Suzanne H. Freeman, president of Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte provided some insights during a recent presentation to business students and others from Appalachian State University’s Walker College of Business.

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Adult obesity has hit epidemic proportions in America, while childhood obesity threatens current and future generations. 46 million of our citizens are without health care, and fewer and fewer physicians are accepting the health insurance we do have, resulting in costs that are spiraling out of control. We hear about these issues all the time; they are hot topics on talk shows, and make the front pages of our newspapers. Politicians talk, talk, and talk about them, but there’s little or no action. With the days of lifetime-guaranteed jobs — with guaranteed healthcare — long gone, an individual’s health and wellness is now in her own hands. Our healthcare system is broken and the government can’t, or won’t, fix it. America needs help — and America needs choices.
So where do we start? The answer lies within the basic core of what makes America great, its entrepreneurs. Spa Week has heard the cries for help and answered the call.
This spring, Spa Week will be bringing $50 spa treatments to consumers at over 400 spas across the United States and Canada in an effort to introduce a new generation of consumers to the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, and to open up the spa industry to the masses. In Los Angeles, some participating day spas include: Agua Spa at the Mondrian, Marc Edwards Skin Care, Fresh Espace, Aqua Star Spa at the Beverly Hilton and Allure Pilates Spa. Our goal is to make “wellness” more than just a word — we intend to do our part and make it a reality. By educating and introducing the health benefits of the “spa lifestyle” to as many people as possible, Spa Week is taking a leadership position in the campaign to change the unhealthy course the country is navigating.

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Stable Losses/Unstable Rates 2007, a new study that examines fresh insurance industry data to

Tennessee House Judiciary Chairman Rob Briley said today a compromise over medical malpractice lawsuits is dead.He accused Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris of reneging on part of the agreement. 

The negotiations had earlier resulted in an agreement to remove damage caps from consideration this year in return for a requirement for lawyers suing doctors to pre-certify the legitimacy of their claims with independent experts. 

The agreement also sought to improve access to medical records earlier in the lawsuit process.

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Replaces right to jury trial with a system that is biased against the patients.
o Unlike other administrative compensation schemes, such as workers’ compensation, health “courts” are not “no-fault” models. Health courts are based on an “avoidability” standard, which is similar to negligence. In other words, in a health court, a patient would still have a high burden to prove, but would have none of the protections the legal system provides. And patients will find it harder to get an attorney.
o o While proposals vary, in every health “court” scheme, the decision-making authority is put in the hands of either the hospital or insurer involved, or “experts” appointed and commissioned by a panel heavily weighted toward health industry representatives.1
o o These proposals take critical decisions away from unbiased judges and juries, despite consistent empirical studies showing juries to be competent, effective, fair decision makers able to handle complex cases,2 and supported by the public as the best arbiter of disputes

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Today the National Quality Forum announced an update to the 2002 report ‘Serious Reportable Events in Healthcare.’ The original 27 events that should not happen in healthcare facilities have been updated with current evidence and implementation guidance and 1 new event has been added. This update reflects continued consensus on a list of unambiguous, serious, preventable adverse events that concern both the public and healthcare providers and could form the basis for a national reporting system that would lead to substantial improvements in patient safety.
“Today, there are numerous healthcare error reporting systems sponsored by individual healthcare organizations, systems or states. Use of the NQF- endorsed list of Serious Reportable Events by many of these reporting programs represents a coordinated approach to data collection that results in more rapid learning and improvement and minimizes burden on health care providers,” said Janet Corrigan, president of the National Quality Forum.

“People in this country are distraught over the broken health care system and can’t understand why it only gets worse year after year,” said Karen Nussbaum, Working America’s director. “We’re getting hustled by powerful interests who don’t want to pay their fair share for real reform.”
Visitors to the Health Care Hustle site at http://www.workingamerica.org/healthcarehustle/ can vent online about their own health care horror stories. Then they can send a message to the special interest they hold most responsible for the sorry state of the system: Big Pharma, the Insurance Industry, Greedy Corporations or Bush & Co.
Each letter sent will count as a vote for which hustler has done the most to block meaningful healthcare reform. Working America will tally the votes and the winner will be the target of a campaign that puts the full force of 10 million working men and women behind a call for certain companies to change their ways. The Health Care Hustle will run through April.

suffering from heart attacks, heart failure, or pneumonia over the past four years, according to a new report from The Joint Commission. The report details the performance of accredited hospitals against standardized national performance measures and the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals.
“Improving America’s Hospitals: A Report on Quality and Safety” also shows, however, that the effectiveness with which hospitals carry out safe practices and provide patients proven treatments for common clinical conditions varies by state. These variations spotlight clear opportunities for hospitals to strengthen their efforts in delivering safe, effective care. For example, the Joint Commission report found that almost all heart attack patients are receiving the life-saving benefits of aspirin when they arrive at the hospital, yet many heart failure patients do not receive specific discharge instructions about their condition and necessary follow-up care when they leave the hospital. Hospital performance in complying with National Patient Safety Goal requirements has also been variable. Most hospitals do well in using objective methods to identify patients before undertaking treatments, but many are finding it challenging to put processes in place to avoid medication mix-ups.
 

Driving the adoption of health information exchange between patients, payers and providers offers enormous potential for improving medical outcomes and lowering healthcare costs. A key way to promote these benefits is to encourage interoperability and collaboration among healthcare’s various stakeholders.