Health care one of the bright spots for NWI economy

While the overall outlook for Northwest Indiana's economy is rather drab, health care remains one of the few industries that continues to see growth.

That was the message at a recent Indiana University Kelley School of Business forum in Schererville, where several IU professors gave their economic predictions for 2015.

"Locally, one of the only bright spots of the last few years has been health care. It's really a growing industry," saidMicah Pollak, an assistant professor of economics at IU Northwest. He noted the number of health care jobs in the region has grown by more than 20 percent in the past decade and 80 percent since 1990.

"The only caveat I have about that is I don't think it's a long-term solution. Fifty years down the road, as the aging population goes through the health care system, we may not have the need for quite as much health care."

While local hospital executives agree the growth may not continue at the same rate going forward, with the increased emphasis on bending the cost curve through wellness and prevention, they note the population continues to grow and live longer. Plus, it's unknown how future advances in medical treatments and technology will affect the industry.

But for now, health care is the largest source of jobs in the region.

According to a 2013 report from the Northwest Indiana Forum, a private organization composed of local businesses and industry, outpatient care is the second-biggest industry in Northwest Indiana, bringing in more than $2 billion annually, while hospitals rank fifth, earning $912 million a year. The two sectors were, respectively, the No. 1 and 3 drivers of economic growth in the region from 2001 to 2011.

Combined, the sectors employ more than 31,000 people in Northwest Indiana, or nearly 12,000 more than work in primary metal manufacturing. In other words, health care now provides more jobs in the region than the steel industry.

Mary Ann Shacklett, chief financial officer for Community Healthcare System, said reasons for the growth include the large aging population in Northwest Indiana and the increase in life expectancies.

"I've been here in the Community Healthcare System for 30 years. When I started, our Medicare volume back at that time was about 20 percent," she said. "Now the Medicare volume for our system is about 53 percent."

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Health care one of the bright spots for NWI economy

Health-care worker leaves B.C. hospital after third negative Ebola test

A health-care worker who was being tested for Ebola has been released from a B.C. hospital after a third round of results confirmed she does not have the virus.

Patrice Gordon a nurse practitioner who travelled to Sierra Leone in November and returned to Canada on Christmas checked herself into Kelowna General Hospital on Monday, after her temperature became slightly elevated.

Tests came back negative for Ebola on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, prompting Ms. Gordons release from hospital. In a telephone briefing with reporters, Ms. Gordon said she had been confident all along that she did not have the virus at least for the most part.

It has been quite stressful just from the standpoint of knowing that my familys worried about me, and knowing that the public is worried, Do we have a patient zero in Canada? And my going, Oh my god, I really dont want to be patient zero, she said.

Ms. Gordon had worked at the Red Cross Ebola treatment centre in the city of Kenema. Health-care workers returning from Ebola-affected countries must self-monitor for 21 days. Ms. Gordon was checking her temperature twice daily when she noticed a rise; she also had cold-like symptoms.

Ms. Gordon entered the hospital through a back entrance and was kept in isolation. She did not move through any public areas.

During the conference call, Ms. Gordon said the process flowed exactly as it should.

It was as pleasant as it could possibly be, she said.

Ms. Gordon coughed throughout the call and said she felt a bit run down.

She said it was jarring how quickly her case moved into the spotlight.

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Health-care worker leaves B.C. hospital after third negative Ebola test

Judge: Florida's health care for needy kids violates U.S. laws

MIAMI A federal judge has ruled that Floridas health care system for impoverished and disabled children violates several U.S. laws.

In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan said lawmakers had for years set the states Medicaid budget at an artificially low level, causing pediatricians and other specialists for children to opt out of the insurance program for the needy.

Jordan said that amounted to rationing of care and exacerbated a shortage of pediatricians, particularly in rural areas.

This is a great day for the children in this state, said Dr. Louis B. St. Petery, a Tallahassee pediatrician who is executive vice president of the Florida Pediatric Society and helped spearhead a 2005 lawsuit against Floridas Department of Health, Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Health Care Administration.

This action was taken because we found that children werent being treated properly if they were on Medicaid. Our position as pediatricians is that children do not choose their parents. They dont have a choice to be born into a rich family or a poor family, St. Petery told The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/1rFlx23 ).

On behalf of the state agencies named in the lawsuit, the Agency for Health Care Administration issued a statement Wednesday responding to Jordans ruling: The Judges outdated observations pertain to a Medicaid program that no longer exists. Floridas new Statewide Medicaid Managed Care program is cost-effective and a working success.

Enrollment in the Medicaid program increased from 1.2 million in 2005 to 1.7 million in 2011, but the number of pediatricians did not rise at all, Jordan said.

The judge found that almost 80 percent of children enrolled in the Medicaid program are getting no dental services at all.

He also said Florida health regulators were leaving a third of the states children on Medicaid with no preventative medical care despite federal legal requirements, and they sometimes switched children from one Medicaid provider to another without their parents knowledge or consent.

The number of needy Florida children able to get a potentially life-saving blood screening for lead is extremely low, notwithstanding the fact that part of Florida has an aging housing stock, which means children are more likely exposed to lead-based paint, Jordan ruled.

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Judge: Florida's health care for needy kids violates U.S. laws

Judge: Florida's health care for needy kids violates US laws

MIAMI (AP) - A federal judge has ruled that Floridas health care system for impoverished and disabled children violates several U.S. laws.

In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan said lawmakers had for years set the states Medicaid budget at an artificially low level, causing pediatricians and other specialists for children to opt out of the insurance program for the needy.

Jordan said that amounted to rationing of care and exacerbated a shortage of pediatricians, particularly in rural areas.

This is a great day for the children in this state, said Dr. Louis B. St. Petery, a Tallahassee pediatrician who is executive vice president of the Florida Pediatric Society and helped spearhead a 2005 lawsuit against Floridas Department of Health, Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Health Care Administration.

This action was taken because we found that children werent being treated properly if they were on Medicaid. Our position as pediatricians is that children do not choose their parents. They dont have a choice to be born into a rich family or a poor family, St. Petery told The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/1rFlx23 ).

On behalf of the state agencies named in the lawsuit, the Agency for Health Care Administration issued a statement Wednesday responding to Jordans ruling: The Judges outdated observations pertain to a Medicaid program that no longer exists. Floridas new Statewide Medicaid Managed Care program is cost-effective and a working success.

Enrollment in the Medicaid program increased from 1.2 million in 2005 to 1.7 million in 2011, but the number of pediatricians did not rise at all, Jordan said.

The judge found that almost 80 percent of children enrolled in the Medicaid program are getting no dental services at all.

He also said Florida health regulators were leaving a third of the states children on Medicaid with no preventative medical care despite federal legal requirements, and they sometimes switched children from one Medicaid provider to another without their parents knowledge or consent.

The number of needy Florida children able to get a potentially life-saving blood screening for lead is extremely low, notwithstanding the fact that part of Florida has an aging housing stock, which means children are more likely exposed to lead-based paint, Jordan ruled.

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Judge: Florida's health care for needy kids violates US laws

Home Remedies for HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) – Video


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Home Remedies for HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) - Video

Epidemic of Violence against Health-Care Workers Plagues Hospitals

Hospital administrations and judicial system do little to prevent assaults against nurses and other caregivers by patients

Emergency room and psychiatric nurses and workers involved in elder and in-home care are at an especially high risk. Credit: COD Newsroom via flickr

In a harrowing video that surfaced last month, a 68-year-old hospital patient attacks a group of nurses with a pipe pulled from his bed. They flee through a nearby door in a streak of rainbow scrubs, but the patient pursues and lands several more blows on one fallen nurse in the hallway.

This assault is far from an isolated incident. Health-care workers are hit, kicked, scratched, bitten, spat on, threatened and harassed by patients with surprising regularity. In a 2014 survey, almost 80 percent of nurses reported being attacked on the job within the past year. Health-care workers experience the most nonfatal workplace violence compared to other professions by a wide margin, with attacks on them accounting for almost 70 percent of all nonfatal workplace assaults causing days away from work in the U.S., according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And attacks show no sign of slowing down.

There is little movement toward stopping the assaults. There is a top-to-bottom cultural assumption that violence is part of the job for ER nurses and health-care workers, says Lisa Wolf, a registered nurse and research director for the Emergency Nurses Association. It goes from the bedside up to the judicial system.

But organizations such as the ENA and the American Nurses Association as well as government agencies involved in occupational safety say this doesnt have to be the case.

After the episode in Minnesota, the hospital initiated a training program to teach workers how to recognize and de-escalate potentially violent situations. Many hospitals lack this basic safety measure, howeveran oversight that leaves caregivers vulnerable. Better violence-prevention plansincluding training and incident reportingcan lessen the risk, but their adoption is stymied by indifference from police, prosecutors, judges and hospital administrations. The general disregard discourages health-care workers from reporting assaults, thus compounding the problem.

As you get more and more distance from the epicenter of the problem in the ER, people really feel like their administrations are way less engaged in mitigating violence, Wolf says. It makes people less invested in the work that they do because they feel less supported.

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Epidemic of Violence against Health-Care Workers Plagues Hospitals

Florida's health care system for needy and disabled children violates federal laws, judge rules

A federal judge Wednesday declared Florida's health care system for needy and disabled children to be in violation of several federal laws, handing a stunning victory to doctors and children's advocates who have fought for almost a decade to force the state to pay pediatricians enough money to ensure impoverished children can receive adequate care.

In his 153-page ruling, U.S. Judge Adalberto Jordan said lawmakers had for years set the state's Medicaid budget at an artificially low level, causing pediatricians and other specialists for children to opt out of the insurance program for the needy. In some areas of the state, parents had to travel long distances to see specialists.

The low spending plans, which forced Medicaid providers for needy children to be paid far below what private insurers would spend and well below what doctors were paid in the Medicare program for a more powerful group, elders amounted to rationing of care, the order said.

"This is a great day for the children in this state," said Dr. Louis B. St. Petery, a Tallahassee pediatrician who is executive vice president of the Florida Pediatric Society and who helped spearhead the suit. "This action was taken because we found that children weren't being treated properly if they were on Medicaid. Our position as pediatricians," he added, "is that children do not choose their parents. They don't have a choice to be born into a rich family or a poor family.

"We feel all children are of equal value."

The three state agencies named in the suit authored a short statement Wednesday afternoon: "The Judge's outdated observations pertain to a Medicaid program that no longer exists. Florida's new Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) program is cost-effective and a working success." The statement was issued by the Agency for Health Care Administration, or AHCA.

The low billing rates, Jordan wrote, exacerbate a long-standing problem: There is a shortage of pediatricians overall. "The shortage gives pediatricians the ability to treat higher paying patients and either not treat, or limit, the number of Medicaid patients they do treat," Jordan wrote. "The shortage of pediatricians in rural areas is especially acute."

Enrollment in the Medicaid program increased from 1.2 million in 2005 to 1.7 million in 2011 though the number of primary care doctors for children apparently has not risen at all, he said.

Among Jordan's findings:

Almost 80 percent of children enrolled in the Medicaid program "are getting no dental services at all."

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Florida's health care system for needy and disabled children violates federal laws, judge rules

Health Care Sector Update for 12/31/2014: ONVO,NRX,RDHL,ACHI

Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ -0.17%

PZE -0.35%

MRK -0.84%

ABT -1.11%

AMGN -0.47%

Health care stocks were lower in late afternoon trade with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index sliding 0.4% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 down by more than 0.5% as a group.

In company news, Organovo Holdings ( ONVO ) shares were falling shortly before the closing bell after the biotech company working to develop "artificial" organs using human tissues late yesterday disclosed a controlled equity offering agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald for up to $33 million of ONVO shares.

The company will pay Cantor a 3% commission on the gross proceeds from the upcoming stock sales. It plans to use net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including reseach, development and commercialization of its products and general administrative expenses as well as potential license and technology acquisitions.

At Tuesday's closing price of $7.66 a share, ONVO would issue nearly 4.31 million new shares, diluting existing shareholders by around 5.3%.

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Health Care Sector Update for 12/31/2014: ONVO,NRX,RDHL,ACHI