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

Iowa News

Obama heads to Iowa to pitch health care
To begin his campaign to explain health care, President Obama is going back to the beginning: Iowa. (New York Times)

How the real deal went down
Iowa’s Bruce Braley took the lead and won agreement from the administration to push for $800 million for states that felt disadvantaged by Medicare formulas (down from $8 billion in the original House bill) and a  commitment to further adjustments that would benefit these lower cost states at a September 2010 “reimbursement summit.” Braley also won a pledge that–through the Institute of Medicine and a newly-constituted Independent Payment Advisory Board–the government would “put more teeth in it (a move away from fee-for-service) and move more quickly.” (Newsweek)

Lawmakers secure Medicare payment reform
U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack and Sen. Tom Harkin, both Iowa Democrats, were able to include as part of the reconciliation package being debated today in the House of Representatives a provision to reform Medicare payments. They were joined in their efforts by Iowa Democrats Reps. Leonard Boswell and Bruce Braley. (Burlington Hawk-Eye)

Health care reform vote: Quad-Citians give views
A registered Republican from Davenport is taking his passion for the passage of health-care reform all the way to the November elections. He’ll vote for the Democrats. Bob Hamilton, 68, is disappointed the vote on the health-care reform bill late Sunday wasn’t bipartisan. No Republican voted for the measure. (Quad-City Times)

Comments from Iowa delegation on health care bill passage
Tom Harkin: “With this vote today, the House took a major step forward in the fight to put American families and small business owners-not the insurance companies-in control of their own health care.” Steve King: “The majority of Americans, including the tens of thousands of patriots who poured into Washington, D.C., this weekend, will not stand by while Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi tear the Constitution to shreds.” (Des Moines Register)

WMC ahead of the curve
Compared to similar hospitals, Winneshiek Medical Center is ahead of the curve. That’s according to WMC Chief Nursing Officer Linda Klimesh, who updated the Board of Trustees on the Annual Quality Indicator Report from the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) at a recent meeting. (Decorah Public Opinion)

Flood fears ease around Iowa
One of the few places in Iowa where water is still rising is at Estherville, where the Des Moines River is nearly 5 feet above flood stage. The weather service expects it to increase a few more inches by this morning before cresting. (Des Moines Register)

U.S. News

Obama to sign health-care bill into law Tuesday
President Obama will sign landmark health-care legislation into law Tuesday at the White House without waiting for the Senate to deal with a package of revisions that was also approved by the House late Sunday, administration officials said. (Washington Post)

Big win for Obama, but at what cost?
The House’s passage of health care legislation late Sunday night assures that whatever the ultimate cost, President Obama will go down in history as one of the handful of presidents who found a way to reshape the nation’s social welfare system. (New York Times)

Winners and losers in the affected industries
The legislation will give hospitals something they desperately need: more patients whose insurance will pay the bills. But officials at public and urban hospitals also worry that the law calls for cutting millions in federal aid dollars. (Wall Street Journal)

Provena ruling sets cases in motion for other hospitals
More Illinois hospitals looking for a property tax break will soon be under the state Department of Revenue’s microscope. Revenue spokeswoman Sue Hofer said Friday the department has been holding on to several other hospitals’ applications for tax exemptions as it waited for the state’s high court to rule on the taxable status of Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana. (Springfield News-Gazette)