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

Iowa News

State fines midwife over lack of hospital privileges
A Des Moines nurse-midwife has agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and to take ethics training to settle allegations that she failed to tell a patient two years ago about her inability to deliver babies in a hospital. The Iowa Board of Nursing said Carey Ann Ryan should have told the patient that she did not have admitting privileges at any local hospitals. (Des Moines Register)

State social service officials warn of cutbacks as costs rise
Some of the nearly 30 presenters at a budget hearing held by the Iowa Council on Human Services worried that dire circumstances for agencies serving Iowa’s most vulnerable populations could be in the offing if federal stimulus money to bolster Medicaid and other programs is not extended beyond December. (Sioux City Journal)

Wright Medical Center continues to grow, embarks on $18 million expansion
In its most recent building project, Wright Medical Center added a new emergency room entrance and ambulance bays on the north side of the facility. Now the hospital is expanding to the south side of the campus and CEO Steve Simonin feels it is the right time to do it. (Wright County Monitor)

Cancer treatment at Trinity to expand
Trinity Regional Medical Center got the green light Wednesday to acquire the equipment necessary to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients. The State Health Facilities Council acted favorably on the local medical center’s request to purchase a linear accelerator and CT simulator at a cost of approximately $5 million. (Webster City Daily Freeman-Journal)

Permanent MRI unit arrives at Virginia Gay Hospital
“It’s a very big deal to have one of these here permanently at VGH,” Radiology Technician Susan Bender said.  “We can do the same thing here, actually with newer technology, and save our patients time so they can get on with their day.” (Vinton Today)

U.S. News

Health reform takes aim at hospital readmission rates
Uncle Sam currently doesn’t pay for a readmission on the same day as a discharge, unless it’s for an unrelated reason. But the new law goes much further, directing Medicare to recover payments made for unnecessary readmissions within 30 days of discharge after a stay for three conditions: heart attack, pneumonia, and heart failure. In the first year, a hospital’s total Medicare payments can be reduced by up to 1 percent. The cap rises to 2 percent the next year, and 3 percent the third year. Eventually, more diseases will be added to the list. (U.S. News & World Report)

New rules guarantee patients’ right to appeal insurance claim denials
Patients will find it easier to appeal the denials of health insurance claims under rules being issued Thursday by the Obama administration, which is trying to boost political support for the new health care law by highlighting potential advantages for consumers. The regulations guarantee consumers the right to appeal denials — directly to their insurers and then, if necessary, to external review boards. (Washington Post)

Administration officials defend “meaningful use” before Congress
On Tuesday, National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal and Director of CMS’ Office of e-Health Standards and Services Tony Trenkle defended the final rules on the “meaningful use” of electronic health records before a hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. (iHealth Beat)

Consumer group: Insurers kept surplus while hiking premiums
Non-profit Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans stockpiled billions of dollars during the past decade, yet continued to hit consumers with double-digit premium increases, Consumers Union found in an analysis of 10 of the plans’ finances. (USA Today)

Hospitals stress cost cuts saving billions
Massachusetts hospitals say in a new report that they have substantially slowed the rise in their costs in the past 18 months, saving insurers and employers billions of dollars, and showing that they do not deserve all the blame for skyrocketing health insurance premiums. (Boston Globe)

Firms ready for health IT push
Now that the Obama administration has finalized the rules by which health care providers can be reimbursed for the systems with billions in stimulus dollars, they’re making serious plans to transition from paper to digital records — an expensive process that information technology and telecom companies are eager to help with. (Politico)

Proposed deficit remedy: the healthcare ‘public option’
Creating a major government health insurance program was roundly rejected last year, but 128 House Democrats are pushing to reconsider the idea, contending that it would hold down federal spending. Their bill, which faces long odds, would allow Americans who do not get insurance at work to choose a government health plan starting in 2014. (Los Angeles Times)