Fiscal crises may force hospitals to deny trauma care

Article Abstract:

Public hospitals are approaching the brink of economic disaster as trauma care costs continue to rise, and consideration is being given to closing the trauma centers. An example of this phenomena involves the contemplated closure of the Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center in the summer of 1995, when the Los Angeles County Health Dept struggled to deal with a $655 million budgetary shortfall. The experience in Los Angeles County, CA, exemplifies the danger to trauma centers across the country from the rising costs of trauma care.

Offices & clinics of medical doctors, Emergency Care Facilities, Freestanding Ambulatory Surgical and Emergency Centers, Emergency medical services, Trauma centers, Emergency medical facilities

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Guidelines sought for hospitals on health care for poor

Article Abstract:

Policy guidelines for the treatment of uninsured patients are the keys to curbing financial risks to hospitals, according to Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital affiliate Joel Weissman. Annual costs of uncompensated care for acute care hospitals are over $16 bil, according to the American Hospital Association. Weissman recommends six guidelines for future policies, including basing a hospital's level of uncompensated care on community needs and developing better measurements of uncompensated care.

Standards, Finance, Health care industry, Social policy, Medically uninsured persons, Weissman, Joel

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'Best Hospitals' ranking flawed; lack of adequate data cited

Article Abstract:

The Apr 9, 1997, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) contained an article criticizing the annual hospital rankings in the "America's Best Hospitals" listing in U.S. News and World Reports. The rankings are based on a hospital's process, structure, and outcomes, but the authors of the JAMA article say that a lack of adequate information about hospital quality forced the rankings to use methodologies that lead to inaccurate results.

Periodical Publishers, Periodicals, General News Magazines, Methods, Management, Evaluation, Periodical publishing, Medical research, U.S. News and World Report (Periodical), News magazines

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