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

Iowa News

Story Medical provides nearly $1.8 million in community benefits
Story County Medical Center provides $1,789,392 in community benefits to Story County, according to a recently completed assessment of those programs and services. That amount, based on 2009 figures, includes $446,430 in uncompensated care and $1,342,962 in free or discounted community benefits that Story Medical specifically implemented to help Story County residents. (Nevada Journal)

Community medicine: Ames clinic, hospital execs see value in cooperation
The working relationship between McFarland Clinic and Mary Greeley Medical Center is a unique asset to the Mid-Iowa medical community and the patients it serves, according to Mary Greeley President and CEO Brian Dieter and McFarland Clinic CEO Steve Koger.  “It’s a relationship that predates my arrival,” Dieter said. “I got here in 1999, and one of the stories being told at the time was how the clinic and hospital (decided that they) could be more successful if they worked together.” (Ames Tribune)

Outbreaks in Iowa show vaccinating kids matters
Currently, Iowa falls below the public health vaccination goal set by the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Public Health. A 90 percent vaccination rate is the public health standard. In 2008, Iowa achieved only 74.7 percent. As a result, Iowa has seen the resurgence of two preventable diseases. Last spring, a three-county area in northwest Iowa had a serious outbreak of mumps. (Des Moines Register)

Iowa jobless rate is 6.8%; new jobs and unemployed grow
Iowa’s unemployment rate edged up to 6.8 percent in July from a revised June rate of 6.7 percent, Iowa Workforce Development said today. The state’s jobless rate was 6.1 percent a year ago. Iowa gained 1,700 jobs in July over June and 3,700 jobs over July 2009. (Des Moines Register)

U.S. News

New plans for the uninsured off to slow start
It’s too soon to gauge the program’s impact. The plans won’t be up and running in all the states until September. But some officials are surprised.  “It’s early, but thus far interest in the program is lower than we expected,” said Michael Keough, executive director of the North Carolina Health Insurance Risk Pool, which started July 1. As of Tuesday, 314 people had applied and 158 had been approved. (Kaiser Health News)

Dems retreat on health care cost pitch
Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and the deficit and instead stressing a promise to “improve it.”  The messaging shift was circulated this afternoon on a conference call and PowerPoint presentation organized by FamiliesUSA — one of the central groups in the push for the initial legislation. The call was led by a staffer for the Herndon Alliance, which includes leading labor groups and other health care allies. (Politico)

Government to overhaul bioterror and pandemic flu plans
Acknowledging that the development of medical countermeasures against bioterrorism threats and pandemic flu is lagging, federal authorities have announced a $1.9-billion makeover of the system for identifying and manufacturing drugs and vaccines for public health emergencies. The overhaul includes refinements to manufacturing aimed at shaving weeks off the time it takes to produce pandemic flu vaccine, and a series of steps aimed at more quickly spotting promising scientific discoveries and getting them to market. (Los Angeles Times)

Digital hospital records tied to higher efficiency
Patients treated at hospital emergency rooms that use all-digital-records systems are more likely to have shorter stays than at hospitals with paper or basic digital-records systems, according to a new study. The study, based on data from the 2006 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, found that people spent 22.4 percent less time and were treated 13.1 percent more quickly at hospitals with complete electronic health-records systems compared with other hospitals. (Arizona Republic)

Why iPads are taking off in hospitals
Stanford medical school is giving iPads to all its new incoming students this fall in order to cut down on paper costs. The iPads have other advantages too. Here’s what Dr. Charles Prober, Stanford’s senior associate dean for medical education, told the San Francisco Chronicle. (SmartPlanet.com)

Hospital bribe alleged
Alexander Everest told aspiring doctors abroad that he could help them climb the mountain of medical training they needed to practice on their own—for a fee. His company, Elite American Health Systems, “connects the world’s most gifted healers with the medical centers and patients who need them,” according to its website. But in his zeal to make those connections for four residency-training candidates at Harlem Hospital, Mr. Everest went too far, Manhattan prosecutors allege. (Wall Street Journal)