Hurricane Katrina

The federal government and the state of Texas said they have reached a compromise which will guarantee health coverage for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Under the plan, health care benefits for Medicaid recipients will be extended for six months. Officials also said government coverage will be extended to more people in the disaster zone, although precise details on what that means were not released. Texas also increased its official estimate of the number of evacuees it has …

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that lawsuits may be filed over the deaths of patients during Hurricane Katrina. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, which on Monday denied media reports that patients in its charge were left alone to die at Memorial Medical Center, is expected to be one of the providers at the focus of any legal action. Louisiana State University law professor Edward Richards said major disasters like Katrina and 9/11 may not be the sort of thing which providers …

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) told reporters that it is unlikely that Medicaid cuts pursued by the administration will go through this year as a direct result of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) are expected to announce legislation which would guarantee Medicaid payments for program recipients who were displaced by Katrina and relax eligibility requirements so that more people qualify for the …

In Hurricane Katrina's wake the inquests are beginning after the tragic failure to get help to where it was needed, especially in New Orleans. For healthcare organizations there are some immediate lessons. What is your disaster plan, and is it good enough to sustain you for several days in a potentially lawless environment, with no outside power or supplies? Do you have an evacuation …

Citing the public health catastrophe caused by Hurricane Katrina, Congress said it will not pursue $10 billion in cuts to state Medicaid programs. That decision may be temporary, but the decision is likely to postpone any significant changes to the program until 2006 at the earliest, according to some insiders. The legislative effort to reform Medicaid had been a core element of plans to cut back on healthcare spending in Washington. Industry observers say any attempt to move forward with …

As we predicted in yesterday's newsletter, the issue of missing medical files following Hurricane Katrina is becoming a major story in the tech and industry press. Missing and destroyed medical records are causing major problems for those trying to deliver healthcare services in the affected areas, something which probably would not have have happened with digital records. With no documentation available on medical histories, seriously ill people are having to start over again, almost …

The long-term financial impact of Hurricane Katrina looks serious for state budgets and will probably affect proposed cuts to Medicaid programs. The states directly affected by the storm are not the only ones hurting, Stateline.org reports. States across the southeast are feeling the financial burden of providing healthcare and other basic services to refugees from the devastated areas. Among those considered to be significantly impacted are Florida; Texas, which has accepted the most …

Siemens Medical Systems has donated software for medical teams at the Houston Astrodome to create electronic medical records for refugees of Hurricane Katrina. EMRs offer exactly what is needed in a time of crisis -- the ability to track and prioritize patients in a chaotic environment. Officials say they will use the data gathered at the Astrodome to monitor for possible disease outbreaks. In fact, the serious damage caused to the health system by the loss of hundreds of thousands of …

Government officials estimated the the death toll from Hurricane Katrina is probably "in the thousands." New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin told NBC's Today that "it is not unreasonable to assume that at least 10,000 people are dead" in his city. Anger at the stumbling response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reached the boiling point, with the New Orleans Times-Picayune  writing an open letter to President Bush calling for the mass firing of "every …

Emergency teams, doctors and aid workers from across the country descended on New Orleans and surrounding areas yesterday as the extent of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina became clear. Hospitals in the area, of course, have been on the front line since Sunday. As plans to fully evacuate New Orleans were announced, the Louisiana Hospital Association said more than 10,000 people, including staff and dependents, are waiting to be evacuated from downtown hospitals. Hospital Association …