MNA Daily NewsScan, October 19, 2012: Who is really scamming the HC system?; Newborns at risk

HEALTH CARE

Health Care Fraud Deconstructed:  Fraud and Patients Not the Problem  The bottom line is that there is already enough money in the system to more than adequately cover everybody, if we can eliminate the waste. To do so, we would have to kill a few golden geese. The owners of those geese will be unhappy and will fight tooth and nail, but the rest of us would be much better off.

Lapses at Big Drug Factories Add to Shortages and Dangers   Weevils floating in vials of heparin. Morphine cartridges that contain up to twice the labeled dose. Manufacturing plants with rusty tools, mold in production areas and — in one memorable case — a barrel of urine.

NOTES ON NURSING

Nurses Say Care Inequalities Put Newborns at Risk   Affluent new moms are getting a suite deal at Lenox Hill Hospital: Posh  $1,700-a-night, full-service “Beyoncé” rooms staffed at the expense of less fortunate city mothers, veteran nurses  charge.

LABOR

Locked-out Musicians Put on Their Own Show    It had the earmarks of an opening gala. The musicians wore their formal duds, the conductor was a familiar face and the hall was filled to capacity with 2,100 listeners. But the crowd that attended Thursday night’s concert by the Locked Out Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra (LOMOMO) at the Minneapolis Convention Center brought with it a mixture of agenda and appreciation for classical music.