Month: September 2011

Governor Scott Walker’s administration is “working hard” to lift the cap on Family Care enrollment, Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith told Wisconsin Health News in a recent, exclusive interview. In a wide-ranging conversation, Smith also defended the rollout of a recent state report on the federal health reform law, discussed when the administration plans to submit a waiver from maintenance of effort requirements, and talked about why states deserve more flexibility in their Medicaid programs. (WHN 9/12)

Milwaukee County should build a new and much smaller psychiatric hospital, coupled with a major shift of patients to a beefed-up system of community care, a County Board panel recommended Friday. The switch to a heavy reliance on outpatient care through private providers would start next year, while planning for building and financing a new county hospital occurs, according to the plan endorsed unanimously by the board's New Behavioral Health Facility Study Committee. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/12)

The days of construction crews working side by side with medical staff at ThedaCare's Fox Cities hospitals will soon be coming to an end. Work is nearing completion on the care provider's $90 million Hospital of the Future initiative announced in May 2008. The project included the redesign of hundreds of patients' rooms at Appleton Medical Center and Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah. (APPLETON POST CRESCENT, 9/12)

A former nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital is suing the hospital’s owner, saying she should have been paid for 30-minute meal breaks because she had to stay at the hospital on call. Her attorney, Bill Parsons of Madison, is seeking class action status and says hundreds of nurses could be involved. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 9/12)

A Wisconsin-based medical products maker shut down by federal authorities because of contaminated alcohol wipes was hit last week with a federal lawsuit, at least the sixth such suit filed against the company since a massive product recall was launched this year. Meanwhile, there are signs the company is gearing up to resume production at its Hartland plant. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/12)

A Delafield doctor who was the subject of a Journal Sentinel investigative report in March 2010 again was among the highest paid Wisconsin doctors who got speaking and consulting payments from drug companies, according to a new list of pharmaceutical industry spending compiled by the nonprofit watchdog journalism group ProPublica. Tara Dall, a Delafield primary care doctor, got payments for speaking and consulting totaling $257,000 in 2009, 2010 and the first quarter of 2011. The money was paid by the drug companies GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/9)

Sacred Heart and St. Joseph's hospitals for the first time are requiring all staff and volunteers to get flu vaccinations this fall. Mayo Clinic Health System has required employees at its medical centers in the Eau Claire, Barron, Bloomer, Menomonie and Osseo areas to get flu vaccinations since 2009, said Susan Barber Lindquist, a Mayo Clinic Health System spokeswoman. (EAU CLAIRE LEADER TELEGRAM, 9/9)

The City of Wauwatosa will pay off its losses of just over $8.4 million on Thursday in a lump sum to Wheaton Franciscan Health Care, the city attorney said Wednesday. (PATCH.COM, 9/8)