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

Iowa News

Iowa hospitals justify their tax-exempt status
Regardless of their financial circumstances, no one in Polk County is denied quality medical care because of their inability to pay. This high level of care is provided to all citizens even though Iowa has one of the lowest levels of federal Medicare reimbursement in the country. Providing that care for the senior citizens exceeds the actual hospital cost and is therefore an additional burden for the hospitals over and above the figure quoted in the Des Moines Register article. (Des Moines Register)

Health professional profile: Lucinda Hollingshead, Mary Greeley Medical Center
Lucinda Hollingshead performs newborn hearing screens in the Birthways unit at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames. She has lived with hearing loss for more than 30 years and is passionate about the job. Hollingshead is responsible for all rescreens and follow-ups with families, and reports findings to the Iowa Department of Public Health. (Des Moines Juice)

National News

Rural hospitals worry about super committee’s Medicare decisions
The skies were clear over Harper Hospital Thursday as the county celebrated the first ever “National Rural Health Day.” But the irony of what’s going on miles away in Washington, D.C. darkened the party. “We do know that there is a cloud hanging over our celebration today, and we are concerned about the possible legislation that might affect our hospital,” said Harper Hospital CEO, Kim Cinelli. It’s possible legislation proposed by the “super committee” in congress. Their goal is to reduce the deficit.  One proposal is to take away the “critical access” designation from rural hospitals within 15 miles of each other, stripping them of their Medicare funding. (KSN)

Super committee urged to alter coverage for some low-income Medicare beneficiaries
Medicare and Medicaid were never designed to work together, so the way states and the federal government split the dual eligibles’ bills leads to inefficient care, experts say. Today, only about 12 to 15 percent of the duals are covered by private health plans.  Because they pay almost nothing for their health care, duals have little financial incentive to join a health plan that can restrict their ability to see certain health providers. As a result, duals usually stay in traditional fee-for-service Medicare, where they can use any doctor or hospital. (Kaiser Health News)

Lawmakers at loggerheads on deficit
With just days remaining before their final deadline, members of a Congressional panel on deficit reduction made frenzied efforts on Thursday to overcome an impasse, but appeared to be talking past one another and reported no tangible progress toward an agreement. Committee members scurried through the Capitol, ducking in and out of impromptu meetings where they discussed possible tax increases and cuts in the growth of programs like Medicare and Medicaid. (New York Times)

Census projects 90-plus age group will quadruple to 8 million by midcentury
First-ever census data on the 90-plus population highlight America’s ever-increasing life spans, which are redefining what it means to be old. Joined by graying baby boomers, the oldest old are projected to increase from 1.9 million to 8.7 million by midcentury — making up 2 percent of the total U.S. population and one in 10 older Americans. That’s a big change from over a century ago, when fewer than 100,000 people reached 90. (Associated Press/Washington Post)

A conversation many doctors won’t have
At Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island, where she’s a medical director, Dr. Joan Teno has grown accustomed to patients being admitted with no clear understanding of their condition or prognosis. “The oncologist has told them, ‘It’s time to take a holiday from chemo,’” she said. “It’s a way not to have a conversation he or she finds hard to do.” So the hospice staff has to explain, compassionately but directly, what the physician didn’t say: that chemotherapy isn’t working. That the cancer isn’t curable or effectively treatable. That death is near. (New York Times)