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

Iowa News

Voss asks feds to delay new health-insurance rule
The new federal rule would require all health insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on health care, starting in 2011. Susan Voss, the state’s insurance commissioner, contends the new rule could drive some carriers out of the state. Voss raised her concerns this week in a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Des Moines Register)

Private Medicare Advantage plans should disappear
Medicare Advantage plans are a waste of taxpayer money. And Medicare doesn’t have any money to waste. The new health reform law begins cutting taxpayer subsidies to the plans by more than $140 billion in 2012. And yes, that is good news. (Des Moines Register)

Give a ‘shout’ out for Pella Regional Health Center
“Shout,” a three-minute music video created at Pella Regional Health Center to encourage staff to prevent Urinary Tract Infections by limiting use of catheters, is a finalist for 3M’s Innovation Award You Tube Contest. The contest, which recognizes organizations that have transformed patient care and reduced the incidence of hospital acquired infections, runs from September 27 through October 8. (Knoxville Journal Express)

U.S. News

Quality of care at U.S. hospitals shows improvement
The Joint Commission’s analysis of data from more than 3,000 accredited hospitals found continual improvement over eight years on evidence-based measures of care for heart attack, pneumonia, surgical care and children’s asthma care. For example, the heart attack care result improved from 88.6 percent in 2002 to 97.7 percent in 2009. (Bloomberg)

The perennial quest to lower health care spending
Year after year, the nation bravely set upon the mission of reducing the left-hand side of the dreaded health care equation — that is, National Health Care Spending = National Health Care Incomes — without the temerity of touching its right side. For obvious reasons, touching the right side always turns out to be the third rail of health reform. Over the decades, the mission has been a failure, naturally. (New York Times)

New health care rules debut to administration cheers, GOP jeers
“Today is the day that the worst abuses of insurance companies come to an end in America, ”Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday at a Capitol Hill press conference. “It’s long overdue for millions of Americans who now will have some peace of mind.” Republicans, meanwhile, used the six-month anniversary of the law’s passage to intensify their calls for repealing it. (The Hill)

Minnesota welfare, health rolls swell
The number of Minnesotans eligible for Medical Assistance, the state’s version of Medicaid, climbed to 610,000 in an average month in fiscal 2010, compared with 557,000 on average in 2009. That is the largest one-year increase in at least the past decade and represents more than one in 10 Minnesotans. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Illinois health adviser says health reform ‘law is the law’
Illinois has no plans to join the 20 states challenging the nation’s new health care law in court, a key health adviser for the state says. Michael Gelder, Gov. Pat Quinn’s senior health policy adviser and chairman of the new Health Care Reform Implementation Council, told The Associated Press Tuesday that if people don’t like the law, they should take it up with Congress. (Associated Press)

Seeking clarity on ‘grandfathered’ health plans
Some provisions of the nation’s new health law that began taking effect this week come with a catch: They don’t apply to plans existing before March 23 and remaining substantially unchanged. As more consumers focus on the details of the law’s new benefits, such as free preventive care, some may question why their health plan doesn’t have to comply immediately. (USA Today)

California has paid scores of criminals to care for residents
Scores of people convicted of crimes such as rape, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon are permitted to care for some of California’s most vulnerable residents as part of the government’s home health aide program. Data provided by state officials show that at least 210 workers and applicants flagged by investigators as unsuitable to work in the program are nonetheless scheduled to resume or begin employment. (Los Angeles Times)

Bristol-Meyers to cut workforce by 3 percent
Drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Thursday it plans to reduce its work force by about 3% in the next six months, to cut costs and create a “more agile” organization. The company announced the planned job cuts as part of a “streamlining initiative” in an internal communication to employees, said spokeswoman Sonia Choi. (Wall Street Journal)

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

Iowa News

Health insurance changes come too late for some
The six-month anniversary of the new health law marks the official effective date of a raft of new consumer protections, including a ban on most so-called rescissions. That’s the insurance industry practice of revoking an insurance policy retroactively, after a policyholder has racked up hefty medical bills. Chris Peterson is all too familiar with the practice. The Clear Lake, Iowa, hog farmer not only had his health insurance policy rescinded in 2007, but several months later, his wife’s policy was rescinded as well. (National Public Radio)

VA opening Carroll clinic in early 2011
St. Anthony Regional Hospital officials this morning announced that the Veterans Administration will be opening a primary-care outpatient clinic on the medical campus in early 2011, bringing about another 20 health-care positions to Carroll. “We’re just very, very pleased because we think it’s good for the community, good for veterans and good for the hospital,” said Gary Riedmann, president and CEO of St. Anthony. (Carroll Daily Times Herald)

Hospital plays part in disaster drill
Carroll and Greene County emergency units participated in a disaster drill Tuesday evening that involved a school bus accident. The exercise simulated a minivan rear ending the bus with people needing medical attention. Some of the participants in the exercise were taken to Saint Anthony Regional Hospital. Gary Schroeder with Saint Anthony Regional Hospital talks about the hospital’s responsibility in the exercise. (KCIM)

Cedar Rapids elder care advocates meet with members of Congress
Cedar Rapids elder care workforce advocates urged investments to improve recruitment and training for the elder care workforce during visits with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 21, World Alzheimer’s Day.  They see such investments as a high priority in the implementation of the Affordable Health Care for America Act in light of the graying of America. (Eastern Iowa Health)

U.S. News

Two readings on a hospital’s health
On one side are hospital leaders and industry groups who say the weak economy, declining patient-reimbursement rates and uncertainty posed by the federal health-care overhaul put nonprofit care providers in peril. On the other side are labor groups like the Service Employees International Union, who say the economic environment for hospitals is improving and that care providers are using the recession as an excuse to threaten job cuts and gain negotiating leverage over the unions. (Wall Street Journal)

A guide to September 23: Health law’s big day
The national health reform that was signed into law exactly six months ago contained an ambitious timetable for changing elements of the health care system. Some planned changes have already happened. But even more provisions take effect now. Here is a collection of stories and resources to help you sort through the details of these new consumer protections. (Kaiser Health News)

Obama touts health care law as new provisions take effect
President Obama, marking major provisions of the new healthcare law that go into effect Thursday, visited with Americans who stand to benefit immediately as he stepped up efforts to repulse Republican attacks on his signature domestic initiative. “Obviously, the economy has been uppermost on our minds,” Obama told a small gathering Wednesday at the home of a Virginia man who suffers from hemophilia and hit a lifetime limit in his private health insurance coverage. (Los Angeles Times)

New GOP Contract focuses on taxes, spending, security
The Republicans’ new Contract With America calls for a crackdown on government spending, repeal of the healthcare reform law and extension of all the expiring Bush tax cuts. There is an anti-Washington theme throughout the House GOP’s “Pledge to America.” In many ways, Republicans are running on a change message, a mantra that helped elect President Obama and bolster Democratic majorities in Congress two years ago. (The Hill)

Health care costs dive with telephone follow-up
A new study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine claims there is a better way to engage patients that almost immediately achieves lower health care costs. The approach involves systematic telephone outreach to patients at high risk of serious health problems by trained nurses, who provide them with information about the risks and benefits of their therapeutic options. (The Fiscal Times)

Hospital exercise brings fun to safety
In its “Forty Wrong Room” exercise, education specialist Cheryl Coleman worked to simulate a patient room with 40 different things wrong, from a coffee spill on the floor to the oxygen hooked up incorrectly. “This is extreme,” she said as she looked around a room strewn with linens on the floor, sharps in the bed and trash on the bed tray. “This is about getting people to pay attention to the entire room, not just what you’re in there for,” Coleman said. (Tulsa World)

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

Iowa News

Federal grant to aid Mercy network
A $300,000 federal grant award to Franklin General Hospital will benefit all eight hospitals in the Mercy Health Network, a spokeswoman for Franklin General Hospital said. The grant, from the Department of Health and Human Services, is available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. (Mason City Globe Gazette)

Culver sends support for children’s hospital
Governor Chet Culver sent a letter of certification today to state Board of Regent President David W. Miles; the letter is an important component for the application that the University of Iowa must submit for a federal grant of up to $100 million for a children’s hospital at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. (Iowa Politics)

Pharmacy college turns 125
As the University of Iowa’s College of Pharmacy celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, the future promises an avant-garde curriculum and the field’s future technology today, leaders of the college say. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Program goal: Drive without distractions
On Tuesday, Trinity Regional Health System joined a growing number of voices warning of distracted driving. Trinity president and CEO Rick Seidler gave the announcement of the “Just Drive” initiative from the helicopter landing pad at Trinity Bettendorf, with the crumpled remains of a car that had been involved in a distracted-driving crash behind him. (Quad-City Times)

Iowa needs more advanced care for the brain-injured
These difficult financial times probably make it unrealistic for state officials to consider a major expansion of health programs, especially in advanced skill areas. But we hope that high on their to-do list is an examination of long-term care offered for victims of traumatic brain injury. (Mason City Globe Gazette)

U.S. News

Hard calls for hospitals
All Massachusetts hospitals that treat a large share of poor patients rightly feel they got the short end of the stick in the state’s closely watched experiment to insure the health of almost everyone. Public financial support for those hospitals suffered when money was redirected toward other reform priorities. Hospital executives in Boston and Cambridge have adopted radically different strategies to deal with the money squeeze. The question: Who got it right? (Boston Globe)

AP Poll: Health care law making us muddle-minded
Six months after President Barack Obama signed the landmark health care law, the nation still doesn’t really know what’s in it. More than half of Americans mistakenly believe the overhaul will raise taxes for most people this year, an Associated Press poll finds. But that would be true only if most people were devoted to indoor tanning, which got hit with a sales tax. (Associated Press)

Health overhaul hasn’t cured White House ailments
The president will announce that as of Thursday, insurers must allow young people up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ policies. And insurers can no longer charge copayments for preventive care or impose lifetime limits on coverage. But the bill is still unpopular. Democrats, who were assured that their vote for the law would help them this fall, are not campaigning on it. Only those Democrats who were against it are calling attention to their votes. (National Public Radio)

Kathleen Sebelius: Health care fight continues
The fiery debate over health care reform, complete with false rhetoric of death panels and rationing, continues to reverberate six months after President Barack Obama signed the law. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the hardest part of her job hasn’t been implementing an overhaul of the insurance system or pushing out numerous regulations on tight deadlines – it’s batting back a constant “drumbeat” of “erroneous information.” (Politico)

Answers on adding adult children to health insurance
Parents, mark your calendars. Starting tomorrow, adult children will no longer be left to fend for themselves in their search for health insurance. The new federal health law requires that insurers give parents the option of keeping their adult children covered until they’re 26 years old. It becomes effective for the health policy at the beginning of the plan year.  (USA Today)

State workers feeling major task of implementing health care law
Even as President Obama prepares to acknowledge the six-month mark since he signed his health-care overhaul into law, the legislation remains something of a mystery for patients and politicians alike. Its impact is instead being felt largely by state workers nationwide whose job is to implement the law – and thus begin the mammoth task of transforming the care Americans receive. (Washington Post)

Rate increases denied to some private Medicare plans
The Obama administration said Tuesday it denied rate increases and benefit cuts sought by some privately run Medicare plans. The move is a sign of the toughening regulatory climate for health insurers that could prompt some of them to leave the Medicare market in coming years. (Wall Street Journal)

Nursing home sweeps find residents with arrest warrants
Standing in front of a Chicago nursing home Monday, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said her office has identified more than 100 nursing home residents with active arrest warrants during 21 unannounced sweeps of the facilities in the last nine months. “Felons are using nursing homes in Illinois as safe houses,” said Madigan, calling the number an “unfortunate milestone.” (Chicago Tribune)

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They are needed. Despite the economic downturn and some reports to the contrary, there are jobs that need to be filled at Iowa hospitals. At last check, more than 100 jobs posted on IowaHealthJobs.net, IHA’s job board for Iowa hospitals.  And as much as we’d like every open position in Iowa to be posted there (it is free to IHA members, after all), we know this represents only a fraction of the job openings in the state’s 118 hospitals. 

That being the case, although they are among the state’s biggest employers, hospitals must do more than hang a “Help Wanted” sign in the window — and more is what they do.  Much more.  In fact, for all Iowa hospitals (as well as IHA), there is a continuum of effort that is designed to recruit, train and place qualified workers in those positions. 

Recruitment starts early. Hospitals are very public places and hospital employees are constantly in the public eye, even when they are outside the hospital walls. They are visible at schools with visits and presentations and at school activities, where hospitals supply trainers and other medical personnel. 

For older students, hospitals provide job shadowing and some hold health care career camps that offer a more in-depth experience. And there is always the opportunity for teens to volunteer (as hundreds of them do in Iowa). 

To help students who are ready to commit to health care, Iowa hospitals offer nearly $300,000 in scholarships each year.  IHA’s own Health Care Careers Scholarship Fund has awarded more than a half-million dollars in scholarships since it began in 2005. 

Once formal learning is underway, hospitals are an invaluable resource for students who are in school. As sites for clinical training, all Iowa hospitals offer their facilities and staffs for “real-world” experiences within the full spectrum of health care careers. 

And, finally, hospitals have jobs – really good jobs. Positions at Iowa hospitals offer good pay, rewarding work and practically unlimited opportunities for advancement (most hospitals will help pay for employees who want to go back to school). 

That completes the “circle of life” for building and sustaining Iowa’s hospital workforce – and Iowa hospitals are involved in every step.  With 74,000 highly trained workers who are committed to their communities, it’s part of the reason Iowa’s health care system is one of the best in the nation.

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

Iowa News

New health-care law may prompt more people to come back home for medical care
If you get sick at night or the weekend, all too often the local emergency room is the only medical facility with an open door. You may know that your regular doctor could treat your asthma or that nagging cough, but you wind up in the emergency room because your symptoms inconveniently occurred outside regular business hours.  In Harlan, extended hours are making access to primary care more convenient. (Washington Post)

Iowa man has worm removed from eye
Doctors rushed a Cedar Rapids man into a treatment room after they found a worm had taken up residence in his eye. John Matthews said he sought medical help after he noticed two spots obscuring his vision in his left eye. Several specialists tested him and he was sent to the ophthalmology department at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Doctors there did more tests before they found the worm. (Associated Press/Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)

Fall into Fitness health fair to offer preventive screenings
When it comes to preventive health care, it’s not all bad news. Among Medicare enrollees, African-Americans in Waterloo make up the highest percentage of people who see a doctor at least once a year — at 88.7 percent, which is even higher than their white counterparts, according to the 2010 Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. But there’s also higher incidences of diabetes and high blood pressure, and fears of bad news or disease keeps some blacks from visiting a physician at all. (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)

Iowa loses 2,800 jobs as governments cut back
Iowa’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 percent in August, unchanged from July, the state said today in a report. But Iowa lost 2,800 nonfarm jobs over July, led by losses in federal, state and local governments. Iowa’s jobs picture improved over a year ago, though, adding 900 more nonfarm jobs than August 2009, the report shows. Iowa saw the greatest gains in professional and business services, manufacturing and other services. (Des Moines Register)

U.S. News

Insurers ending child-only policies
Several of the nation’s largest health insurance companies will stop issuing certain children’s insurance policies to avoid complying with a new mandate in the Democrats’ health care overhaul. The insurers will no longer write “child-only” policies — a small, niche market — over concern that the health reform law will make the market unstable and unprofitable. (Politico)

Medicare ‘doughnut hole’ relief could be offset by higher prescription drug prices
If you’ve ever seen a sale advertising 50 percent off, you might have wondered if the retail price was ratcheted up to make the discount possible. Patient advocates are watching to see if a similar tactic undermines one of the most widely publicized benefits of the health-care overhaul that President Obama signed in March. (Washington Post)

EHRs play an important role in patient-centered medical homes
The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions released a new report last week on the current state and future of medical homes and identified health IT as an important component to integrating and coordinating care, which is so central to medical homes. This should come as no surprise to anyone in the industry. You can’t coordinate care in an efficient and timely manner for a vast group of patients through paper records. (EHR Watch/Healthcare IT News)

Reducing health care costs, improving care
Airlines protect themselves from passenger “no-shows” by overbooking. Could the same approach—overbooking patients—work in a doctor’s office or hospital? This is, in fact, an example of the kinds of questions under study by the Center for Health Organization Transformation, a multi-university National Science Foundation center working in partnership with a growing number of prominent health care systems and hospitals across the nation. (U.S. News & World Report)

The policeman versus the nurse
When Colorado Springs cardiac nurse was stopped for speeding, she grumbled to the police officer. “I hope you are not ever my patient,” she reportedly told him. The police officer complained to the hospital where the nurse worked, saying that her comment amounted to a threat, suggesting she might give him poor care should he ever become her patient. The nurse was fired. (New York Times)

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