Chicago Health Matters

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2009-07-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

If you want to continue getting Chicago Health Matters content via RSS, the link is HERE.

So long, farewell, goodbye

2009-07-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

We're officially wrapped up on this blog site, and moving operations to Chicago Health Matters' new home on the Chi-Town Daily News site.

We've already posted a few items about the Cook County Health and Hospital System and dangerous porches in Chicago.

Thanks for reading, and we hope you'll check us out at our new home!

Friday news round up

2009-07-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

Here it is, our final news round up before moving to our new site:

Chicago Public Schools and CDPH team up for STD treatment and education (Trib) (Daily News story from last month HERE)

Baxter hits limit on swine flu vaccine orders (Crain's)

U.S. News & World Report picks University of Chicago Medical Center as one of the nation's best (Chicago Press Release)
Here's the U.S. News & World Report study and a New York Times look at the country's top 10 (no Chicago hospitals are on it, though)

UCMC still moving to close women's clinic (Chicago Defender)

Lesbian files discrimination suit against former employer, United Health Care (Windy City Times)

State federal appeals court rules teens must inform parents of abortion plans (Trib)

Hormones, drugs found in Chicago water (Trib)

A new home for Chicago Health Matters

2009-07-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

While we've enjoyed our time with Blogger, our boss has finally given us a home on the Chi-Town Daily News site(!).

Friday will be the last day I post entries at this site, but please continue reading the blog on the Daily News site.

There, you'll also be able to check out new beat blogs as well roll them out. We've got an education blog, On Campus, written by reporter Peter Sachs. Adrian Uribarri, who covers everything under the sun, including labor and housing, will have a blog. There will be a blog for our reporters to report other news not included in beat blogs. And you can keep up with the musings of our editor, Geoff Dougherty, on his blog, Ravings from the Editor.

There are also a few blogs that feature a slice of Chicago life. You can see them HERE, and you can read about the Cubs, Hawks and Wolves, and media matters in the city, courtesy of the mysterious Lou Grant..

Oh, and we also cover public affairs in Chicago that no one else is touching.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you on the site!

-Alex

County health board moves to shore up Provident budget

2009-07-16T15:07:00.002-07:00

The Cook County Health and Hospitals System’s board of directors is seeking to shift $4.9 million to Provident Hospital in an effort to shore up the nursing staff there.

Provident began cutting beds last month because it had exhausted its available funding for temporary nurses.

The board today voted to request approval from the Cook County Board of Commissioners to pay for more temporary nurses at Provident with money that had been budgeted to fill open positions across the system.

“We have the money; it’s in our budget,” Chairman Warren Batts said. “We want to keep the beds open. We want good people taking care of our patients.”

Because of a nursing shortage, Provident has filled many vacancies with temporary nurses, which are more expensive than in-house employees.

Provident COO Sidney Thomas said last month the hospital is short 25 nurses. Nurses are less likely to apply for jobs at Provident, he said, because of media attention on the possibility of the hospital closing due to county budget cuts.

The $4.9 million would allow Provident to go back to its normal 119-bed capacity, says Thomas.

Many more details about today's meeting can be found HERE.

Mental health centers on chopping block -- again

2009-07-16T15:07:00.001-07:00

In a familiar move, the Chicago Department of Public Health is poised to shutter at least four city-run mental health centers within 45 days, as the city grapples with an unclear budget picture.

CDPH spokesman Tim Hadac confirmed that department commissioner Dr. Terry Mason met with the city’s Board of Health yesterday to outline plans to close the centers, which could become victims of the state’s budget crisis.

Earlier this month, Mason said Gov. Pat Quinn’s “doomsday” budget could prompt the city to cut mental health services, as well as many other services.

Lawmakers in Springfield are stilling hashing out a budget, which does not appear to include provisions for the income tax hike Quinn desires. The state faces a $9.2 billion deficit, and Quinn has said funding for local agencies like CDPH would have to be cut in the absence of a tax hike.

The four South Side centers nearly closed their doors in April after city officials said cuts in state money would make it impossible to keep them open.

A Daily News report subsequently revealed the city had, against state advice, installed a billing system that didn't work. The city was unable to bill the state for mental health services for several months, which created a budget shortfall and led to the plan to close the clinics.

Read the full story HERE.

Report: Charity care rising at Illinois hospitals

2009-07-16T15:06:00.002-07:00

Non-profit Illinois hospitals contributed nearly $4.7 billion in community benefits in fiscal year 2007-2008, a three-year high, according a report released yesterday by the Illinois Hospital Association.

The annual report, now in its third year, shows the 109 hospital filing community benefit reports with the state increased their charity care nearly 70 percent over the last four years. Hospitals provided $94 million in donations and other services, $365 million to educate health workers, $78 million on research and $14 million in translation services.

“As this report shows, the true worth of hospitals cannot be measured by a spreadsheet. Our hospitals’ programs and services reach out into their communities to those in need,” says IHA president Ken Robbins.

Twenty four hospitals in Chicago are included in the report, and some reported a boost in their community benefits output, which includes charity care, education, subsidization of money-losing ventures like trauma and emergency room services, and research.

Read the full story HERE.

Hospital system names three top execs

2009-07-16T15:06:00.001-07:00

A former Sara Lee Corp. executive has been named as the Cook County Health and Hospitals System's new human resources director.

System CEO William Foley announced that Deborah A. Tate, who most recently served as director of corporate human resources for the Sara Lee, will join the system.

Foley also announced the hiring of a public relations director and a director of performance improvement last week. Still to be named are a purchasing director, general counsel and a chief operating officer.

Jeanene M. Johnson joins CCHHS as director of performance improvement. Johnson was a founding managing director of Oland Group, a firm that helps health care systems improve their finances.

She has worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Huron Consulting, and holds a master’s degree in communication from Ohio State University.

Foley created the position as a way to coordinate the many consultants working on health system projects.

Foley named Lucio Guerrero as the county health system’s director of public relations and community affairs. He takes over from Marcel Bright, who returns to his duties as PR director for Stroger Hospital.

Guerrero was formerly spokesman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Prior to that, he served as spokesman for County Assessor James Houliahan and was a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.

The health board meets Thursday for its annual board meeting and is expected to vote on the election of the board chairman, vice chairman and committee heads.

Currently, Warren Batts is chairman and Jorge Ramirez, secretary treasurer of the Chicago Labor Federation, is vice chairman of the board.

The elections are part of the mandate imparted by the Cook County Board of Commissioners when the health board was formed a year ago. It requires annual leadership elections. Guerrero says the board members are likely to stay the same, though COO David Small announced he would leave his position by the end of November.

Malcolm X medical program fights for survival

2009-07-16T15:05:00.001-07:00

In December 2007, officials at Malcolm X College found that one of the instructors in the physician assistant program lacked the required state medical license.

In May 2008, the college fired the program's director, accusing her of lying about academic credentials on her resume, among other offenses.

The following month, the college fired two instructors for regularly failing to show up for class, according to public records.

And in September, reviewers with a national accrediting body recommended that Malcolm X be stripped of recognition.

Now, instead of welcoming a new class of physician assistant students for the summer, Malcolm X is scrambling to repair the program's tarnished reputation and move forward with a reconstituted staff.

The physician assistant program - one of three in Chicagoland - supplies county-run facilities, including Stroger Hospital, with a valuable staple of medical professionals.

It is a lifeline for students who can't afford programs like Northwestern University's, and gives local students a chance to enter the profession.

The college's president is confident about a turnaround. But public records show the program faces some serious hurdles.

Read the whole story at the Daily News site.

Stress ails primary care physicians, Loyola study finds

2009-07-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days where you just want to call it quits?

According to a new study published in the July issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, and authored by a Loyola University School of Medicine professor and others, “those days” are a prominent problem for many primary care physicians.

Burnout, says Dr. Anita Varkey, could contribute to the national decline in primary care physicians, and in turn, lower quality care for patients.

The study, which polled 422 doctors in the Midwest, including Chicago, and New York City, found that large numbers of physicians claimed a lack of control of their work, a chaotic work pace and time constraints during patient visits.

More than a quarter complained of burnout. More than 30 percent indicated they would leave the field within five years.

These factors, the study concludes, lead to low job satisfaction and the decision to leave the primary care field.

Primary care physicians are shrinking in numbers across the country, according to the Association of Medical Colleges. By 2025, the country may face a shortfall of more than 124,000 primary physicians.

Read the full story at the Daily News site.

Absence of grocery stores plague South Side

2009-07-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

From my colleague, Samantha Liss, comes this story, which can be found in full HERE:

Ten years ago LaDonna Redmond never thought she would become a pioneer for food justice in Chicago. But her son, Wade, was diagnosed with severe food allergies and she was left with no choice.

"It was pretty difficult. I had to travel around to figure out where to get food in addition to figuring out food," says Redmond, who lived on the West Side at the time.

Since then, Redmond says she's been battling the stereotype that African-Americans just aren't interested in healthy foods.

Now, after working for a decade to create access to healthier food choices in neighborhoods with few grocery stores, Redmond will open her own fresh produce store by the end of the month. Her store, Graffiti and Grub will be located near the Englewood and Washington Park neighborhoods.

An initial report in 2006 showed more than a half a million Chicagoans live in food deserts, or areas where residents have no grocery store. African-Americans are primarily victims of food deserts, as the South Side has the largest food deserts.

The original report stated that, "In a typical African-American block, the nearest grocery store is roughly twice as distant as the nearest fast food restaurant."

The 2009 progress report states that the food desert on Chicago's South Side has shrunk by roughly 24,000 people or approximately 1.4 square miles.

Chicago's water: Fertility juice?

2009-07-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

While at a wedding this past weekend, I met a nice young lady who was interested in talking about my job reporting health news in Chicago. A Chicagoan herself, she said she was interested in knowing what kind of chemicals are in our drinking water. Specifically, she mentioned hormones, drugs, painkillers and the like. I told her it was a great idea, and I would look into it.

Well, I don't have to now, because the Tribune did the work for me. Michael Hawthorne reports that there are small amounts of many drugs and other unseemly things in our drinking water:

Chicago officials didn't start conducting their own tests [to determine drugs in drinking water] until last year, after a Tribune investigation found small amounts of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated chemicals in samples of the city's tap water.

The city collected samples of treated Lake Michigan water four times in 2008. According to results posted on the city's Web site, the tests found small amounts of the sex hormones testosterone and progesterone; gemfibrozil, a prescription cholesterol-fighting drug; ibuprofen, an over-the-counter painkiller, and DEET, the active ingredient in bug spray.

The tests also found caffeine, nicotine and cotinine, a nicotine byproduct, all of which researchers consider to be indicators of pharmaceuticals from human waste.

More details on the report can be found HERE and HERE.

UPDATE: The city report can be found HERE.

Lead poisoning silently mauls Chicago

2009-07-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

My former Daily News colleague Megan Cottrell, who writes a great blog on ChicagoNow, reported on the scarily prevalent problem of lead poisoning in public housing. An aging housing stock, scofflaw landlords and a general lack of education puts residents - and especially their young children - at risk of damaging their health by ingesting lead.

Young children are most likely to incur developmental damage from lead, which resides in old paint, and can float around in dust particles.

I highly suggest you check out Megan's recent coverage which can be found HERE and HERE.

Have you ever dealt with lead in your home? Tell us your story in the comments section.

Here's an interesting Flash video about how lead affects the IQ:

How Lead Poisons Chicago from Megan Cottrell on Vimeo.

Wednesday round up: From swine flu to PTSD

2009-07-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

"Virtual Iraq" helps vets cope with PTSD (Trib)

How to check your doctor's credentials (AP/Trib) (Hint: You can click HERE)

Hospitals, White House make deal on health care reform (AP)

Report shows some cities were slow to move on swine flu (Reuters)

Immigrants slow to get immunizations (Trib) (A treasure trove of Trib health stories today!)

UIC uses garden to teach med students (Trib...again)

St. Anthony Hospital splits from parent in bid to boost community ties

2009-07-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

St. Anthony Hospital, on the city’s Near South Side, is splitting from Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic hospital network.

St. Anthony CEO and president Guy Medaglia, who joined the hospital two years ago, says a financial turnaround gave the hospital the positioning to set out on its own.

The hospital posted a $12 million deficit in fiscal 2007, and finished its last fiscal year in the black by $730,000, Medaglia says.

Medaglia predicts the hospital will make about $3.5 million in fiscal year 2009, which has just ended. He cites an increase in revenue due increased patient visits, surgery cases and in-patient stays for the turnaround.

“It really doesn’t make sense for us” to remain in the Ascension network, he says. “We really want to be a free-standing Catholic hospital.”

As the only Ascension hospital in the state, St. Anthony didn't feel that it had the negotiating power that comes with a network. Medaglia brokered a deal with FTI Healthcare, a Brentwood, Tenn-based consultancy of which he is also a managing partner, allowing the hospital to maintain negotiating power.

With its new independent status, Medaglia says St. Anthony is better positioned to act as a community hospital. In the past two years, it has reached out to the largely African-American and Latino community to re-establish itself as a community resource.

Read the whole story at the Chi-Town Daily News.

Breast cancer organization names executive director

2009-07-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

The Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force today announced the hiring of its first-ever executive director.

Marie Rule Gilliam has more than 15 years of experience, and has held leadership positions at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Dentistry and School of Public Health, and the Chicago Asthma Consortium.

Gilliam will lead the agency’s efforts to reduce breast cancer mortality rates between black and white women. In 2007, the task force released findings showing that black women in Chicago are more likely to die of breast cancer than white women by a rate of two-thirds. Lack of access, education and more contribute to the statistics.

Gilliam has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, and a master’s degree in health services administration from the University of Michigan.

Weekend news round up

2009-07-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Resurrection Health Care employees fear retaliation in attempts to unionize (similar to a story the Daily News covered last month). CBS2

Quinn fires chief of state health projects board (Sun-Times)

Lipinski supports options for health care (Southwest News Herald)

St. Anthony Hospital splits from corporate parent (Crain's)

Questions about local Lasik doctor (Tribune)

Regular folks take to the Web to tell health care horror stories

2009-07-02T13:43:00.001-07:00

The Associated Press has an interesting story of how ordinary Americans - fed up with the jousting of lobbyists and lawmakers on health care - are taking to the Internet to tell their stories. Writes Carla K. Johnson:

Foes of expanding government-run health care also have stories of real people on YouTube and in advertisements. Ads by Conservatives for Patients' Rights feature patients like Katie Brickell, a British citizen, who says she was denied a Pap smear that could have saved her from cervical cancer.
"In all likelihood, I only have a couple of years," Brickell says in a YouTube version of her story. "I feel the National Health Service has let me down.

But, as heart-wrenching as the stories can be, they are just stories:

"We can't have policy by anecdote," Herrick said. Stories of people who have fallen through the cracks "have an oversized influence on the debate even as they obscure the greater question of what will help most people. Even a policy that does the greatest good may still have people who fall through the cracks."

Kenya makes U.S. health care look great

2009-07-02T08:47:00.001-07:00

You think health care in the U.S. has issues? A Tribune article says indigent Kenyans are literally imprisoned in the hospitals until they can pay their bills.

Tragically, healthcare horror stories are common in Africa, where developing countries rarely have medical safety nets for the poor. But an increase in cases of cash-starved public hospitals and mortuaries detaining patients and even corpses over unpaid bills is spurring outrage in Kenya.

The parents of one 11-year-old girl with kidney disease issued a public appeal in April to clear a $2,000 hospital bill. The girl recovered in January but has been detained since then by the government-run Kenyatta National Hospital here in Nairobi, the capital.

It's quite an illuminating read.

More food being tossed at Taste

2009-06-30T09:44:00.001-07:00

The Chicago Reporter says the amount of food being thrown away at Taste - due to temperature violations - is increasing in recent years:

An investigation by The Chicago Reporter shows that Taste of Chicago vendors have discarded more food in the last few years, even as vendor participation dropped last year.
In 2008, the last year for which data were available, more than a ton of food was thrown out, mostly due to temperature violations. That amount was a four percent increase from the prior year and 27 percent increase since 2006, according to Chicago Department of Public Health documents obtained by the Reporter.

Food inspectors say they are "on guard" at the festival, but they don't hand out violations, as they might at a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Rather, they say, they're in a consultant role.

No action yet on Rep. Rush's UC investigation request

2009-06-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hasn't taken any action yet on Rep. Bobby Rush's request to investigate allegations of patient dumping at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

A Rush spokesman told the Daily News that a few conversations have taken place between the university, and Rush's office has learned a bit more about the issue. However, she did not elaborate.

As it stands, it doesn't appear that Rush's request is making much headway at this point. A committee spokesperson did not return calls for comment.

Update: City has fixed billing issues

2009-06-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

In April, the Daily News reported the city's health department had an electronic billing system that was incompatible with the state's, preventing the city from billing the state for its mental health services.

The city planned to close four mental health centers until these revelations. At one point in April, the city had billed only one percent of its expected billing levels, according the Illinois Department of Human Services.

A DHS spokesman told me that the city has fixed its billing issues. There's no word yet whether the mental health budget for 2010 will be affected by the past year's billing. However, DHS spokesman Tom Green says the state's budget crisis will affect the city's mental health budget to some degree.

A reporter's plea to modernize your phone system

2009-06-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm working on a story about some federal stimulus dollars that a number of health clinics in Illinois received. Nearly 20 clinics in Chicago are on the recipient list, and given the state of the Illinois budget, I would imagine they're pretty excited to be getting these funds.

And, as I seek to add at least one local voice to a story, I'm striking out more than Milton Bradley.

See, most of the agencies I've called today have funky phone systems that tell you to do one thing, then do another. They zig when I need to zag. When I'm prompted to enter someone's last name, say Joe Smith, I generally expect to be connected with Joe Smith. Not Monique Gomez. Not with Arthur Martin. Joe Smith.

But, thanks to the miracle of dysfunctional phone systems, I'm apparently destined to be bumped from one voicemail to another.

It's entirely frustrating.

So if you happen to be the proprietor of a business, for the sake of this reporter and anybody else who may need to contact, I beg of you, update your phone system. Troubleshoot it and make sure it works.

And, Joe Smith, I'd really like to talk with you.

Michelle Obama dips a toe into the health care debate

2009-06-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sun-Times DC reporter and prolific political blogger Lynn Sweet writes about the cautious steps First Lady (and former UC Medical Center exec) Michelle Obama is taking as the health care debate ramps up. Here's a sample from her FLOTUS blog at Politics Daily:

By focusing on the wellness side of health care -- rather than policy issues, such as whether there will be a government-sponsored "public option" insurance plan in the legislative package, a major item the Obama administration supports -- she avoids any comparison with former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who took on systemic delivery of health care as a signature issue.

Mrs. Obama is making a series of speeches about wellness, prevention and childhood obesity. Sweet says a good chunk of her speeches' themes will focus on the need for more community health centers, a linchpin of UCMC's controversial Urban Health Initiative, championed by the First Lady.

She will not address Congress on the health care issue, perhaps avoiding the pitfalls suffered by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton when she was first lady.

Sweet, by the way, is a really fun read, both on FLOTUS and her Sun-Times blog. She's also got a heckuva a fastball.

Good news from the University of Chicago

2009-06-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

A few interesting news nuggets from Chicago's South Side:

A new research building opened earlier this month. The Gwen and Jules Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery will house research programs in diabetes, pediatrics, genomics, cancer and other medical specialties. Here's some info on the architecture:

"Designed by the award-winning Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, the stunning $244 million building provides open, efficient, and flexible laboratory and office space designed to encourage cross-fertilization between labs. It features few walls, most of which can be changed easily, depending on research needs. The building also includes conference and lecture halls and several multi-story public and common spaces--all designed to enhance the exchange of ideas among the 80 scientific investigators and 800 personnel who will work there.

The building has an emergency power system to protect valuable research equipment, extra heavy duty air conditioning, and wireless technology throughout.

The exterior design combines a limestone base, reflecting the campus heritage, with the open, transparent feel provided by 130,000 square feet of glass-curtain walls higher up. The innovative design of the serrated west wall gives each office a view north toward downtown Chicago, as well as west over Washington Park.

Minority and woman-owned firms and workers achieved $35.7 million in economic benefit through contracts awarded and wages earned on this project."

There's a cool time-lapse video of construction HERE.

The university's Comer Children's Hospital was named one of the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report. It ranked in the top 30 in two pediatric specialites: endocrine and diabetes (#22); and neonatal care, the care of critically ill or very premature newborns (#30).

In other news, as I am jamming to Kings of Leon this afternoon, the Lollapalooza headliner helped donate $75,000 to Comer in February.