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Debbie Hatmaker PhD, RN, SANE-A, President, American Nurses Credentialing Center (right) presents a plaque to Children’s Hospital Chief Nurse Executive Surpora Thomas, RN, MBA, in recognition of the hospital achieving Magnet designation. |
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CHS Joins UAB as Nationally Recognized Magnet Hospital
Children’s Health System (CHS) recently joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Hospital as the only nationally recognized Magnet hospitals in Alabama. The Magnet Recognition Program is administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), an arm of the American Nurses Association (ANA), to award healthcare organizations exhibiting nursing excellence and outstanding patient care.
CATHY DELOZIER |
Dr. Peter Glaeser, Children’s Hospital Division Director Of Emergency Medicine |
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Birmingham Hospitals Face Crowding in Emergency Departments
Patients, sometimes seriously ill or injured, are waiting for long periods in emergency departments (EDs). Emergency department staff and doctors don’t want this to happen — no one does. So why is it such a prevalent problem?
LORI DITORO |
Pediatric CI Therapy Program Manager Angi Griffin works with patient Kiley Gee at Children’s Hospital of Alabama. |
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Brain-Changing Therapy at UAB Helps Pediatric Patients
Teaching the brain to “rewire” itself following a major head injury or stroke is the basis of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT), which was developed by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) professor Dr. Edward Taub. More than 400 adults in Birmingham have benefited from this therapy, and since May 2007, 26 children have been treated at the Children’s Hospital of Alabama with techniques based on years of research by Taub and collaborators at UAB.
ANN B. DEBELLIS |
Vince McVittie, Brookwood Chief Development Officer |
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Brookwood, St. Vincent’s Eye Shelby County Emergency Departments
The exploding population growth along Highway 280 in Shelby County has caused several local hospitals to consider expansion plans in the area. In June, Brookwood Medical Center filed a Certificate of Need application to build a $19 million free-standing emergency department at U.S. 280 and Alabama 119.
LORI DITORO |
Dr. Nancy Tofil listens to the “heartbeat” of one of the three pediatric simulators used for hands-on training at Children’s Hospital of Alabama. |
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Children’s Hospital Simulation Center Provides Virtual Training
Hands-on training can be critical for residents to prepare them to face a real life-or-death situation. Young doctors at Children’s Hospital of Alabama are receiving the practice they will need through a state-of-the-art Pediatric Simulation Center.
ANN B. DEBELLIS |
Grand Rounds August
AMA Launches Campaign to Cut Waste From Chaotic Insurance Claims Process, Unveils New Health Insurer Report Card
Researchers Identify Cancer Preventive Properties in Common Vitamin Supplement
Bipartisan Policy Center Releases Comprehensive Report On Financing Health Reform
AMA Inaugurates Dr. Nancy Nielsen As President
Alacare’s John G. Beard, Mba/jd Appointed To Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation Board Of Directors
Brookwood Medical Center receives American Heart Association’s Awards
Waldrum and Sisck Elected to Board of AlaHA
St. Vincent’s Health System Senior Executive Earns Top Healthcare Management Credential
MAG Mutual Insurance Company names Darrell Grimes as new president
Youngblood Joins Staff At Pediatrics East In Deerfoot
UAB Hospital Named Among Top 12 In Nation
UAB’s Marchase Leads National Scientific Organization
Baptist Health System Announces Plans to Build Hospital in Hoover
Trinity Medical Center to Have Single Owner Again
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Healthcare Spotlight: Doctor Cares for Children and the Environment
Growing up in Jasper near the Episcopal Diocese’s Camp McDowell, pediatric cardiologist Ed Colvin developed an early love for the environment and working with children. “I practically grew up at the camp, where I enjoyed the woods and the water and came to have a deeper appreciation for God’s creation,” he said. At the tender age of seven, he volunteered to serve coffee to senior men’s Bible studies. Later, he became a camper and then a counselor in his teen years.
CATHY DELOZIER |
Making Medicine Sweeter for the Little Ones
When a spoonful of sugar doesn’t make the medicine go down, parents now have another option — personalized, or custom-compounded, medicines.
Pharmacist Scott Wepfer, owner of The Compounding Shoppe in Homewood, has a number of specialized things he can do to make medicine go down easier for children. For example, some medicines are only available as tablets or capsules which many younger children can’t take. “We can make oral suspension doses which make it easier for kids to take the medicine,” Wepfer says. Common examples include Omeprazole and Bethanachol suspensions.
ANN B. DEBELLIS |
OIG Issues Advisory Opinion on Patient Gift Cards
On June 27, 2008, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued an advisory opinion regarding a proposal to provide $10 gift cards to patients whose service expectations are not met (“Advisory Opinion No. 08-07”). The entity which requested the opinion is an integrated health delivery system that provides health care services through a nursing facility, health plan, and several hospitals and medical clinics (“Requestor”).
JENNIFER L. GRIFFIN |
Dr. McElderry visits with young patients at Greenvale Pediatrics |
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Volunteers Opening First Free Clinic in Shelby County
Over 89 million Americans are without health insurance. Most of the uninsured are from working families, people who exhaust their paychecks covering necessities, often postponing medical care until a condition is critical. While healthcare providers nationwide are aware of the problem, a local Birmingham physician is spearheading an effort to help.
STEVE SPENCER |
Dr. John Wheat, center, does ICU rounds with a group of rural medical students |
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A Physician Shortage – The Rural Crisis
The shortage of primary care physicians is a problem nation-wide, but rural areas are feeling the impact more than urban communities. Alabama’s shortage of rural physicians is a continuing problem, with only 10 of the state’s 67 counties having adequate medical access, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2008 listing of medically underserved areas.
ANN B. DEBELLIS |
New Generation Da Vinci Surgical Robot at Princeton Baptist
The newest generation of the da Vinci surgical robot has rolled into Birmingham. The only one in the city, the 3-D high-definition (HD) version at Princeton Baptist Medical Center solves a few of the older system’s limitations and ups the visuals to high definition.
JANE EHRHARDT |
CMS Proposes New Stark Exception for Gainsharing and Incentive Payment Programs
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a new proposed rule that would add a regulatory exception to the Stark law to protect gainsharing and incentive payment programs between hospitals and physicians. Properly structured gainsharing arrangements present hospitals with an opportunity to provide physicians with an incentive to reduce costs by sharing cost savings. Similarly, incentive payment programs allow hospitals to offer physicians economic incentives to provide top quality patient care.
DANIEL MURPHY |
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