Outpatient Centers Claim Share Of Joint Replacement Procedures From Hospitals
In other news, plans for the development of a regional hospital in the Washington, D.C., suburbs face challenges and two new hospitals are approved by Florida regulators.
Modern Healthcare:
Hospitals Fret As Joint Replacements Move To Outpatient Centers
Before Stacey Cook received the first of two hip replacements last year at an outpatient surgery center in Davenport, Iowa, his surgeon, Dr. John Hoffman, told him he would be standing and walking within a few hours and would go home the next morning. Cook, a safety facilitator at Monsanto Co. in his mid-40s, didn't believe it. “I said, 'Yeah, right,'” he recalled. “But I was surprised that was exactly what happened. Six hours later I was walking. (Meyer, 6/4)
The Washington Post:
Hurdles For Long-Awaited Hospital Stir Worry In Prince George’s
Shortly after Prince George’s County officials chose a Largo site for their proposed regional medical center, developers launched apartments and retail projects across the street. The apartments are finished and are being leased. But the ground-floor retail spaces are as empty as the grass lot on Arena Drive where, according to the original plans, the new hospital should be nearing completion. The projected 2017 opening date has been pushed back nearly three years as the state hospital board assesses the project and weighs whether to approve it. (Hernández, 6/3)
Health News Florida:
Florida Regulators Approve 2 New Hospitals, Deny 2
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration approved two new hospitals Friday and denied two others. Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital is allowed to build a 132-bed children’s hospital in Jacksonville, with an intensive care unit for babies. The state also approved a 95-bed hospital in Volusia County, a smaller hospital than Halifax Health asked for. (Aboraya, 6/3)
Meanwhile, in Iowa —
The Des Moines Register:
State Mental Hospital Ends Pediatric Program, Cuts Jobs
The state mental hospital at Independence is cutting 10 positions related to a children’s mental-health unit that stopped accepting patients last year.
The residential program for mentally ill children had no current patients, Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy Lorentzen McCoy said Friday. She said only 26 patients were admitted to the 15-bed unit in the fiscal year that ended last June 31, and the facility had seen a 50 percent decline in patients over five years. (Leys 6/3)