There’s A Revolutionary Procedure That Can Treat Severe Strokes, But Most Hospitals In U.S. Don’t Perform It
Going to different hospitals only a few miles away from each other can make a profound difference on the chances of a patient recovering from a stroke. But sometimes local, state and regional rules dictate that ambulance drivers bring patients first to hospitals that don’t do the procedure before they can be transferred. Because the success of thrombectomies are dependent on how fast they are performed in relation to the stroke, that delay can mean a huge difference. Other hospitals news focuses on rural care, EHR improvements, surprise billing, and more.
The Wall Street Journal:
For Treating Severe Strokes, All Hospitals Aren’t Equal
People who suffer severe strokes here can avoid the worst if stricken within a 30-minute ambulance ride to Rhode Island Hospital, the region’s only comprehensive stroke-treatment facility. Just across the Taunton River in Massachusetts, patients even closer to Rhode Island Hospital aren’t so lucky. There, state emergency-medicine rules decree that stroke victims are taken to local hospitals offering more routine treatment. Typically, those patients have to wait an hour or more before being transferred to RIH in Providence, doctors say. (Burton, 11/28)
Modern Healthcare:
Medicare Wage Index Overhaul Could Help Rural Hospitals
Providers, hospital associations and policy experts believe revamping the tool the CMS uses to set hospital payments could be a lifeline for rural hospitals. HHS' Office of Inspector General suggested changes to the wage index in a new report that found holes in the system that has resulted in millions of dollars of improper payments to hospitals across the country. The flawed calculations have created a series of winners and losers whose reimbursement levels are minimally tied to wages, labor costs and cost of living, as the index initially intended. (Kacik, 11/27)
Modern Healthcare:
Revenue-Cycle EHR Improvements Challenging For Hospitals
Providers are still struggling to optimize revenue cycle-related electronic health record functions and manage the increase in self-pay consumers, according to a new survey. More than half of 107 hospital and health system executives surveyed said they struggle to keep up with EHR upgrades or underuse EHR functions, according to a Navigant analysis based on a survey by the Healthcare Financial Management Association. The share of executives who relayed that sentiment increased from 51% in 2017 to 56% in 2018. (Kacik, 11/28)
Boston Globe:
To Patients’ Surprise, A Visit To Urgent Care Brings Steep Hospital Bill
The complaints submitted to Attorney General Maura Healey’s office all described a similar scenario: Patients sought treatment in an ordinary physician office or urgent care center. But to their shock, they were billed for an expensive outpatient hospital visit instead. (Kowalczyk, 11/28)
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
How Safe Are New Orleans' Hospitals? See How They Ranked In A National Survey
Seven hospitals in the New Orleans-metropolitan area received an 'A' rating from a national watchdog group recognizing their efforts in providing high safety standards for their patients. The Leapfrog Group's Fall 2018 Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 hospitals across the U.S. looking at their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms among patients in their care. The survey is released twice a year by the Leapfrog Group, a national independent, nonprofit organization founded in the year 2000 to act as a watchdog collecting and reporting hospital performance data. (Clark, 11/28)
Health News Florida:
Hospitals Square Off Over Bone Marrow Transplants
Florida hospitals are battling about cancer treatment and the appropriate level of state regulation of bone-marrow transplants. In one corner is Cleveland Clinic Florida Health Systems, which has tried unsuccessfully to get approval from the state to offer bone-marrow transplants and is throwing its support behind proposed changes to eliminate a key type of regulation. And in the other corner are six Florida hospitals that argue bone-marrow transplant programs are services so complex and expensive that they rise to the level of requiring the blessing of state regulators. (Sexton, 11/28)
The Baltimore Sun:
Hopkins Hospital In Florida Recorded High Rate Of Death, Complications In Young Heart Patients, Report Finds
The Heart Institute at All Children’s was dedicated to children with heart defects and had been working in recent years to grow in size and prestige, according to the hospital, which announced it would integrate into the Johns Hopkins Health System in 2010. But through extensive interviews with current and former employees and family members of those treated there and a decade’s worth of billing records, the newspaper probe, published online Wednesday, identified many instances of treatment gone horribly wrong. (Cohn, 11/28)
Houston Chronicle:
Pearland Medical Center Adds Beds, Services
Pearland Medical Center, which became the first hospital in Pearland when it opened three years ago, has expanded to add 19 licensed beds in a second-floor medical-surgical area that includes an observation unit. ...The HCA Healthcare-affiliated hospital opened in 2015 and debuted the $8.5 million expansion on Nov. 29, according to a news release from the company. Completed after six months of construction, the addition adds 14,380 square feet to the hospital, bringing the total size to 158,380 square feet, and increases its total capacity to 53 licensed beds. (Jones, 11/28)
KQED:
S.F. Supervisor Pushes To Wipe Zuckerberg's Name From City Hospital
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin wants Mark Zuckerberg's name removed from the city's public hospital.In an impassioned speech at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Peskin railed against the Facebook founder over allegations that the company mishandled user data. Keeping Zuckerberg's name on the building, he argued, sends the wrong message, regardless of how much money he has contributed. (Coral and Green, 11/28)
The Washington Post:
Scabies Outbreak: Kona Community Hospital Battles Highly Contagious Skin Infection
A hospital in Hawaii is battling a scabies outbreak after “a number of people” reported symptoms of the highly contagious skin condition, a spokeswoman said. A spokeswoman for Kona Community Hospital said Wednesday that the outbreak was confirmed Nov. 19, although she declined to say how many people had been infected, citing employee and patient privacy. Those who may have been exposed at the hospital, which is in Kealakekua, were contacted and treated for infection, and staff members were given instruction on scabies, according to a statement from the hospital. (Bever, 11/28)
Modern Healthcare:
Vanderbilt University Medical Center Could Lose Medicare Funding
The CMS is threatening to strip Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, of its ability to care for Medicare patients because a patient died after receiving a large dose of the wrong medication. Termination from Medicare would take place Dec. 9 if Vanderbilt doesn't implement specific efforts to ensure patients receive the right medication at the right doses. (Dickson, 11/28)
