hospitals

Help for Washington seniors

Health care reform could make life better for doctors and hospitals in Washington state that provide medical care to more than 780,000 seniors if three congressional Democrats have their way. Sen. Maria Cantwell and Reps. Norm Dicks and Jay Inslee join four other congressional Dems in a letter to House and Senate leaders saying they won’t support health care reform unless it overhauls a complex Medicare reimbursement formula that for years has shortchanged doctors and hospitals in Washington state.

The changes should make it easier for Medicare patients in Washington to find and keep doctors. It also may help attract additional doctors to Washington state, reports Les Blumenthal of the McClatchy News. Cantwell, Inslee and Dicks expect the changes to become part of the what could be a historic health care bill being negotiated with the White House.

Help for Portland transit riders

Imagine this – major transit project funding based on livability issues including economic development and environmental benefits – in addition to cost and congestion fighting attributes. Those are newly issued guidelines from the Obama administration for funding mass transit projects and a it’s a major departure from Bush administration practices. It could make it easier for Portland to expand its light rail and street car systems, the Oregonian reports.

"Our new policy for selecting major transit projects will work to promote livability rather than hinder it," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

We obsess over getting swine flu. But it’s not the only potentially fatal, highly communicable, treatment-resistant bug we’ve got to worry about this winter.

Andy Dworkin of The Oregonian points to a  new study in the December issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases that shows that MRSA – a drug-resistant staph bacterium that has been a particular issue for hospitals -- is now spreading widely in gyms and schools.

MRSA has been a particular issue for hospitals, where people whose immune systems are already compromised, can die from picking the bug up while they’re hospitalized. If you’re curious about how scary that can be, read the Seattle Times’ analysis of MRSA cases in Washington hospitals.

But while the incidence of “hospital- acquired” MRSA cases has been holding steady around the country, cases involving the “community acquired” strain – also antibiotic resistant, and also potentially deadly – have increased dramatically.

Community-acquired MRSA accounted for under 4 percent of staff infections in 1999, and nearly 30 percent by 2006.

Awareness, coupled with hygiene, wiping down equipment, not sharing towels, and other basic infection control practices, is the best defense.

Carol Smith

The latest costs of the recession and the 2010 Olympic Games are hitting the medical field, reports Darah Hansen of the Vancouver Sun. A leaked document from Vancouver Coastal Health Authority proposes delaying more than 6,000 medically necessary surgeries from September through March to make up for massive budget cuts. The health authority plans on reducing the number of surgeries further by closing nearly one third of its operating rooms during the Olympic Games to prepare for potential disease outbreaks, especially H1N1. This move comes a month after authorities decided to cut elective surgeries by 35 percent during a one-month period in February and March – the peak time of the Games, reported Jeff Lee in an earlier Vancouver Sun article. Opponents worry many procedures defined as “elective” are time-sensitive, a fact that may force patients to seek treatment outside the region.

– Emily Linroth

A group of doctors in Bend, Ore., known at the Physician Alliance is promising better health care through more cooperative relationships with each other and with local hospitals, Markian Hawryluk reports in the Bend Bulletin. Against a backdrop of historic divisiveness in the health-care community, the Alliance announced the new effort in concert with Cascade Healthcare Community, the parent company of St. Charles hospitals. The parties "have committed to working together to create an integrated health care delivery system that would enhance care, reduce costs and improve the health of the community," Hawylruk reports. The parties pledge "trust, mutual respect, accountability and loyalty to the group as a whole."

So far, 11 people appear to have contracted hepatitis C as a result of a Colorado Springs hospital employee who used clean needles to inject herself with painkillers, then put the dirty needles back where they were subsequently used on patients. About 1,800 people have been tested since state health officials first reported the employee who used the needles has hepatitis C, according to the Denver Post.

An investigation of non-profit hospitals in the Seattle area reveals that some are paying salaries well in excess of $1-million -- despite rules saying the salaries they pay should be in line with government salaries, which don't go higher than about $950,000. KUOW-FM investigative reporter John Ryan notes that the non-profits, like government hospitals, are forgiven property and income taxes, just like government-run institutions. In exchange, IRS rules limit salaries at the non-profits. 

One of Ryan's examples is Providence Health system, a Roman Catholic institution that runs 26 hospitals around the West.  Ryan reports:

A page on the Providence Website spells out the organization's core values. It says Providence advocates for social justice. It concludes, "We seek simplicity in our lives and in our work." In 2007, Providence CEO John Koster earned $2.1 million.

 If it's going on in Seattle, is it happening elsewhere? Readers, do you know anything about what non-profit health centers are paying in your community? If so please go to our tips page and let us know what you do. Remember, we're counting on you to help make InvestigateWest work.