From 1996–2011, the rates of hospitalization due to serious infectious diseases in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) increased substantially, according to new research. In a retrospective data-driven study, researchers plotted and compared hospitalization and in-hospital mortality rates of SLE and non-SLE populations, determining the trends for the five most common infections…
Some Public Hospitals Win, Others Lose with Obamacare
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—A year and a half after the Affordable Care Act brought widespread reforms to the U.S. healthcare system, Chicago’s Cook County Health & Hospitals System has made its first profit in 180 years. Seven hundred miles south, the fortunes of Atlanta’s primary public hospital, Grady Health System, haven’t improved, and it remains as…
Fulfilling ‘Three Wishes’ Helps ICU Staff Honor Dying Patients
(Reuters Health)—Doctors and nurses in a Canadian intensive care unit found that asking dying patients—or their families—to make three simple wishes, and then fulfilling those wishes, helped bring peace to the end-of-life process and ease grief. Patients and families were invited to participate in the “Three Wishes Project” after a decision was made to withdraw…
Bigger May Not Be Better for China’s ‘Super Hospitals’
ZHENGZHOU, China (Reuters)—Just before midnight, the pavement outside the glowing high-rise towers of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University is littered with slumbering bodies. Splayed on colourful mats or tucked into folding cots, these are patients’ relatives. Inside, beds line hallways and crowd elevator lobbies, while relatives share gurneys with patients and doze in…
Hospital Consult Plan Relieves On-Call Burden for Rheumatologist
I found your recent article, “To Terminate or Not to Terminate?” (The Rheumatologist, April 2015), very relevant to my practice. The hospital system I practice in, Summa Health, Akron, Ohio, has two rheumatology groups with active hospital privileges. My partner and I are both part-time female rheumatologists who work for a hospital group, Summa Physicians…
Obamacare Ruling Ends Threat to U.S. Hospitals, Insurers
NEW YORK (Reuters)—The U.S. hospital and health insurance industries breathed a collective sigh of relief on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld subsidies for individuals under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Shares in hospitals surged, with several hitting all-time highs, on the expectation that patients would be able to continue paying for services….
Many U.S. Hospitals Mark Up Prices 1,000%
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Even the astronomical price markups that consumers regularly pay for, say, wine in restaurants pale beside those in some U.S. hospitals: The price for procedures is often 10 times the cost, according to a study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs. Of the 50 hospitals with the highest markups, 49 are for-profit,…
Ethics Forum: Terminating Hospital Consulting Services
Ethical considerations for rheumatologists in terminating consultative services to a community hospital
Selling a Rheumatology Practice to a Hospital or Health System
Negotiating points, key business decisions to consider when transferring ownership
Rheum’s Role in the New National Health Service
What the United States can learn from the U.K. system