News From Around the Web
> An Ontario hospital system, the Brant Community Healthcare System, learned that bandaging IT doesn't work when three years ago, it decided not to follow an IT staffer's recommendation and spend about $8,000 replacing the batteries in its universal power supply, which gave backup power to its servers. That cost some $40,000 to buy new servers, plus untold labor costs, when the power failed and knocked out its IT system for three days. The incident led to the institution getting a whole new virtualized server infrastructure, according to the article. Article
Health Insurance News
> Employers have a bleak outlook about Affordable Care Act preparedness, healthcare cost containment strategies and the U.S. healthcare system's overall performance, according to a new survey from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. The online survey polled 500 companies providing health insurance to workforces of 50 or more people and found that, three years into reform implementation, "the ACA remains largely a mystery to many employers." Article
> More than one in four Americans would move to another state or even another county to get better or cheaper healthcare coverage, according to a survey from Bankrate. Of those, 9 percent consider it a major reason to relocate and 19 percent deemed it a minor reason. Bankrate, an online financial news service, surveyed about 1,000 adults in November, and found 42 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds and 27 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds cited better or cheaper health insurance as a reason to move. About 32 percent of low-income people would consider relocating for health insurance. Article
Provider News
> A new lawsuit filed against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops highlights growing concerns that Catholic hospitals are guided by religious, not medical, concerns and are denying appropriate care to patients. The lawsuit, filed last week by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in U.S. district court in eastern Michigan, claims the Catholic Bishop's religious directives, particularly those that ban abortion, resulted in negligent care for patients, such as Tamesha Means of Muskegon, Mich. Article
And Finally... But it says right there in the newspaper that he's dead! Article