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

Iowa News

Jennie Edmundson Hospital employees honored by IHA

The Iowa Hospital Association honored Jennie Edmundson Hospital employees with a recognition celebration Wednesday. “This is an opportunity to say thank you to the incredible staff at Jennie and show our support of their work throughout southwest Iowa,” said Kirk Norris, CEO of the association, which sponsored the event. (Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil)

National speaker comes to York
Hospitals from across Nebraska came to listen to Greg Paris, a national speaker who works with Studer Group and serves as the CEO of Monroe County Hospital in Albia, Iowa. The seminar was titled “How to Sustain a Culture of Excellence,” and focused on the importance of improving patient care and employee satisfaction. (York News-Times)

Award recognizes volunteer’s service to others
Going from the meticulous organization of a library to the scrupulous atmosphere of a hospital is not that big a stretch for this year’s Iowa Hospital Association Volunteer of the Year nominee from the Orange City Area Health System. Nan Reinking gave the largest number of hours – 414 – of volunteer service in 2009 to the health system. (Sioux City Journal)

Oelwein hospital announces plans for outpatient center
“Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare recognizes the importance of Mercy Hospital as a provider of exceptional and compassionate health care services in Oelwein and surrounding communities. We are pleased to demonstrate our commitment to the continued success of Mercy Hospital with the announcement of plans to establish the Mercy Center for Outpatient Services,” said Hospital Administrator Kathy Hintz. (Oelwein Register)

U.S. News

Obama presses aid to cities and states
President Obama on Saturday implored Congress to provide more aid to states and cities to blunt “the devastating economic impact of budget cuts” by local governments that imperil the jobs of teachers, the police, firefighters and other public employees. (New York Times)

Grants to aid projects on improving patient safety, curbing malpractice suits
Seven of the grants are for three-year demonstration projects that will test innovations such as making obstetrics procedures more uniform and offering patients and their families immediate compensation for medical errors rather than requiring them to pursue costly and often lengthy lawsuits. Similarly, a project in New York will evaluate a voluntary judge-directed negotiation program under the auspices of the state court. (Washington Post)

Retirements by baby-boomer doctors, nurses could strain overhaul
Overlooked in the conversation about the aging baby-boom generation is a particular group: doctors and nurses who are itching to call it quits. Health-care economists and other experts say retirements in that group over the next 10 to 15 years will greatly weaken the health-care workforce and leave many Americans who are newly insured under the new legislation without much hope of finding a doctor or nurse. (Washington Post)

Violence on the rise in U.S. hospitals, clinics
Since 2004, there have been “significant increases in reports of assault, rape and homicide, with the greatest number of reports in the last three years,” the Joint Commission said in its “Sentinel Event Alert” released last week, the latest in a series of alerts on serious adverse events occurring in health care settings. (USA Today)

Twin Cities nurses strike exposes hospitals’ big profits, iffy outlook
Behind the hospitals’ apparent fortune, economic clouds lurk that have forced them to keep a sharp eye on the bottom line. The hospitals continue to grapple with rising unpaid patient bills and cuts in public programs, problems that are unlikely to ease until federal health reform fully kicks in during 2014 with expanded coverage for millions. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

New Illinois law requires hospitals to be able to access bathrooms quickly
It requires all hospitals in Illinois to have an emergency plan to get into patient bathrooms in case of emergency. The law is named after Seth Sanders, who is originally from Jefferson and Franklin Counties. Seth served in Iraq, returned home and headed west for Nevada. He did not die on the battlefield, but instead in a hospital bathroom. None of the nurses had a key to help him in time. (WSIL)

Could an EHR have helped prevent a fatal overdose at a Maine hospital?
Tragedy struck a critical access hospital in Maine, when a medical overdose killed a man earlier this month. Hospital officials are reportedly calling the death a result of human error, and a spokesman for the hospital says it is difficult to say whether or not having an electronic health records system in place would have prevented this from happening. (Healthcare IT News)

A health plan for Partners
Partners HealthCare System Inc. will try to slow the rise of medical costs in the coming year by trimming hospital budgets, working with payers to find shared savings, and applying for federal pilot programs that offer innovative ways to provide and pay for health care, its new chief executive said in an interview. (Boston Globe)

Smoking bans linked to less secondhand smoke in children
Laws that limit smoking in workplaces or restaurants have been tied to lower exposures in adults. Now a team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health has looked at a more vulnerable population: children ages 3 to 19. (Boston Globe)

New phone apps aim to boost health
Companies are in the process of developing a new generation of iPhone accessories to help prevent heart disease, measure the temperature of food and determine whether you’re exercising to your fullest potential. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)