> Hudson, NY's Columbia Memorial Hospital and unionized employees have reached a tentative contract agreement, possibly settling a dispute that's dragged out since last December. The biggest sticking point in the negotiations was management's request that workers help pay for family health insurance coverage. Under the new agreement, workers will continue to receive fully paid individual health insurance. Report
> A piece in the San Jose Mercury News argues that the type of universal coverage used in France and Belgium--a combination of both public and private care--could work for the U.S. Op-Ed
> Aizling, a staffing agency, has launched a Web site that uses objective metrics such as reliability, proficiency, judgment, communication and documentation to rate RNs, LPNs, LVNs and CNAs in Connecticut. Release
And Finally... Many patients watch TV for no other reason than to fill the silence and forget they're in the hospital. To provide something better than run-of-the-mill broadcast programming, Methodist University Hospital's Cancer Center has created the Serenity Channel, a 24-hour broadcast of soothing music and images. Article