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

Iowa News

Iowa hospitals earn tax-exempt status
In a country with a stagnating economy, it’s tempting to toss out simplistic solutions that rarely account for all the policy considerations at play let alone consider the implications for an industry that has a $6 billion impact on Iowa’s economy and provides nearly 70,000 jobs. The important thing to know is that Iowa’s hospitals believe in and live up to being accountable to the communities they serve. (Des Moines Register)

Competition ramping up as both Cedar Rapids hospitals ready cancer centers
Two new technology systems at Cedar Rapids hospitals offer promise to help women in the fight against breast cancer, but one came about with a fight of its own. Mercy Medical Center this week began using low-dose molecular breast imaging with the LumaGem MBI system, a tool used to detect breast cancer early, particularly for women with dense breast tissue. Meanwhile, the state Health Facilities Council approved St. Luke’s Hospital’s certificate of need for a new Intraoperative Radiation Therapy system, marking St. Luke’s first foray into radiation treatment. (Eastern Iowa Health)

Area companies receive wellness awards
Winegard Co. and Great River Health Systems have received a Gold Well Workplace Award from The Wellness Council of America for its employee wellness programs. The award recognizes organizations that have embraced the responsibility for maximizing the health and well-being of their employees. “This is a designation and putting our name out there on the WELCOA website as being a representative of a well workplace,” said Jamie Dengler, Great River Medical Center health and fitness coordinator. “Our hope is to get more companies in Burlington and Des Moines County energized to be well workplaces.” (Burlington Hawkeye)

Fido’s getting tested next to grandma in St. Luke’s lab
Many people aren’t aware, but that blood taken from your dog to test for heartworms? Unless your veterinarian has a lab in his or her clinic, there’s a good chance it’s sent to St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center for analysis. The lab at St. Luke’s processes animal samples, analyzing them for diseases specific to animals. But when checking a blood sample for kidney or liver function, virtually the same test is used on the animal sample as a human sample. (Sioux City Journal)

National News

Deficit reduction panel reaches crucial juncture
Congress’ “super committee” on deficit reduction moves into its serious negotiation stage this week, with its members still far from the goal of reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next decade. Negotiators from both parties emerged from their secret talks in recent days to float a pair of partisan deficit-cutting proposals. Both were swiftly shot down. (Los Angeles Times)

Big insurer fights back in court against regulation of profit margin
A lawsuit challenging Maine’s authority over health insurers’ profit margins is drawing national attention from state regulators worried about the impact on their power to hold down rate increases. The state’s highest court has scheduled oral arguments Nov. 10 on a case brought by a Maine unit of WellPoint – one of the nation’s largest health plans.  Anthem Health Plans of Maine argues that regulators violated state law and the U.S. Constitution when they reduced requested premium increases in each of the past three years, depriving the company of “a fair and reasonable return.” (Kaiser Health News)

Obama tries to speed response to shortages in vital medicines
The order offers drug manufacturers and wholesalers both a helping hand and a gloved fist in efforts to prevent or resolve shortages that have worsened greatly in recent years, endangering thousands of lives. It instructs the F.D.A. to do three things: broaden reporting of potential shortages of certain prescription drugs; speed reviews of applications to begin or alter production of these drugs; and provide more information to the Justice Department about possible instances of collusion or price gouging. (New York Times)

A merger wave hitting health care
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Big managed health-care companies are starting to take that idea to heart. These insurers, which try to coordinate patients’ medical providers to keep a lid on costs, are facing the double whammy of market saturation and margin-squeezing health-care reform. Last week, Cigna said it would pay $3.8 billion to buy HealthSpring , giving it a foothold in the senior-citizen and Medicare markets. (Wall Street Journal)

Corporations offer help in trimming the waist
As companies feel the financial burden of the obesity epidemic, some are trying to help their bottom line by helping employees with their waistline. One of the largest such efforts is at the Dow Chemical Company, which has operations in Michigan, Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia — all states with some of the highest obesity rates in the nation. At 6:30 a.m. on a recent Tuesday, maintenance superintendent Jeff Leasher is dripping sweat, coming into his last stretch on a stationary cycle. He’s in one of two on-site gyms at Dow headquarters in Midland, Mich. (National Public Radio)