Author: P Hasselbacher

More Signs of Cooperation Between Norton and UofL!

Terry Boyd of Insider Louisville has reported rumors of an upcoming announcement by the University of Louisville concerning its Pediatric Heart Transplant Program. If this happens, it would not be totally unexpected. Norton Healthcare and the Department of Pediatrics have been advertising jointly for a pediatric cardiologist with experience in the medical management of these patients. (A former UofL cardiologist with those qualifications left last year to join a program in Texas.) The Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in UofL’s Department of Surgery still lists two cardiac surgeons with pediatric qualifications. The contact person for the advertised search is at Norton, leaving the question open of who will be hiring or paying for the new physician. Norton’s hiring away of UofL faculty has been a highly contentious issue for UofL. It is good to see that there is still some cooperation between the two competing healthcare organizations. Could this be a sign of bigger things to come?

It was noted that such a pediatric transplant program would not be completely new. Although I am told that there has been no heart transplant at Kosair during the last 12 months or so, a look at the numbers from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) confirms that Kosair Hospital has had such a program at least since 1988. The table just below shows the number of pediatric heart transplants done at Norton Kosair Hospital for Children. Continue reading “More Signs of Cooperation Between Norton and UofL!”

Crossgate Community Considers Attorney to Advise on New VA Hospital Construction.

The Veterans Administration recently purchased land near the intersection of the Waterson Expressway and RT. 42 on which to build a replacement Robley Rex VA Hospital for Louisville and its surrounding region. One of the long sides of the site borders the tiny 6th class city of Crossgate. It has about 100 homes and a population of 225. The other long side abuts the Watterson. Local residents have been outspoken in their opposition to putting a hospital there, although some prefer it to another shopping center. Commonly expressed objections revolve around worsening traffic, visitors parking in their neighborhood streets, and security; but there are other concerns about the impact on their neighborhood. Continue reading “Crossgate Community Considers Attorney to Advise on New VA Hospital Construction.”

UofL Surgeons Sign Affiliation Agreement with Norton Hospital.

What does this mean?

Yesterday I received the following eMail announcement from University Surgical Associates (USA), the independent private practice corporation of part of the Department of Surgery of the University of Louisville. I think it was sent to me as a patient rather than a doctor or policy wonk. I received similar communications in the past, such as an announcement that USA had finally renewed a contract with Humana to see that insurer’s patients again. It was that break-up a few years ago that led the University to switch health insurance for its employees from Humana to United. (UofL supports the private clinical practices of its faculty in other ways too!) The present notice also appeared on a Department of Surgery website, but not yet on the Norton or the main UofL websites. Read the release here. Continue reading “UofL Surgeons Sign Affiliation Agreement with Norton Hospital.”

Consumer Reports Releases a New Set of Hospital Safety Scores.

Kentucky gets left out!

A few weeks after the Leapfrog Group released their Hospital Safety Scores, Consumer Reports (CR), the well-respected consumer protection organization, released their own version of a safety score based entirely on publicly available information, including Leapfrog’s data. Both organizations have also prepared more extensive hospital surveys focussing on quality of care. Leapfrog augments its own survey and safety score with information collected directly (and voluntarily) from the hospitals themselves. Otherwise both safety scores are based largely on the same information collected by Medicare with some interesting but minor differences. Consumer Reports’ Safety Scores include elements such as surgical-site infections, readmissions within 30 days for some diagnoses, avoiding unnecessary radiation from certain duplicate CAT scans, and good communication to patients about drug information at discharge. [I must confess though, I am still not altogether clear on what the distinction is between quality and safety measures. Perhaps someone can educate us in the comments.]

Unfortunately the Consumer Reports scores were not released to the general public for free– one must pay to subscribe to their commercial website. (Charging for their evaluation is how they stay independent!)  In contrast, Leapfrog’s Safety Scores and Hospital Survey are both free to all. Nevertheless, I thought it would be instructive to compare the CR safety scores with those of Leapfrog, so for $6.95 per month, I signed up. Continue reading “Consumer Reports Releases a New Set of Hospital Safety Scores.”