New York City hospital evacuates patients and other health news ...

In a scramble that will be familiar to Louisiana medical professionals, one of New York City's hospitals evacuated patients last night after back-up power failed, the New York Times reported. NYU Langone Medical Center, located in lower Manhattan, started moving patients on Monday evening after emergency systems didn't start following power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The newspaper reported that all 215 patients were taken to other hospitals in the city.

Struggles with back-up systems at hospitals and nursing homes has been a consistent problem?in Louisiana following hurricanes. These problems rose to a crisis level following Hurricane Katrina, when patients were trapped in flooded hospitals for days until they could be evacuated.

Some families of patients who died while waiting rescue from the hot, powerless facilities said hospitals should have evacuated their relatives before the storm. In March 2011, Tenet Healthcare Corp., which had run Memorial Medical Center, settled a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of failing to adequately prepare.

But hospital and nursing home administrators have also struggled during more recent storms. Thousands of patients from the New Orleans area were evacuated to Baton Rouge in advance of Hurricane Gustav in 2008, only to end up in facilities without sufficient back-up power, which meant they lacked air conditioning. Some hospitals in the capital city ended up transporting patients back to New Orleans, which fared better during that storm.

Following the storm, ProPublica's Sheri Fink reported about the tradeoffs state officials had to consider when deciding to evacuate frail patients, who sometimes can't handle the move.?After Gustav, then-health secretary Alan Levine said he believed the state made the right decision to transport?patients out of the New Orleans area.

Most recently after Hurricane Isaac, Mayor Mitch Landrieu criticized private hospitals and nursing homes, saying they need to focus on having back-up power sources for disasters.

. . . . .

In other health care news this week, The?New York Times on Monday reported that the Obama?administration is finalizing rules that will put in place two nationwide health insurance plans available?throughout the country. The health insurance plans, which will contract with the federal government, are part of Obama's health care law. They were meant to increase competition in state insurance markets.

Some insurance commissioners are skeptical, saying these "multistate plans" need to be subject to the same regulations as other plans in their markets, according to the article.

. . . . .

Kaiser Health News interviewed uninsured patients in Miami and found they are not focusing on health care as they ponder who to vote for next week. Instead, the uninsured people who spoke about their intentions said they were more focused on other issues, such as what the candidates would do for the poor in general, or their positions on Cuban immigration.

Source: http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2012/10/new_york_city_hospital_evacuat.html

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