National Headlines
Upcoming Events
National Academy State Health Policy Conference
October 5-7,Tampa
Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina
Viist web site for details
Board of Nursing
Oct. 8-10, Miami
Hyatt Regency Agenda
KidCare Meeting, Volusia
Oct. 10, 1-4 p.m.. To register, contact Amber Floyd
Pediatrics Bioethics Conference
Oct. 10-11, Jacksonville
Prime Osborne Convention Center
For details, visit the web site or contact the Florida Bioethics Networks at 305-243-5723 or email
Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Medicaid Reform in Florida: Year 2
October 15, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.,Tampa
Marriott Tampa Airport
Contact Jennifer Thompson by email or at 202-687-2471
Making A Fix-It List for Health Care
Oct. 16, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Orlando
Englewood Neighborhood Center
For details, Stephenie Porta at 407-423-9832 or by email
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Top Story
 10/6/2008 © Florida Health News
Cardinal Health’s pharmaceutical-distribution center in Lakeland, which lost the legal right to dispense controlled drugs ten months ago following a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation, will get its DEA license restored as part of a $34 million settlement by the company. Almost half the money will be available for DEA use in Florida's middle district. 
10/6/2008 © USA Today
Home health care costs charged to Medicare in the Miami area have risen 20 times the national average in the past five years, prompting a federal investigation of suspected fraudulent billing. The county's home health billing this year, projected at $1.3 billion, is up 1,300% in just five years, government data show. A related story follows federal investigators as they knock on doors to see whether the billing is justified.
 10/5/2008 © Miami Herald
Three patients and an intern have accused nurse practitioner Andres Irizarry at the Miami VA hospital of inappropriate sexual behavior going back to 1991, but he's still there. One of the patients, Ron Wolff, says his complaint about Irizarry fondling him three years ago was ignored and a patient advocate discouraged him from pursuing it. Irizarry's lawyer says the accusations are untrue. This case illustrates how the healthcare system, particularly in Florida, seems sometimes to move extremely slowly in investigating its professionals.
10/6/2008 © St. Petersburg Times
Would constitutionally banning gay marriage threaten benefits for thousands of Floridians — gay, straight or even siblings living together — who depend on their domestic partnership to pay for health care? Amendment 2 supporters say no way. Amendment 2 opponents say absolutely. In an opinion piece in the St. Petersburg Times, former Elder Affairs Secretary Bentley Lipscomb says this amendment could hit seniors hard.
 10/5/2008 © Daytona Beach News-Journal
Data show the percentage of low-income women seeking prenatal care in the first trimester has been dropping in Volusia and Flagler counties in zip codes where the infant mortality rate rivals some countries in Africa. Patient advocates say one reason is the complicated bureaucratic maze that has to be completed before Medicaid can cover pregnant women. "We want women to be able to get care based on their need for it rather than the flavor of Medicaid they have," said Dr. Pam Carbiener, a local obstetrician.
10/5/2008 © Daytona Beach News-Journal
Trauma calls at Halifax Health have doubled in the last 20 years to about 800 a year. But the number of general surgeons who can answer those calls is dwindling. By setting up a new general surgery residency program, hospital administrators and doctors hope it will ensure there's a general surgeon on the other end of that call when it comes.
10/4/2008 © Florida Times-Union
Too many girls with minor infractions are being locked up with serious offenders, when what they need is treatment in community programs that cost less and are more effective. But instead of putting money into such programs, the Legislature just keeps adding to spending on prisons.
10/6/2008 © St. Petersburg Times
When Orlando Rosales of Dade City heard that a local store was having a sale on women's shoes, he rushed out to buy a pair — for himself. His pick: 3-inch white slingbacks — an impressive choice considering the challenge he faced: to take part in "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes," a domestic violence awareness march.
10/6/2008 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Cindy Bucholz usually pores over a doctor's background when making an appointment, but she forgot to do the homework before seeing a new ear specialist last year. She did not like his approach to her problem, so she later checked him out online and found he had lost or settled three major lawsuits. She says the message is clear: Check your doctor's background online before going for a visit.
10/6/2008 © Daytona Beach News-Journal
Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama take far different approaches to solving health-care problems. McCain's plan would shift the tax advantages from employer-based health coverage to individuals to encourage them to become shoppers. Obama says health care is a right and takes the first step by covering all children, funding that by a rollback of the Bush tax cuts for those who earn more than $250,000 a year.
10/4/2008 © Orlando Sentinel
Four Corners -- the area where Lake, Orange, Osceola and Polk counties meet -- is no longer the middle of nowhere. It had 100,000 people at the end of last year and is estimated to grow to 250,000 by 2020. Thus, clinics and health-care centers are sprouting along U.S. Highway 27.
10/5/2008 © Ft. Myers News-Press
Lee County has a well-documented shortage of mental and behavioral health services and no hospital beds for residents suffering from diseases of the mind. But a task force has been charged with addressing Lee County's inadequate mental health services and has divided its challenge into four goals - a sign of progress, although each of those aims is daunting. Among the goals is to "come up with a community model on how to treat mental illnesses and addictions."
By Christine Giordano and Carol Gentry
10/3/2008 © Florida Health News
ORLANDO -- A surgeon who let an untrained college student play a hands-on role in three breast-cancer operations at the Mayo Clinic last year was cleared of wrongdoing Friday by the Florida Board of Medicine. Stephen L. Smith, who now is chief of general surgery at Scripps Clinic in LaJolla, Calif., said he didn't know the observers program barred students from direct participation. The board was less forgiving of an Ocala doctor who let his wife -- who lacks a health license -- perform Pap smears.
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10/3/2008 © Miami Herald
A pediatrician who examines children for abuse or neglect has accused an inspector for the Agency for Health Care Administration of botching an investigation into mysterious burns to a severely disabled foster child in a Miami-Dade nursing home. In a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist, Dr. Michael D. Strong of the Child Protection Team said he was ''shocked by her . . . apparent lack of due diligence.''
10/3/2008 Palm Beach Post
The St. Lucie County firefighter who admits taking a mangled lower leg from a crashed truck after the victim was flown to a medical center has resigned under pressure from county authorities. Cindy Economou said she thought she had permission to take the leg to train cadaver dogs, the ones that search for bodies. Firefighter of the Year, Economou said, "I was just trying to do good."
10/3/2008 © Orlando Sentinel
After a thorough inspection of Liberty High, where a football player died Monday from methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) infection, Dr. Mercedes Rodriguez of the Osceola County Health Department told worried parents the school is clean and they will probably never know the source of the infection that killed Alonzo Smith, 18. The bacteria are common, she said; anyone can get MRSA.
10/3/2008 © Palm Beach Post
Fiscally ailing Boca Raton Community Hospital said Thursday it replaced its CEO for the second time in 10 months, paid $29 million for a defunct loan deal and filled key executive positions with turnaround specialists. The 400-bed nonprofit hospital is still reeling from a $110 million loss.
10/2/2008 © Bradenton Herald
The mother of a 4-year-old HIV-positive boy pleaded guilty on Thursday to felony child neglect for failing to take preventive measures before and during his birth that might have spared him from contracting the virus. Cecilia Sliker was sentenced to two years' probation because she had no prior record and prosecutors deemed it best for the child.
10/3/2008 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Richard Denise, a disabled homeless man who was beaten by a robber before his wheelchair was stolen, lay in his hospital bed Thursday wondering how he would get around. He got his answer a few hours later: The owner of a Coral Springs medical supply store offered to give him one from his store.
10/2/2008 © Orlando Business Journal
A budget shortage of $4.1 million this year and the possibility of future cuts in state funding may hamper efforts to recruit faculty and students for the new University of Central Florida medical school, Dean Deborah German said recently at a BioOrlando meeting. The school, which is set to open in fall 2009, sought $12.9 million from the state but got only $9.2 million. Florida International University's new College of Medicine also saw its funding request reduced by $3.6 million.
10/3/2008 © Tallahassee Democrat
The parents of Grace Chen, the 4-year-old girl who died in fire at a Tallahassee child-care center, have rejected a $1 million check from the center's insurer. The amount is what the Chens had asked for, but the family returned the check for reasons that are unclear.
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Studies
Florida Health News may be young and small, but we have some respected foundations offering us early support. One of them, the Health Foundation of South Florida, has been kind enough to serve as our fiscal agent this year and next. That means we
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Sexton
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can receive tax-deductible donations, which we can use to support our original coverage of Florida health issues by experienced independent journalists. They include Christine Jordan Sexton in Tallahassee, who makes Florida Health News a don't-miss site for anyone who cares about state legislative and agency actions. Her article Oct. 1 pointed out that three major state initiatives to help the uninsured have been stalled. Another is a newcomer, Christine Giordano of Mount Dora, who broke stories last week and this week on financial stress at two Medicare plans. With Medicare sign-up season under way and a
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possible special session on tap, we hope readers who find such reporting helpful will consider supporting non-profit, independent journalism at Florida Health News. We are also beginning to take orders for advertising, which our redesigned and expanded site -- due to launch next month -- can accommodate. Contact me for details on either. -- Carol Gentry, Editor
Sunday's AARP Bulletin features an article that may look familiar to readers of Florida Health News. Susan Jaffe, our Washington correspondent, wrote a national version of a Florida story she reported for FHN in April on the gap between the benefits Medicare Advantage plans offer from one county to the next. While it's more dramatic in South Florida than anywhere else, Jaffe found the problem exists nationwide.
 Last week, Florida had two confabs on health reform. One at the Hyatt-Orlando, which cost hundreds of dollars to attend, attracted state and federal officials, big names from the private sector and policy wonks. The other, a free rally at Florida International University, featured ordinary people talking about their struggles getting health care. State Sen. Durell Peaden attended both and pronounced the Miami event "more productive than all that hifalutin stuff from Washington.”
Here's a question that comes up a lot: How do you find a story that's not still on the home page? If it's a Florida Health News story, click on the "Our Stories" tab. If it's not there, then we merely linked to it in another publication. Go to the Search box just above this column and try likely search terms until you find it. If the publication still has that story posted, no problem. If it's been archived, well...good luck. -- Carol Gentry, editor
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Tim Collie
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" Erosion of the capital press corps creates concern," by free-lancer Tim Collie, is worth a look if you missed it last week. So is his first article for Florida Health News: "Who will cover health issues if reporters are gone?" Collie worked for The South Florida Sun-Sentinel until a few weeks ago. His stories raise the question: What happens when there are no watchdogs left to bark?
If you want to bone up on the Presidential candidates' health plans, here's an even-handed, well-informed analysis: the Health Care Policy and Marketplace Blog by insurance analyst Robert Laszewski.
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