LABOR UPDATES

Harry Kelber:   1914 – 2013     Harry Kelber spent 80 years as a labor activist. Through it all he championed worker ownership of their unions. When Labor Notes commissioned a roundtable on “organizing the unorganized” in 2007, Harry’s contribution argued that rank-and-file workers should be part of organizing drives.

HEALTH CARE 

Did Hospitals Profit Off Drugs Meant for the Poor?   An inquiry by a U.S. senator has found that three nonprofit hospitals in North Carolina have made millions from a discount drug program intended to help the poor and uninsured.

Mortality Rates at Critical Access Hospitals Racheting Higher    The nation’s critical access hospitals have higher mortality rates on several key measures than do urban and rural hospitals without the specia l designation, and the trend steadily worsened over the past eight years, according to a new study by Harvard researchers.

CMS Reverses Course   The insurance industry chalked up one of its greatest political victories in recent memory on Monday as the Obama administration reversed course on a proposal to cut Medicare Advantage rates. After intense lobbying, the agency said Monday that it would change the proposed 2.3 percent cut to those plans to a 3.3 percent boost. That’s a significant swing worth billions of dollars to the industry next year alone.

Departing Wellpoint CEO’s Compensation Ballooned to $20.6M Last year, as Insurer’s Shares Fell   The compensation paid to outgoing Wellpoint Inc. CEO Angela Braly last year rose 56 percent, even as the company’s shares slid on lower enrollment in its Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans.

NOTES ON NURSING

Fatigue is Pervasive in the Health Care Industry; Directly Linked to On-the-job Errors     Sixty-nine percent of healthcare professionals surveyed said that fatigue had caused them to feel concern over their ability to perform during work hours. Even more alarmingly, nearly 65 percent of participants reported they had almost made an error at work because of fatigue and more than 27 percent acknowledged that they had actually made an error resulting from fatigue.

PA Considers Nursing by the Numbers   A pair of Democratic state lawmakers have introduced bills in both the House and Senate that would mandate a minimum number of registered nurses-to-patient ratio at all hospitals in the state. The concept has been embraced by nursing unions but is not being warmly received by hospitals and related organizations.

HEALTH CARE

Overpayment for Minnesota Medicaid Raises Serious Concerns     David Feinwachs, the health care insider who blew the whistle on Medicaid spending, tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS it is “time the government goes after the excess profits” from the four insurance companies that run the state’s Medicaid program.

Is Sanford Deal in Minnesota’s Best Interests?  But if a merger between South Dakota-based Sanford Health and Twin Cities-based Fairview Health Services, which owns and operates the U’s teaching hospital as well as other major metro hospitals, is a serious possibility, Minnesotans deserve to be informed and to weigh in.  Note:  Attorney General Lori Swanson has scheduled a Public Hearing for Thurs. April 7, at 1:30 p.m. in Room 15 of the State Capitol.  More details here.

Access to Medicaid Reduces Mortality Rates   Research shows a strong connection between mortality rates and insurance status: The uninsured are more likely to have poor health and higher mortality rates than those with insurance.

LABOR UPDATES

New Study Finds Record Level of Disengaged Workers   The working stiffs, whose productivity skyrocketed as wages stagnated in recent years, aren’t buying management’s shtick.