Georgia Hospitals Improve Safety Ratings With 35 Percent Earning An ‘A’ Grade
Media outlets also report on developments at hospitals in Texas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Maryland and Florida, as well as the Community Health hospital system.
Georgia Health News:
More A's: Georgia Hospitals' Safety Ratings Rise
One-third of Georgia hospitals earned an “A” grade on patient safety in recently published ratings. The 34.8 percent of hospitals in the state getting the top grade was up from the 27.5 percent that the Leapfrog Group gave “A’s” in its spring safety rankings. It puts Georgia at No. 10 among states with the highest percentage of top-performing hospitals. (Miller, 11/3)
The Dallas Morning News:
Management Working To Reopen Forest Park Medical Center
The management company for Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, which closed suddenly Friday because of lending complications, is looking for ways to resolve the problem but isn’t exactly sure when it will reopen. Todd Furniss, chairman of the management company for the Forest Park chain of luxury hospitals, said the “pause” in Dallas operations is temporary. Management is focused on two things, Furniss said: the introduction of capital into the business and preserving the hospital’s license. Forest Park reflects a growing trend of high-end, for-profit, doctor-owned hospitals. It has five facilities across Texas, and at least two others are troubled. The Dallas hospital, which opened in 2009, specializes in bariatric, orthopedic and certain pediatric surgeries. (Jean, 11/3)
The Boston Globe:
Steward, Mount Auburn Quit Medicare Pilot Project
A federal pilot program that has shown mixed success in cutting Medicare costs by better coordinating care for elderly patients is losing two of its members in Massachusetts. Steward Health Care System and Mount Auburn Hospital’s physician network have followed several other providers across the country that have left the pilot, called the Pioneer accountable care organization program, largely for financial reasons. At least half of the 32 health systems that were initially participating in the program have left. (McCluskey, 11/3)
The Star Tribune:
Hennepin County Board Approves $192M In Bonds For New HCMC Outpatient Clinic
By the time the 2018 Super Bowl arrives at the new stadium in downtown Minneapolis, nearby Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) will be boasting a shiny new building of its own — an outpatient center that aims to consolidate 40 specialty clinics, improve patient care and enhance the hospital’s image. HCMC is so eager to begin the new venture that groundbreaking for the Ambulatory Outpatient Specialty Center had already been scheduled for Nov. 12, hinging on the board’s support. (Olson, 11/3)
The Baltimore Sun:
Baltimore Community Group Seeks Support For Hospital Jobs Proposal
Fifty members of the interfaith community organization BUILD, or Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, plan to assemble in front of the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield headquarters building Tuesday morning in an effort to well up support for a proposal to create 1,000 new hospital jobs in Baltimore. The jobs proposal, lead by Johns Hopkins Hospital and supported by others, aims to aid the city's hardest hit communities. Hospital leaders said it was a response to the hopelessness many felt during the unrest stemming from the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed black man, in police custody earlier this year. (Cohn, 11/3)
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune:
Wall Of Secrecy Shields Florida's Mental Hospitals
Luis Santana died at a state-funded mental hospital at age 42. Officials at the Department of Children and Families say they investigated his death in July 2011, but they won’t say more. They don’t have to. Under Florida law, DCF can withhold information about people who die in its care, so long as the agency decides no employees were to blame. So, state officials won’t tell you that in the hours before Santana died, his caretakers at South Florida State Hospital suspected he was having a psychotic episode. They won’t say they gave him five powerful drugs to calm him down, then left him alone in the bathtub. (Anton, Braga and Cormier, 11/3)
Reuters:
Community Health Says Can Boost Share Buyback Program
Community Health Systems Inc, the second-largest for-profit U.S. hospital operator, said it has the ability to increase its share repurchase program by more than $300 million under its current bank credit facility. Community has about $150 million remaining under its existing share repurchase authorization, Chief Executive Wayne Smith said Tuesday on the company's earnings conference call. (Kelly, 11/3)
