Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and Web from October 31-November 6.

Iowa Headlines

Hospice workers get life out of caring for dying
Joyce  Hutchison continues to use her passion and years of experience to educate others about the benefits of hospice. Part of that is overcoming fear. Going to hospice won’t make patients die any sooner, she said.  (November 4, Des Moines Register)

Genesis will demonstrate da Vinci surgery system
Da Vinci offers a precise, minimally invasive procedure for hysterectomies and prostatectomies. Patients benefit with a faster recovery time, shorter hospital stay, less pain, less scarring and quicker return to normal activities.  (November 5, Quad-City Times)

Harkin asks big insurers to explain rate practices
Sen. Tom Harkin said this week he was launching an investigation into health insurance pricing, asking four major insurers to justify their pricing practices.  An industry spokesman called the move unfair and misguided.  (November 4, Des Moines Register)

U.S.  Headlines

Costs at urban hospitals may get extra scrutiny in health bill
As Congress struggles to rein in health care costs as part of its sweeping reform efforts, hospitals in New York City and other urban areas that provide some of the most expensive care are among the primary targets.  (November 2, New York Times)

Health bills aim a light on doctors’ conflicts
As part of the health care overhaul under consideration by Congress, lawmakers have included so-called sunshine provisions intended to shed light on the financial relationships between the medical industry and doctors.  (November 3, New York Times)

Program will monitor Maryland doctors’ hand-washing
State officials said this week they’re creating teams of staff members at hospitals around the state to secretly monitor their colleagues’ hand-washing habits as part of a first-of-its-kind program. The monitors will contribute to a systemwide report on hand-washing, using $100,000 in federal stimulus money.  (November 3, Associated Press)

Texas lawmakers try to give doctor-owned hospitals a dose of help
Texas House members are mounting a late effort to delay new limits on physician-owned hospitals, putting them at odds with Democratic leaders who think the facilities drive up health care costs.  (November 5, Dallas Morning News)

Nurses union reaches deal on H1N1 safety in U.S.
The H1N1 pact, announced on Monday as part of a contract settlement between the California Nurses Association and Catholic Healthcare West, averted a one-day strike threatened by thousands of registered nurses at more than 30 hospitals.  (November 2, Reuters)

Hospitals make slow progress in harnessing the ‘social’ aspects of social media
Hospitals’ current social media activties can be classified across to five major areas: brand management, real-time public relations, volume generation, non-marketing functions and community building. But only a small amount of hospital activity in the social media space could be described as “social.”  Rather, the majority of these efforts are either one-way “monologues” or bounded two-way conversations with little staying power.   (October 31, iHealthBeat)