Month: July 2011

UnitedHealth Group Inc. said Tuesday its second-quarter earnings rose 13 percent, as enrollment gains helped fuel revenue growth and consumers continued to moderate their health care system use. The Minnetonka, Minn., insurer also increased its 2011 profit forecast by 20 cents per share after raising it in the first quarter as well. (AP, 7/20)

Construction on Green Bay's new veterans health clinic will start by November and is expected to create about 100 jobs, the newly announced developer said Tuesday. The federal government picked Summit Smith Healthcare Facilities, based near Milwaukee, to lead the $60 million project on Green Bay's east side. (GREEN BAY PRESS GAZETTE, 7/20)

More than six months after a worldwide recall, potentially deadly alcohol wipes remain in personal medicine cabinets and possibly on store shelves. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, tasked with protecting public health, says the recall was effective but refuses to release audit reports detailing findings and measures taken by the company that made and distributed the wipes: Hartland-based Triad Group and its manufacturing arm, H&P Industries. Meanwhile, another company that hospitals and others have turned to for supplying wipes since the recall has its own history of manufacturing problems, twice in the last 18 months recalling wipes that didn't meet specifications, the Journal Sentinel has learned. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/19)

A growing feud between two Madison health care systems will soon result in fewer choices for thousands of patients and could drive up costs for everyone. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 7/18)

The Wisconsin Hospital Emergency Preparedness Program has organized a statewide effort since its inception in 2002 to stockpile protective clothing, including disposable respirator masks, which are crucial for containing infectious diseases. (GREEN BAY PRESS GAZETTE, 7/18)

Aurora Health Care is withdrawing school nurses and nurse practitioners from 10 Milwaukee public schools this coming fall, the Journal Sentinel learned Thursday. Aurora's pullback is on top of a loss of state funding for nurses, which forced the School Board last month to dip into the superintendent's contingency fund to restore 15 of 22 nursing positions that were to be cut. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/15)