Healthcare (Page 15)

HEALTH CARE

Hospital Lobbies to Save Exec Pay   A Peninsula ballot measure that would limit the pay of executives at El Camino Hospital faces its toughest opposition from the hospital, which has donated three-quarters of the campaign funds to defeat the proposal.

Two Huge Health Systems Plan to Merge   The boards of two leading Catholic health systems, Trinity Health and Catholic Health East, have announced plans to join forces in 2013.

 

LABOR NEWS

Corporate Profits Continue to Skyrocket.  What’s in your wallet?
… Read more about: MNA NewsScan, October 18, 2012: Lobby $$ spent to save hospital exec pay; Corp. profits skyrocket  »

HEALTH CARE

The Big Spin:  Hospital Staffing Goes Under the Knife    Jan Rodolfo, Midwest director for National Nurses United, the country’s largest union of registered nurses, said profitable hospitals are behaving much like hospitals in dire financial straits. “Hospitals that are very profitable are still aggressively pursuing cost-cutting measures,” she said. “I think they see an opportunity right now to drive down costs and use the economic climate as the justification.”

Regulator Has Link to Firm Implicated in Meningitis Outbreak   The owners of New England Compounding Center, the Framingham company at the heart of a nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis, also own a related pharmacy in Westborough, one of whose executives is a board member and former president of the state agency that regulates pharmacies.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, October 11, 2012: Hospitals spin tales on staffing; Kodak hopes to bail on retiree benefits  »

HEALTH CARE

Hospitals Add 8,000 New Jobs in September   Altogether, the healthcare sector added 43,500 jobs last month–more than a  third of the 114,000 jobs the U.S. economy added in September.

Mayo Clinic Adds Bismark Hospital to Network   The Mayo Clinic has added Bismarck-based St. Alexius Medical Center to its national network of hospitals, its first medical center in that part of North Dakota and its 10th in the past year.

The Ups and Downs of Electronic Medical Records   As health care providers adopt electronic records, the challenges have proved daunting, with a potential for mix-ups and confusion that can be frustrating, costly and even dangerous.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, October 10, 2012: Hospitals add 8k new jobs in Sept.; Adequate nurse staffing a universal problem  »

LABOR NEWS

Rich-Poor Gap Widens in United States  The 1.2 million households whose incomes put them in the top 1 percent of the U.S. saw their earnings increase 5.5 percent last year.  Earnings fell 1.7 percent for the 96 million households in the bottom 80 percent — those that made less than $101,583.

RN’s Declare Victory in VA System   By an overwhelming majority, nurses at VA medical centers across the country have ratified a national contract, a master agreement unprecedented in its protections of patient care standards and for strengthening the voice of RNs in the care of the nation’s veterans.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, October 8, 2012: Wage Gap Widens; Union Victory for VA Nurses  »

LABOR NEWS

Jobs Report: Unemployment Rate Drops to 7.8%   The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, down from 8.1 percent in July. That’s now the lowest level since January 2009. And, for once, the rate dropped because Americans are actually finding work—and not just dropping out of the labor force.

NNU Co-President Jean Ross Interviewed Regarding the Robin Hood Tax  What was once a movement—is now legislation—thanks to Minnesota Representative –Keith Ellison.  On NurseTalk Radio, RN Jean Ross explains why this is so important.

NOTES ON NURSING

Menengitis Outbreak Spotlights Risk of Custom-made Drugs     All these disasters involved medicines that had been custom-mixed at what are  called “compounding pharmacies” — laboratories that supply hospitals, clinics  and doctors to a much wider degree in the U.S.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, October 5, 2012: Health care leads jobs growth; Menengitis outbreak  »