by Dan Royer on Thursday, August 26, 2010
Leave a CommentFeaturing hospital and health care headlines from the media and Web.
Iowa News:
Prompt medical attention equals excellent prognosis for stroke survivor
March 8, 2010 was the day Duane Ott could have died. That is had Ott, clinical engineering director for Mercy Medical Center — Sioux City, not sought medical attention when he did. (Sioux City Journal)
Belmond Medical Center Groundbreaking
The Belmond Medical Center will soon have many changes. The groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation and expansion project today is marking the start of construction. (KIMT)
Mercy begins work on ER expansion
Construction is under way on a $17 million expansion of the Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa emergency department, hospital officials said. A new 25,493-square-foot single-story structure is planned — double the size of the current emergency department. (Mason City Globe Gazette)
U.S. News
Healthcare law backers plan counteroffensive
After months of being pummeled by Republican attacks on the new healthcare law, the Obama administration and its allies are striking back in an attempt to stem public disaffection with the health overhaul ahead of the November election. (Los Angeles Times)
85,000 lost health insurance in Sacramento area, UCLA study finds
Researchers issued yet another grim statistic Monday on the toll of the recession: 2 million additional Californians – 85,000 of them in the capital region – lost their health care coverage during the recent economic slide. (Sacremento Bee)
Sebelius could face health-reg fight
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius could find herself pitted between top Democrats on Capitol Hill and state insurance commissioners over a key section of the health care overhaul. Sebelius is waiting for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to suggest rules surrounding how much insurance companies must spend on medical costs versus administrative expenses or profits. The report, expected in weeks, isn’t likely to be as strict on insurers as top Democrats have hoped. (Politico.com)
Can Concierge Medicine for the Few Benefit the Many?
Earlier this summer a friend revealed that for the last nine years she has been a patient in a concierge, or boutique, primary care practice. For $350 each month, she is guaranteed around-the-clock access to her doctor, appointments within 24 hours of calling, longer office visits and the kind of personalized attention and care coordination she felt was missing with all her previous doctors.
by Scott McIntyre on Thursday, August 26, 2010
Montgomery County Memorial Hospital (MCMH) in Red Oak will officially open a major addition and remodeling project today. The project is a good example of how Iowa hospitals are responding not only to a growing need for health care, but also to the changing health care environment that focuses on patient-centered care as well as the move from inpatient to outpatient care.
To fully understand the need for the project, take a look at what has happened since the hospital opened its doors at its current location in 1989.
Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, as seen in an artist's depiction with its new addition
Outreach and outpatient clinic visits have tripled from 15,000 visits in 1989 to more than 45,000 today; nearly two-thirds of total hospital business is now outpatient. This translates into 97 percent of total patient encounters. Outpatient services have been offered in four different areas of the hospital, which is very confusing for patients. As specialty clinics were added, space was provided in any location that was available.
Emergency department volume has doubled since 1989, creating workflow issues. There was inadequate patient privacy, rooms were too small and the admission process was inconvenient for the patient. Hazmat decontamination facilities were inadequate and there was no separate family waiting and consultation area.
A dedicated scope room was included to improve workflow in surgery. Once again, there was lack of patient privacy and inadequate storage for equipment and supplies.
Space needs and compliance issues in other areas of the hospital were creating a situation where additional room needed to be added. The pharmacy needed space to meet compliance issues in air quality and respiratory therapy also needed space for to meet regulations. Radiology needed additional space for privacy issues and physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy all outgrew their locations. Health information management, laboratory and other departments also needed additional space. The Women’s Health Center, formerly located off campus, is now part of the main campus.
It’s clear that the improvements at the Red Oak hospital were well past due. Like hospitals all over Iowa, MCMH has responded to the needs of its community. In turn, the community, recognizing the economic and quality-of-life value of a modern facility, has supported the hospital, its growth and its expansion.
by Scott McIntyre on Thursday, August 26, 2010
Mercy Medical Center-New Hampton
IHA staff members are in New Hampton today, celebrating the employees of Mercy Medical Center-New Hampton.
Founded more than 90 years ago, the New Hampton hospital is one of the state’s oldest small community hospitals, many of which were built in the 1950s and 1960s in response to the nation’s growth in the wake of World War II (and the birth of the Baby Boom generation). Mercy-New Hampton, on the other hand, was planned just before the U.S. entered World War I at the behest of the Servant Sisters of the Holy Ghost and Nicholas Schilling, a local physician.
It took less than a year to raise the $16,000 needed to build the hospital, which opened its doors as St. Joseph Community Hospital on February 6, 1917. That name remained until 1999, when the hospital joined the Mercy Health Network in northern Iowa.
Today, Mercy-New Hampton is a powerful part of the Chickasaw County economy, with more than 100 employees and an economic impact exceeding $5 million. Over the last six years, the hospital has done major renovations that gave it improved spaces for the emergency department, operating rooms and outpatient services and created a brand new family practice clinic. Those improvements were critical in helping the hospital land six new physicians who will serve the community for years to come.
At today’s celebration, IHA will share a specially made video about the hospital and the community and treat the entire hospital staff to commemorative T-shirts and ice cream sundaes.
by Scott McIntyre on Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and Web.
Iowa News
Salmonella vaccine might have prevented egg recall
Low-cost vaccines that may have helped prevent the kind of salmonella outbreak that has led to the recall of more than a half-billion eggs haven’t been given to half of the nation’s egg-laying hens. The vaccines aren’t required in the U.S., although in Great Britain, officials say vaccinations have given them the safest egg supply in Europe. (Associated Press/Sioux City Journal)
Q-C doctor raising money for Pakistani flood relief
Massive flooding in Pakistan is an unfolding tragedy that is expected to take years to recover from, but is receiving little attention in the United States, says a local doctor and native Pakistani. Dr. Ahmad Cheema, of Davenport, who has been in the United States for 13 years and practices gastroenterology in the Illinois Quad-Cities, has raised $25,000 for flood relief in his native Pakistan, but said few people know about it. (Quad-City Times)
Doctor helps patients keep their limbs
Dr. Mica Murdoch had been with Broadlawns Medical Center’s foot and ankle surgery department for about a year before being named the director of the Amputation Prevention Center earlier this summer. The center includes four doctors who use conservative and surgical treatments to help roughly 1,100 patients a year, in addition to providing education and preventative care. (Des Moines Register)
Stem cell ruling could hurt UIHC, will undermine other important research
Monday’s ruling could affect the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC), where researchers conduct embryonic and adult stem-cell research. Still, the full implications for UIHC remain unclear, UI spokesman Stephen Pradarelli said. These cells offer promising medical advancements and could help scientists cure previously deadly diseases. The injunction is undoubtedly disheartening for those who stand to benefit from future breakthroughs. (University of Iowa Daily Iowan)
County health fund grows to $1.7 million
The self-funded Woodbury County employee health insurance fund is becoming so robust that the county may have a “premium holiday” in which the county and employees wouldn’t pay into the fund. With word that the fund has grown over the last year to $1.7 million, the county supervisors on Tuesday discussed halting payments into the fund if the fund reached $2.25 million to $2.5 million. (Sioux City Journal)
U.S. News
D.C. in front of the health reform curve, officials say
As states across the country scramble to meet the requirements for national health reform, the nation’s capital is “way ahead,” according to Dr. Julie Hudman, director of the Department of Health Care Finance and a member of the city’s Health Reform Implementation Committee. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty created the panel last May to explore how best to implement federal health reform. (Kaiser Health News)
Dallas Hospital expands incentive pay plan to about 160 hospital managers
The managers will be required to meet certain objectives in their jobs. Those are likely to include safety and quality improvements, such as greater staff compliance with hand hygiene standards, cleaner patient rooms and fewer patient readmissions for heart failure and pneumonia. (Dallas Morning News)
UnitedHealth races McKesson in $11 billion health-tech hunt
UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. insurer, and McKesson Corp., the largest drug distributor, are vying for billions of dollars in added sales by bulking up their information-technology units. The companies are expanding beyond their core business to help insurers cope with the health overhaul, which threatens to swamp industry computer systems, said Joanne Galimi, a Boston- based analyst for technology researcher Gartner Inc. (Bloomberg)
How a small employer prepares for health care reform
Another over-40 softball season has concluded. My team performed as expected: We were 3-15. I’m feeling every inning of those 15 losses. That’s right: My body’s going to hell just as the new health care reform law is starting to take effect. Great timing. I’m not sure its provisions are going to help my sore back any time soon. They’re definitely going to affect my small business—and many others like mine—right away. Fellow business owners and over-40 softball players, are we ready? (BusinessWeek)
Haute hospital gowns
It sounds like a “Project Runway” challenge. Design a gown that fits all shapes and sizes. Don’t use buttons, zippers or Velcro – only snap buttons. The fabric should be soft, but not too warm. Unlike the universally reviled hospital gowns with its open back side, modesty is a must. (CNN)
by Scott McIntyre on Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Daniel Miller-Jacobs
Daniel Miller-Jacobs, D.P.T.
Outpatient rehabilitation supervisor
Great River Medical Center, West Burlington
Why did you choose this as your career? I was always interested in a health care profession. My father inspected nursing homes and group homes for the State of Wisconsin and he repeatedly spoke of the great work physical therapists do to help improve a person’s function. After shadowing PTs and experiencing my own physical therapy as a teenager, I pursued this career.
What are the challenges and rewards you experience in your work? Challenges include seeing patients with signs and symptoms that do not coincide with a referring diagnosis, working with patients who do not believe in exercise, busy schedules and keeping up to date with evolving treatment techniques. Rewards include seeing patients improve during trying times in their lives, working with other medical and health care disciplines, continuing education, teaching patients and clients how to help themselves and seeing our profession develop into a more autonomous discipline.
What are your plans for the future? Helping our department as a newly appointed supervisor, continuing to develop my own niche area in business health and helping others develop their own niche areas in physical therapy treatment.
How has the hospital supported your career?
Great River Medical Center fully financed our department’s pursuit of doctoral degrees. It provides money for continuing education, recognizes individual and group achievement, and listens to new ideas, including development of a new spine-care program.
About Daniel Miller-Jacobs
Education: Master of Science in Physical Therapy, Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, 1999
Doctor of Physical Therapy, St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa, 2007
Years with hospital: 7
