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

Iowa News

Cleanup starts after storms, tornadoes
Residents continue to clean up after tornadoes and straight-line winds ripped through several Northeast Iowa counties Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado and strong winds caused substantial property damage near Tripoli. (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)

Iowa flooding: families evacuated in Dumont
Flooding has forced the evacuation of about 25 homes and six businesses in Dumont, emergency management officials said. The water rose rapidly Wednesday afternoon, leaving some residents with just enough time to grab a purse or a cell phone before they left their houses, said Mitch Nordmeyer, Butler County Emergency Management coordinator. (Des Moines Register)

New rural hospice center ready to open
Most of hospice facilities are in big cities, but now a new rural care center is opening in Cass County. The brand new Cass County Hospice Center was built onto the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic. The new wing to the hospital was designed to feel like home for those who can no longer stay in their homes. (KCCI)

New robot to increase efficiency of UIHC pharmacy
“Robots show up for work, they don’t ask for much except a little compressed air, and they do their job,” said Steve Nelson, the interim director of the UIHC Pharmaceutical Care. Now, after the current medication-dispensing robot has served UIHC for nearly a decade, it will soon be replaced by a faster, more efficient model. (University of Iowa Daily Iowan)

Branstad picks Reynolds as running mate
Former Governor Terry Branstad announced today that state Senator Kim Reynolds, an Osceola Republican, is his choice for running mate in his bid for a fifth term as governor in November. Reynolds, who served four terms as Clarke County treasurer, is half way through her first term in the Iowa Senate representing Adams, Clarke, Decatur, Montgomery, Ringgold, Taylor and Union counties. (Sioux City Journal)

Wellness program to involve seniors in Iowa
A charitable trust established by the late hotel and real estate baroness Leona Helmsley is providing $8.1 million over three years for a project that will involve about 1,600 senior citizens in five states. People in 40 communities in South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska will participate. (Associated Press/Mason City Globe Gazette)

U.S. News

HHS asks hospitals to grant visitation rights now
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked the leaders of the major hospital organizations this week to urge their members to not wait for the conclusion of the formal rulemaking process before implementing new rules that would broaden the visitation rights of their patients. (HealthLeaders Media)

Connecticut is first to launch Medicaid expansion under health reform law
Connecticut on Monday became the first state to win approval for its plan to expand Medicaid to tens of thousands of low-income adults — a provision central to the Democrats’ new health care reform law, the Health and Human Services Department announced Monday. (The Hill)

Federal health care overhaul to keep more young adults on parents’ policies
One of the first provisions of the federal healthcare overhaul — allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26 — is expected to make a big dent in the number of uninsured young people this year. The change will make it easier and cheaper for thousands of 20-somethings to obtain insurance, even in states where other options have existed for several years. (Los Angeles Times)

Rookie docs may get more oversight, shorter shifts
Patients will be told when they’re being treated by rookie doctors, who would get shorter shifts and better supervision under proposed work changes for medical residents. The draft regulations aim to promote patient safety and reduce medical errors by enhancing work conditions for sometimes sleep-deprived junior physicians. (Associated Press)

Name of the game in health care: cheaper, better, faster
Now that health-care reform legislation has been signed into existence in the U.S., venture investors say they are focused even more intently than before on companies with products that aim to lower the cost of health-care. (Wall Street Journal)

Six questions to protect elderly patients
Pam Belluck reported in The Times on the risk that elderly patients may become confused and delirious while in the hospital. Here she offers advice on how to prepare when an elderly patient is headed to surgery or a hospital stay. (New York Times)

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

Iowa News

Iowa weather: It’s not a repeat of 2008, experts say
“Yes, we are getting a lot of heavy rainfall, and yes, this month is above normal in terms of rainfall. But it is not as bad as some people might think,” said Jeff Zogg, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Johnston. The heaviest rainfall in Iowa was 7.04 inches recorded between 10:15 p.m. Tuesday and 4 a.m. Wednesday on the Iowa River just west of Rowan in east-central Wright County. (Des Moines Register)

Three counties get storm disaster aid
Iowa Governor Chet Culver Tuesday issued a disaster emergency proclamation for Ringgold, Union and Taylor counties in response to severe storms on June 1. (Des Moines Register)

Branstad to name running mate on Thursday
The Branstad campaign said the initial announcement will take place via text message prior to the start of the fly-around tour that has scheduled stops in Ankeny, Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Clear Lake, Dubuque, Davenport and Cedar Rapids. The party’s nominee for lieutenant governor is slated to be ratified by the nearly 2,000 delegates expected to attend the GOP state convention in Des Moines on Saturday. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

Labor deals spark debate
Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Iowa, sent an e-mail to the state Board of Regents two days before its June 9 meeting, urging the board to require project labor agreements on all future construction projects of more than $25 million. Regent President David Miles said the regents would not adopt any broad policy on the agreements, but they decided to try it on one project — the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics medical facility in Coralville. (University of Iowa Daily Iowan)

Iowa warns of dangers of fake marijuana
The substance, sold under the labels “Spice” and “K2″, is a synthetic version of marijuana. It’s billed as incense and its package warns against human consumption, but it has been linked to the recent death of an Indianola teen. (Sioux City Journal)

U.S. News

Medicaid’s ticking bomb could wipe out state budgets
The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions study, “Medicaid Long-Term Care: The Ticking Time Bomb,” runs through worst and best-case scenarios: the best being that Medicaid costs as a percentage of state budgets will nearly double by 2030, from the current 20 percent to 35 percent in some states. The worst? These costs will nearly triple, rising to 50 percent of the operating budget in one state — with long-term care accounting for 25 percent of that. “Obviously, this is not sustainable,” write the authors. (The Fiscal Times)

How new health insurance regulations could affect some premiums, coverage
Using a combination of government, industry and think tank reports, the Obama administration estimated that the regulations’ impact on the cost of health insurance will be quite low. And, the number of people who will be helped by some of the law’s key provisions taking effect in September may also be lower than some might expect. Here are some highlights.  (Kaiser Health News)

Obama warns insurance companies not to unnecessarily raise costs
President Obama met with the chief executives of more than a dozen major insurance companies at the White House on Tuesday to caution them against using new requirements in the recently enacted health-care reform legislation as a pretext to substantially raise premiums. (Washington Post)

Mediator calls Twin Cities nurses, hospitals back to table
Both sides said they have agreed to meet Thursday, though it remains unclear if that would lead to extended talks. The nurses union voted Monday to authorize a strike. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

How the performance of U.S. health care compares internationally
Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the United States consistently underperforms on most dimensions of performance, relative to other countries. This report—an update to three earlier editions—includes data from seven countries and incorporates patients’ and physicians’ survey results on care experiences and ratings on dimensions of care. (Commonwealth Fund)

RAC lessons: Appeals can work; denials and hospital prep are costly
Separate reports from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the American Hospital Association helped hospitals cobble together a clearer picture of what the recovery auditor contractors (RACs) are up to, while presenters at this year’s Healthcare Financial Management Association ANI conference in Las Vegas offered strategies for managing the RAC process. (Fierce Health Finance)

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A while back, a post on this blog talked about the newest recipients of the scholarships that IHA provides each year through the Iowa Hospital Education and Research Foundation (IHERF).  

At that time, we wanted to share the excitement – both IHA’s and the recipients’ – that comes with handing out large sums of money.  But it was more than simply being “springtime Santas”; it was changing lives in a very real and personal way. 

More than a few of these scholarship recipients have made it clear that the help they received from IHA, which comes by way of contributions from hospitals and sponsors (more about that later), will allow them to remain on track and on time to finish their degrees.  Otherwise, they might have to work more, study less and maybe even drop out of school, at least temporarily. 

Since that post in May, we’ve had the chance to look more closely at the 31 men and women who received the IHERF Health Careers Scholarship for 2010.  Here are some observations: 

• These are outstanding students.  The numbers are all there – class-leading GPAs and ACT scores – along with long lists of school and community involvement. 
• These are students who are much more than students.  Besides supporting various community organizations with their time and talent, several are also supporting children and working part time (at least) to do more than pay for books and gas. 
• These are leaders.  Many are seeking advanced degrees to advance their careers, but also to put themselves in positions where they can mentor, teach and influence the next generation of health care professionals.  They are energized by the national focus on health care and the role they can play to make the system work. 
• These are Iowans who care.  Yes, as a condition of receiving the scholarship, all of the students must agree to work at an Iowa hospital for one year.  But it’s clear that these students have a strong desire to serve Iowans – in many cases, in the very towns and hospitals where they were born.  As scholarship recipient Kelly Lillie, an aspiring nurse practitioner from Hancock County Memorial Hospital in Britt put it, “I am ready and willing to step up to the plate, to take on the role as a midlevel provider and be part of the solution for health care in rural Iowa, my home.” 

As our scholars commit themselves to Iowa hospitals and the communities they serve, it completes the circle that also starts with Iowa hospitals, whose donations, along with funds from generous businesses, have made the Health Care Careers Scholarship Fund possible.  Many of these donations come from hospital leaders and the sponsors who participate in IHA’s annual Swinging for Scholars golf fundraiser. 

It adds up to more than a half-million dollars in scholarship support since the fund started in 2004.  But the real bottom line is found in town and cities all over Iowa, where these high-performing, scholarship-earning men and women will ensure access to high-value health care.

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

Iowa News

Mercy Ambassadors honors donors, volunteers
Mercy Ambassadors held its annual recognition dinner on June 15 at The Music Man Square to celebrate and honor 350 plus hospital volunteers for their service and dedication to Mercy Medical Center- North Iowa and to celebrate its largest donation to Mercy in the history of the Ambassadors. (Mason City Globe-Gazette)

U.S. News

As health law takes effect, Obama warns insurers
President Obama, whose vilification of insurers helped push a landmark health care overhaul through Congress, plans to sternly warn industry executives at a White House meeting on Tuesday against imposing hefty rate increases in anticipation of tightening regulation under the new law, administration officials said Monday. (New York Times)

Obama revealing health law details
President Barack Obama is revealing details of how the government will enforce the health overhaul law, an announcement expected to focus on how insurance companies must treat consumers. Administration officials were meeting privately Tuesday at the White House with insurance company CEOs and state insurance commissioners, the White House said in a written statement, with Obama expected to attend at least part of the session. (Associated Press)

Nomination of Medicare and Medicaid chief opens new avenue to attack Obama’s health care plan
Get ready for round two. Confirmation hearings for Donald Berwick, the White House’s choice to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, could turn into a proxy war over an issue that, though decided, still remains a political hot button for many Americans. (Kansas City Star)

Rising costs spur increases in health savings accounts
High-deductible health plans and the health savings accounts that link to them are becoming a familiar fixture on the insurance landscape, even though they get mixed reviews from many consumers and health-policy experts. Rising costs make the plans attractive to employers because they are cheaper than comprehensive coverage. (Kaiser Health News)

Health insurers boost customer service as era of competition approaches
Cutting inscrutable health insurance jargon out of their communications. Opening retail stores to answer people’s questions and offer wellness classes. Measuring customer-service efforts to give callers a better experience. More insurance carriers are ramping up their services as they prepare to compete for millions of new customers starting in 2014, as a result of the new healthcare-reform law. (Los Angeles Times)

HHS gears up for Web portal’s launch
For Todd Park, working these days as chief technology officer at the massive Department of Health and Human Services feels more like working at a frantic Silicon Valley startup. “In the startup world, you work 24/7, or at least 22/7, definitely nights and weekends,” Park explains. “And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing here.” (Politico)

How to eliminate health care waste
We believe that by putting five proven strategies into effect to address the worst of those bad habits, the health care industry can cut its costs by 5 percent a year, an achievement that over a 10-year period would save the nation an impressive $3.6 trillion. (Roll Call)

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

Iowa News

Psychiatric units close over costs, leaving patients isolated
Ellsworth Municipal Hospital in Iowa Falls recently joined a growing list of Iowa hospitals closing their inpatient psychiatric units. Five other Iowa hospitals have shuttered their units in the past decade, mainly because of a lack of money, psychiatrists or both. (Des Moines Register)

Under 18? Better buckle up in back seat
Kathy Leggett is director of the center for advocacy and outreach at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines. She said studies show that lap and shoulder belts used in the back seat of a car are 44 percent effective in reducing fatalities, a figure that goes up to 73 percent when used in a sport utility vehicle or van. (Sioux City Journal)

U.S. News

Health agency nominee faces confirmation battle
President Obama’s nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Donald M. Berwick, is a man with a mission, a preacher and teacher who has been showing hospitals how they can save lives and money by zealously adhering to clinical protocols for the treatment of patients. (New York Times)

Medical home demo reports some positive outcomes — with caveats
Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan was part of the first group, and officials there said they were pleased with how the assistance helped their project along. “For us, this represented a way to step back and look at how we were doing things,” said Don Klitgaard, M.D., a family physician and the center’s medical director. (American Medical News)

Dartmouth Atlas: a response to the researchers
Reporters Reed Abelson and Gardiner Harris respond to Dartmouth’s rebuttals of their June 3 story that cast doubts on the research methods and findings of the Dartmouth Atlas. (New York Times)

What broke my father’s heart
The author says that her father’s doctors did their best within a compartmentalized and time-pressured medical system. But in the absence of any other guiding hand, there is no doubt that economics helped shape the wider context in which doctors made decisions regarding his health and, especially, the use of a pacemaker. (New York Times)

Low Medicare pay for doctors puts health reform at risk
The Senate on Friday passed the annual “doc fix” — but this short-term stay on the reimbursement rates for physicians who treat Medicare patients does not resolve the underlying problem: Those reimbursements are woefully below market. And if Congress does not address this, the much-heralded health-care reform is at risk. Now is not the time for Congress to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. (Washington Post)

Health safety net frays with fixes still years off
Despite passage of the landmark health care overhaul this spring, the nation’s health system is continuing to fray, raising the prospect that the country could experience a crisis before the law establishes a health care safety net in 2014. (Chicago Tribune)

Mary K. Wakefield on getting ready to double the work of clinics
Wakefield, a nurse who is a leading expert in rural health care, was appointed administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration in February 2009. She was associate dean for rural health at the University of North Dakota’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences and directed the university’s Center for Rural Health.  Here are excerpts of an interview with her. (Washington Post)

It’s not a stuffed animal; it’s a $6,000 medical device
Five years ago, a Japanese robot manufacturer introduced Paro to the world. Built to resemble a baby harp seal—with a plush coat of antibacterial fur—Paro was hailed in Japan as a pioneer among socially interactive robots, one that would help lift the spirits of millions of elderly adults. It might be the cuddliest medical device ever to cause an ethical quandary. (Wall Street Journal)

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