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

Iowa News

New health care payment system links costs, patients’ outcomes
In January, Trinity Regional Health Center in f Fort Dodge founded an accountable care organization, under which hospitals, doctors and other health care providers are paid partly on how well their patients fare. That’s a switch from the traditional system, which pays most medical providers by how many surgeries, high-tech scans and other services they perform, regardless of whether patients get better. The changes will mainly happen behind the scenes, but proponents say they could bring major improvements in the quality of care and could help hold the line on medical costs. (Des Moines Register)

Medicare payment board merits repeal
By 2035, Medicare is expected to account for nearly 7 percent of our nation’s gross domestic product. In Iowa alone, Medicare spending grew by an average of about 7 percent a year between 1991 and 2009. In a misguided effort to address this problem, the 2010 health care reform laws created a board of 15 advisers given the task of laying down cuts in Medicare spending. The first problem is that these 15 members aren’t elected officials, but appointed bureaucrats. Though they are empowered to make binding decisions about Medicare finances and even to override decisions by Congress, they are accountable essentially to no one. (Des Moines Register)

Stroke rehab helps one eastern Iowan walk again
Thanks to rehabilitation at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Scott Clements is now a miracle man to his wife. “There wasn’t too much motion in his leg at all. And he said he was gonna walk out of here,” said Edna Williams, a therapist assistant. Williams says attitude is everything and Scott is a pleasure to work with. “The attitude is the most important. If they feel that they can’t and they won’t, they won’t. I was so pleased with him and he’s the kind of person you really enjoy working with because anything I asked him to do he would do,” said Williams. (KWWL)

Iowa Cancer Consortium hopes to reach out to rural cancer patients, survivors
Medical professionals, healthcare providers, cancer survivors and more gathered at Ottumwa Regional Health Center’s McCreery Cancer Center for the Southeast Iowa Cancer Forum held by the Iowa Cancer Consortium Thursday. Iowa Cancer Consortium is a non-profit organization that works to collaborate with medical groups across Iowa to lower cancer rates in the state. (KTVO)

National News

Celebrities make pitch for NTSB-like patient safety panel
Actor Dennis Quaid has joined with patient safety and aviation experts to call for an agency akin to the politically insulated, independent National Transportation Safety Board to investigate cases of medical harm and report de-identified findings to physicians, hospitals and the public. “We do not have bad people, we have bad systems,” Quaid said in an article he co-wrote in the most recent issue of the Journal of Patient Safety. (American Medical News)

Tax-exempt reporting too burdensome, nonprofit hospitals say
The Internal Revenue Service guidance, particularly the Schedule H amendment, on reporting for tax-exempt organizations is too burdensome and overly prescriptive, the national collaborative for nonprofit healthcare organizations VHA testified at yesterday’s House Ways and Means Committee Oversight Subcommittee hearing. Among other nonprofit issues, Ways and Means looked at reporting requirements for tax-exempt hospitals. VHA urged Congress not to go beyond the original intent and to work with charitable hospitals to reduce governmental burden. (Fierce Healthcare)

‘Uninsurable’ patients could lose coverage if the health care law is overturned
Under President Obama’s healthcare law, cancer patient Kathy Watson and nearly 62,000 other “uninsurable” patients are getting coverage through a little-known program for people who have been turned away by insurance companies because of pre-existing medical conditions, the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. Watson’s case illustrates the potential impact of tying everything in the far-reaching legislation to the fate of one provision, the unprecedented requirement that most Americans carry health insurance. State officials who administer the federal pre-existing condition plan in 27 states are trying to make fallback arrangements in case the law is invalidated and coverage suddenly terminates. (Washington Post)

Embattled hospital debt collector taps politicians for defense
Accretive Health has enlisted a veritable who’s who in health policy to come up with “national standards for how hospitals and other providers interact with patients regarding their financial obligations.” The group includes some well-connected heavy-hitters, including former Bush administration Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and Medicare chief Mark McClellan, former Senate GOP leader Bill Frist. There some prominent Democrats too, including former Clinton Administration HHS Secretary Donna Shalala and former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. (National Public Radio)

Cataloging wounds of war to help heal them
Each wounded or killed soldier was listed in a small but meticulous computer entry by Colonel Michael Wirt, a doctor intent on documenting how soldiers were wounded or sickened, how they were treated and how they fared. For those seeking to understand war and how best to survive it, the doctor on his own initiative created an evidence-based tool and a possible model. But there are concerns that the potential lessons from such data could be lost, because no one has yet brought the information together and made it fully cohere. (New York Times)

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

Iowa News

First responders simulate terrorist attack at Carver-Hawkeye Arena
About 100 feet from the entrance, human volunteers went through decontamination, which in this drill involved being drenched with water from an Iowa City fire truck. The volunteers were then triaged by emergency medical technicians before being transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and the Veterans Affairs Health Care System. UI spokesman Tom Moore said the training was “extremely valuable.” (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Mobile health clinic stops at homeless shelters
Des Moines University students gain real-world experience in many ways. They can travel overseas to learn about international medicine, or experience different backgrounds and cultures right in our own neck of the woods. The Homeless Outreach Club allows them to do just that, taking them to out-of-the-way homeless camps as well as shelters to provide medical care. Two Sundays a month, students drive the school’s mobile health clinic — a flashy green Winnebago — to local shelters. Any patient is welcome, although many are homeless or have been at some point in their lives. (Des Moines Register)

Depression common for farm people
Agriculture is one of the most stressful occupations. Farmers are subjected to stressful conditions that affect their success or failure, such as the uncertain weather, fluctuations in market prices and input costs, disease outbreaks, machinery breakdowns and government policies that regulate agriculture.  Farmers have little control over these “make or break” factors. Many of these factors have a financial effect that can threaten the ability to hang onto the land and resources needed to farm.  (Iowa Farmer Today)

National News

Joplin hospitals share lessons on disaster planning
Hospitals in Missouri coped well with natural disasters last year after a blizzard and floods in January 2011, but they were not as prepared for the overwhelming patient surge from the EF-5 tornado that wiped out Joplin in May, according to a Missouri Hospital Association report. As one of the deadliest tornados in American history, the tornado caused 161 fatalities and approximately 1,371 injuries. (Fierce Healthcare)

Health IT gap between large, small hospitals widens
The federal government’s incentive programs for the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is widening the digital divide between large and small providers. In fact, the 15 percent gap in EHR adoption between small and large hospitals seen in 2010 has grown to nearly 22 percent in 2011, according to an online study in Health Affairs. The report is the first nationally representative survey of hospital EHR system adoption since the federal incentive programs began. It examined EHR adoption among U.S. hospitals, using data from the American Hospital Association annual survey of health information technology. (InformationWeek)

Health care costs top $20K per family
The national annual cost of medical care for a typical family of four with PPO coverage has edged up over $20,000 for the first time, according to the actuarial and consulting firm, Milliman. The 2012 Milliman Medical Index estimates the annual cost at $20,728. That’s a record $1,335 increase in the total cost of care compared with 2011, and the first time the cost has notched above the $20K mark since Milliman started reporting on these costs twelve years ago. (HealthLeaders News)

Insurers to lose $1 trillion if health law struck down
Nearly one-tenth of the insurance industry’s total revenue through 2020 is at stake in the Supreme Court’s decision on healthcare reform, a new study by Bloomberg Government says. That figure equals about $1 trillion, or about one-half percent of the projected U.S. gross domestic product over eight years, the report said. The $1 trillion in new revenue would come from the law’s expansion of Medicaid and from subsidies to individuals purchasing insurance. Though most of the money would eventually flow to healthcare providers, insurers would keep an average of $22 billion per year for profit and administrative costs, the study said. (The Hill)

Hospital hit by phone scam
MedCentral/Mansfield Hospital was targeted by a telephone scam that tied up its switchboard for more than a week. The switchboard was receiving several hundred calls an hour from people who presented themselves as bill collectors but would not identify the company they represented. Cindy Jakubick, corporate director of public relations and marketing at MedCentral Health System, said hospital officials contacted Mansfield police and the Ohio Attorney General’s office. (Mansfield News-Journal)

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

Iowa News

Creston hospital rebuilds after tornado
“We had 80 to 90 percent of roof damage and of that 80 to 90 percent probably 30% of that was gone totally,” says hospital CEO Monte Neitzel. With the roof gone, the water did just as much damage.  Two wings of the 25-bed facility had to be gutted. Six beds are in use now, but every day the hospital gets closer to returning to normal. “Within the next two to three weeks, we’ll be getting into the emergency, second floor and then we’ll get into the Medical Art Plaza for our clinics for the permanent home because right now they’re all in temporary locations,” said Neitzel. The damage to Greater Regional Medical Center is estimated at $8-10 million. (WHO-TV)

ACO deal raises health care hopes
A new partnership between Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Iowa Health System holds promise of controlling costs with a higher quality of care — all while leaving medical decisions in the hands of patients and medical professionals. We think setups like Wellmark-Iowa’s Accountable Care Organization could play a role in solving the complicated problem of spiraling health care costs. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

Eastern Iowa mother says AirCare helped save son’s life
Late in the afternoon on January 30, Trevor Abernathy, 22, fell off a ladder and became impaled on a piece of rebar sticking out of the ground. The six foot metal rod went through his head and into his brain. “I had my buddy cut it off,” Abernathy said of his recollection of the incident. “That was it.”  A University of Iowa AirCare helicopter was called to the scene and transported Abernathy to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where he underwent emergency surgery to remove the rod from his head. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

National News

Massachusetts governor pushes health care cost controls
Governor Deval Patrick said Tuesday he is confident that health care cost increases can be slowed to no more than the annual growth of the Massachusetts economy without harming the hospitals and doctors that make up the state’s dominant industry. Patrick did not explicitly put his support behind either of the two cost-containment bills being debated in the Legislature. However, he said he probably would not support anything that allows health spending to continue to grow more quickly than the gross state product, a measure of economic activity. (Boston Globe)

Illinois governor may order start of health insurance exchange
Michael Gelder, the governor’s adviser, said the Legislature’s workload on Medicaid and pension reform makes it unlikely lawmakers will be able to pass legislation authorizing an insurance exchange during the current session, which is scheduled to end later this month. Looming federal deadlines leave the governor with two choices: calling the Legislature back into special session or issuing an executive order, Gelder said. (Evansville Courier & Press)

Americans show support for compensating organ donors
If compensation took the form of credits for health care needs, about 60 percent of Americans would support it. Tax credits and tuition reimbursement were viewed favorably by 46 percent and 42 percent, respectively. Cash for organs was seen as OK by 41 percent of respondents. Among people who said some form of compensation was acceptable, 72 percent said it should come from health insurers, followed by private charities at 62 percent and the federal government at 44 percent. (National Public Radio)

43 percent of California nursing grads can’t find work
A survey last fall of nearly 1,500 California newly licensed registered nurses found 43 percent did not have a nursing job 18 months after graduating, according to the California Institute for Nursing and Health Care. According to the nurses who were not working, 92 percent said they were told they did not have enough experience, 54 percent told no jobs were available and 42 percent told a bachelor’s degree was preferred or required. (San Jose Mercury News)

Poor hospital billing controls lead to $1M Medicare overpayments
Medicare overpaid Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and Indiana University Health in Indianapolis more than a million dollars combined because the two healthcare organizations didn’t have adequate controls to prevent billing errors, according to recent audits by the Office of Inspector General. (Fierce Healthcare)

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

Iowa News

Winneshiek County officials wrestle with mental health reorginization
Last week the Iowa Legislature approved a reorganization of mental health and developmental disability programs in the state.  Now county officials will have to figure out what the new legislation means for their county. On Monday Winneshiek County supervisors got a report from Winneshiek County CPC Coordinator Jan Heikes.  She told supervisors the new system, which will create regional groups to handle mental health and developmental disability programs, will take two years to fully go into operation. (Decorah News)

East Iowa clinics example of new model for health care
Experts say a proliferation of hospital-affiliated primary care and urgent care clinics is part of the future wave of health care. The clinics help provide the access, continuity and integration of care that are hallmarks of health care reform, while at the same time promoting “brand” loyalty to the hospitals, said Scott McIntyre, communications director for the Iowa Hospital Association. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

Trinity Muscatine celebrates expansion at groundbreaking ceremony
The $18.5 million expansion includes the emergency department, operating area, laboratory and radiology departments. The project addressed concerns about space and technology in the facility. The ER was built in 1979 to handle about 3,500 patients. In 2011, about 15,000 patients were treated in the same space. That number is expected to continually go up. Patients will notice shorter wait times in the ER and more privacy with their own rooms. (WQAD)

Jefferson hospital receives USDA support for improvements
Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager has announced that Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson will receive $20 million in loans through the Community Facilities program to expand and renovate a 75-year-old medical facility and create a state-of-the-art medical campus. The Under Secretary made the announcement during a visit to the area. (United States Department of Agriculture)

National News

Readmissions linked to beds, income more than quality
Supply and demand have more to do with readmission rates over illness severity and care quality, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care & Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions. Differences in regional hospitals for heart failure, in fact, have more to do with the number of hospital beds (availability of care) and income levels (socioeconomics), rather than hospital performance, the American Heart Association reported. (Fierce Healthcare)

Third of hospital emergency room visits not necessary
More than a third of the people who go to hospital emergency rooms in New Jersey are there for non-emergency conditions that could be treated in a doctor’s office or clinic, according to a new report from the New Jersey Hospital Association. Overall, the number of emergency room visits statewide is escalating, up 27 percent in a 10-year period ending in 2010, the report showed. And nationally, more than $400 million is spent on avoidable emergency department visits. (Bergen Record)

Berwick on MA health care reform: More pain, more gain
Dr. Donald Berwick, the widely admired former chief of Medicare and one of the nation’s leading health policy mavens, has just weighed in on the competing proposals for cost-cutting reform in Massachusetts. He argues in favor of aiming for more ambitious cost-cutting targets: The House’s tougher goal rather than the Senate’s less ambitious one, or even the still-tougher target put forth by business and religious groups. (WBUR)

Aging population leads MN nurses back to school
Population estimates indicate that the number of Minnesotans age 65 and older will rise 40 percent in the next 10 years. Students are looking beyond two-year-nursing programs to learn more about physical therapy, treatment management and psychological care while pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Nurse educators say two-year degree programs are not enough to keep up with the increasing demands on the profession, and more nursing students are pursuing four-year programs. (Minnesota Public Radio)

Workers at 8 Twin Cities hospitals take strike vote
Nursing assistants, food service workers and support staff at eight Twin Cities hospitals are voting this week on whether to authorize a two- to five-day strike. The vote, which will continue through Tuesday, was called by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota, which represents some 3,500 employees who have been in contract talks with the hospitals since January. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

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

Iowa News

St. Luke’s seeks $3.1 million in tax credits for clinic
St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Sioux City is seeking $3.1 million in state tax credits to build a medical clinic in Morningside, city documents show. The $26.7 million clinic is planned on 17 acres at Sunnybrook Drive and Sergeant Road. The City Council on Monday is scheduled to vote on submitting an application for the Iowa Economic Development Authority targeted jobs withhold tax credit program on behalf of the hospital. (Sioux City Journal)

Still the best and brightest
As the son of two doctors, Azeemuddin Ahmed had a pretty good idea when he graduated from Pleasant Valley High School in 1992 that he would be a doctor, too. And that’s how it worked out, with one slight variation. Ahmed decided emergency medicine was a better fit for him, and he completed a residency in that field at Michigan State University after completing his undergraduate work at Augustana and medical school at the University of Iowa. Ahmed is now vice chairman and a clinical associate professor in the emergency medicine department at the University of Iowa and serves as medical director of the university’s AirCare program (Quad-City Times)

Will construction boom find a shortage of workers?
Iowa City and Cedar Rapids face an impending construction boom that could close in on $2 billion over the next three years, a building explosion that has some leaders concerned the record-level work could overwhelm the state’s builders and workforce. The concerns come even as the aftermath of the recession continues to punish the commercial construction industry. The downturn has driven skilled workers into other fields, say experts, who are unsure whether the loss of workers is permanent or temporary. (Des Moines Register)

National News

As U.S. argues over health care, nations embrace global coverage
Even as Americans debate whether President Obama’s healthcare law and its promise of guaranteed health coverage should be scrapped, many far less affluent nations are moving in the opposite direction to provide medical insurance to all citizens. Today, the U.S. is alone among the world’s richest nations in not providing healthcare coverage to all citizens. Many countries are still struggling to improve the quality of their medical care. And making healthcare affordable remains a challenge for most countries, as it does for the U.S., where about 15 percent of the population lacks coverage. (Seattle Times)

Nurse practitioners look to fill gap with expected spike in demand for health services
President Obama’s health-care law is expected to expand health insurance to 32 million Americans over the next decade. Health policy experts anticipate that the wave of new insurance subscribers will lead to a spike in demand for medical services. That has a battle heating up over who will provide that care. Nurse practitioners are rolling out a campaign this week to explain what, exactly, nurse practitioners do — and why patients should trust them with their medical needs. (Washington Post)

Health care jobs fuel revival in Pittsburgh
While most of the nation is still trying to claw its way out of the deep economic crater left by the recession, this onetime steel capital is already out—thanks largely to the relentless growth in healthcare jobs. Partly because of the outsized ambitions of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the health care industry has replaced manufacturing as the region’s powerhouse. About 1 in 5 private-sector employees in the Pittsburgh area today works at a hospital, a doctor’s office or in some other health services business. (Los Angeles Times)

Retail health clinics grow in popularity
CVS’ Minute Clinic concept has about 600 sites nationwide and registers about 11 million patient visits annually. This growth comes after only having a handful of clinics in 2005, said Angela Patterson, regional director of operations for CVS’ Minute Clinics in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas. The company, which has six locations in the valley, is also looking to add 100 clinics per year for the next four years. Walgreens has 350 of its Take Care clinics around the country, 13 locally, and Walmart has 140 nationwide. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Is it time to update your social media policy?
Number one, of course, is to explicitly spell out that social media users must respect patient privacy at all times–not only on the organization’s social media sites but also on personal accounts. “Physicians have an obligation to prevent unauthorized access to, or use of, patient and personal data and to assure that ‘de-identified’ data cannot be linked back to the user or patient,” the Federation of State Medical Boards said in its guidelines. (Fierce Health Care)

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