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

Iowa News

New high-risk health-insurance pool opens
Iowa officials have started taking applications for a new health-insurance program for people with pre-existing health conditions. The new program is financed with $35 million in federal money under the new federal health-reform law. That money is supposed to last until 2014, and Iowa Health Commissioner Susan Voss has estimated it would be enough to cover about 975 Iowans. Federal officials have estimated about 34,500 Iowans could be eligible. (Des Moines Register)

Patients use art as aid in healing
Leon Wilson took care as he touched up watercolors on the artwork he’d been painting during his stay at Iowa Methodist Medical Center. “I’d never picked up a paintbrush before,” acknowledged Leon, 73, as he painted a sketch that local artist Laura Lynch had drawn for him. Through Iowa Health-Des Moines’ new “Arts in Nursing” project, Wilson got a break from lying in his hospital bed on the dialysis floor. Working with Lynch also provided a therapeutic outlet and a better appreciation for art. (Des Moines Register)

City scrambles in face of flood
Across Ames and Story County this morning, dispatchers scrambled to direct emergency personnel by police squad car, ambulance and boat as record-breaking flood waters stranded motorists, forced residents to evacuate their homes and apartments, snarled traffic and hampered efforts to deal with medical emergencies. Intense rain Tuesday night in the South Skunk River basin was expected to push river crests to record levels. (Ames Tribune)

U.S. News

U.S. sees drop in dangerous hospital staph illnesses
Aggressive, drug-resistant staph infections caught in hospitals or from medical treatment are becoming scarcer, another sign of progress in a prevention effort that has become a national public health priority. The decline was seen in a federal study of methicillin-resistant staph, or MRSA. The bug often causes only a boil or skin infection. (Associated Press)

‘Medical home’ saving Illinois Medicaid millions
The “medical home” appears to be saving Illinois taxpayers tens of millions of dollars from the state Medicaid program, a new study shows. A new study by the Washington-based Robert Graham Center shows Illinois Health Connect saved the state $140 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009 and another $80 million in fiscal 2008, which ended June 30, 2008. (Chicago Breaking Business News)

Executives at health insurance giants cash in as firms plan fee hikes
Leaders of Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth, WellPoint and Aetna received nearly $200 million in compensation in 2009, according to a report, while the companies sought rate increases as high as 39 percent. (Los Angeles Times)

Nurses fear even more ER assaults as programs cut
Violence against nurses and other medical professionals appears to be increasing around the country as the number of drug addicts, alcoholics and psychiatric patients showing up at emergency rooms climbs. Nurses have responded, in part, by seeking tougher criminal penalties for assaults against health care workers. (Associated Press)

Meaningful use training targets next steps
Now that Meaningful Use and Certification rules have been developed, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology are focusing on ensuring healthcare providers know how to enroll in the program. (Information Week)

Gains in bio sciences cause terror fears
But the fear of a mass-casualty terrorist attack using bioweapons has always been tempered by a single fact: Of the scores of plots uncovered during the past decade, none have featured biological weapons. Indeed, many experts doubt terrorists even have the technical capability to acquire and weaponize deadly bugs. (Wall Street Journal)

Mayo Clinic lands its own fantasy island
Dr. Paul Friedman, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, has given medical lectures worldwide. But last week he entered a new dimension, when he gave a presentation on the online fantasy world known as Second Life. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)