for scores of issues facing a do-or-die legislative deadline. Lawmakers have until Friday to move non-money bills through the House or Senate and a committee in the other legislative chamber to survive the session’s second “funnel” — a self-imposed deadline designed to winnow the work load as they push for adjournment in another month or so. (Quad-City Times)

U.S. News

Pelosi confident on health vote
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday expressed confidence she will have enough votes to pass a health overhaul, but acknowledged it could come at a political cost to lawmakers who back the measure. (Wall Street Journal)

Democrats will have votes for health bill, Obama aide says
Raising the prospect of a “simple up-or-down vote” on health-care reform, White House adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle said on Sunday she thinks Democrats will secure enough ayes on the measure and signaled that the administration could be moving toward trying to pass it along party lines. (Washington Post)

A health care issue both parties can agree on
If you listened carefully to the White House summit on health care last week, you could hear, among all the disagreements, a few points of agreement. One of those agreements is on something called rescission, where health insurance companies cancel policies after people run up heavy bills. Capitol Hill watchers say there could be legislation outlawing the practice within a few months. (National Public Radio)

In hard times, hospitals are bleeding money
Troubling economic times in Michigan and stalled state and federal health reforms are causing historic losses at Michigan hospitals left with soaring uncollected patient debts and bills for care from a growing number of uninsured people, a report expected to be released today concludes. (Detroit Free Press)

D.C. hospital fires 11 nurses, 5 staffers for snowstorm absences
The District’s largest private hospital has fired 11 nurses and five support staff members who failed to make it to work during the back-to-back snowstorms that paralyzed the region earlier this month. (Washington Post)

ED shooting shows why confronting hospital violence must be a priority
The Feb. 15 early morning shooting inside the emergency department of Scotland Memorial Hospital in Laurinburg, NC, provides an unwelcomed, frightening, and extreme example of the violence that healthcare professionals too often confront. (HealthLeaders Media)

Retail clinics: Struggling to find their place
As of February, there were 1,197 retail clinics, an all-time high. But that was only eight more than in March 2009. CVS and Walgreen not only did not expand, they closed clinics. Wal-Mart became more circumspect on where and when to open clinics. Some hospitals and retail clinic chains dumped plans to open clinics in favor of stand-alone urgent care centers. (American Medical News)

New Mexico law aims to rein in health care
New Mexico’s health insurance companies will be required to put 85 percent of every premium dollar toward health care services, instead of to administrative costs and profits, under a bill passed by the state Legislature. (New Mexico Business Weekly)