West Penn Allegheny and Temple Open Med School

Temple University’s medical school already has ties with West Penn Allegheny Health system and those ties will be growing with opening of a four-year medical school on the north shore starting in August of 2013.

The “Temple University School of Medicine at West Penn Allegheny Health System” will be a regional campus of the Philadelphia based school. The plan is to accept 30 students in the first year with a goal of growing to 50 students a year in the future.

“Schools in our commonwealth, and this region in particular, are not educating and returning enough physicians to care for future generations,” said West Penn President Christopher Olivia. Olivia said more than half of the doctors in the state are older than 50-years of age and only 8% are under the age of 35.

According to Olivia Temple University Medical School has a history of accepting students from Pennsylvania and keeping them in the state. He said the focus of the new school will be on Western Pennsylvania students, “If we can get our medical students, not from California, not from Oregon, but from Pennsylvania…. We will keep them here in the commonwealth.”

Temple Medical School takes on 180 students a year from its 8-10,000 applicants and nearly 1,000 of the applicants are from Western Pennsylvania said Olivia, “I assure you we will find 30 qualified western Pennsylvania students.” The new school already has tentative relationships with Duquesne University and Washington and Jefferson College to serve as a pipeline for students and Olivia plans to build similar relationships with other schools in the region.


West Penn has been struggling financially for years and has been talking about a partnership with the insurance company Highmark but Olivia said that will not have a negative impact on the school. According to Olivia the health system has been “meeting its numbers” this year. “I believe that what we are creating today will survive for generations to come.”

The new school will hold classes in Four Allegheny Center with plans to improve the pedestrian link between that building and Allegheny General Hospital. Olivia believes the addition of more students and teachers will bring more life to Allegheny Center’s other buildings and to the entire north side.

PHC4: Death Rates for Heart Surgery Down

In 1994 in-hospital mortality rates for coronary artery bypass surgery patients in Pennsylvania stood at 3.23%. That was the first year the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) began keeping statistics. Since then it has dropped to 1.54% according to the most recent data from the PHC4.

The numbers are based on nearly 31 thousand procedures in Pennsylvania’s 60 general acute care hospitals.

The numbers of readmissions is also falling. 12.8% of all patients who had a bypass in 2009 were readmitted due to complications within 30 days of being released. “Even with optimal care not all readmissions are preventable,” said PHC4 spokesperson Stephanie Suran, “Studies have found that some readmissions can be avoided with better planned and executed discharge processes, greater follow up and connecting discharged patients with doctors post-surgery.”

Infection continues to be a problem for heart patients. “We found that about 5% of cardiac surgery patients contracted a healthcare associated infection and these patients had higher mortality rates and more readmissions and longer hospital stays,” said Suran. Those infections nearly double the price of the hospital stay.

PHC4 breaks down the data for each of the 60 general acute care hospitals in the state and for most individual doctors. The full report can be found online.

Hospital Bottom Lines Rebound

Hospital finances in Pennsylvania fared better in 2010 than they have since 2008.

The latest report from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) finds total operating margins at hospitals statewide rebounded last year to 5.26% after falling to 2.03% in 2009. PHC-4 spokesperson Stephanie Suran says more of the increase can be traced to a stronger economy and a rebounding stock market than to more stable operations. “Most of the increase can be attributed to an $883 million increase in non-operating income,” says Suran. That was about three quarters of the total increase in income.

Non-operating income includes, among other things, charitable contributions and growth in endowment investments. Looking solely at operating income, margins moved from 3.53% in 2009 to 4.36% in 2010. Operating margins at southwestern Pennsylvania hospitals were slightly lower overall than the statewide numbers.

Suran says many hospitals work on such tight margins that the small increase on average was enough to push many hospitals into the black. “About one quarter of hospitals in Pennsylvania lost money in 2010, this is an improvement from the previous year when 45 percent of the state’s hospitals had negative bottom lines,” says Suran.

The cost of uncompensated care continued to pull down the margins. Pennsylvania hospitals lost $891 million dollars to uncompensated care last year. Suran says much of that can be traced to uninsured patients. Rates for uncompensated care were slightly lower in the counties surrounding Allegheny County than in the rest of the state.

PHC4 began tracking hospital data in 1996. Since then the trend has been for increased operating margins with dips from 1997 to 2001 and again from 2007 to 2010. Uncompensated care dipped through the first part of the 2000’s but has been steadily rising since it hit a trough in 2005.

The study also includes hospital stay data. Statewide inpatient days dropped from 9.39 last year to 9.14 in 2010. The statistic has been on a steady decline since 1996 when it stood at nearly 11 days. The same trend can be found when it comes to length of stay. The average hospital stay in Pennsylvania was 6.04 days in 1996 and has fallen to 5.22 in 2010.

The full report can be found here.

Study Finds Cause for Tinnitus

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have found tinnitus is caused by an under-inhibition of neural pathways. Tinnitus is a condition that leads patients to hear constant ringing, buzzing or other noises. There are currently 50 million people living with tinnitus; 16 million have severe enough symptoms to need medical attention, and 2 million who cannot carry out daily activities.
Tinnitus is gaining greater attention because it is the most common service-connected disability among veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars according to the American Tinnitus Association

Kenneth Nye of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, who has been living with the condition for 10 years, says that tinnitus has been a challenge. "I have buzzing, ringing, beeping, chirping, hissing, whistling sounds occurring in my ears; either alone or in some combination 24 hours a day. And there's no reason for those sounds to be there."

Nye says that once the noises began he became depressed, suffered panic attacks, found it hard to concentrate, and could not sleep. He says that what helped him was the UPMC Tinnitus Control Program. There they gave him with counseling and a treatment called Auditory Habituation, where a patient is given sound in a hearing aid sized device to compete with the tinnitus sound they are already hearing. After two years of treatment Nye says that he has learned to keep the tinnitus in check.

Dr. Thanos Tzounopoulos, assistant professor of otolaryngology and neurobiology at Pitt, led the study. He says that auditory circuits are more excitable in tinnitus sufferers but it has never been clear why until now, hence no common, effective treatment has been available to patients. "The main reason is that it's not very clear yet what is it that leads to this phantom sound, what is the cause. And, you know, when you do not know the cause it's kind of hard to design effective treatment."

To identify what goes wrong with the circuits researchers created tinnitus in mice by sedating them and then exposing one ear to 45 minutes of 116 decibel sound, approximately the amount in an ambulance siren. The team, weeks later, then confirmed the mice had tinnitus.

Dr. Tzounopoulos says that the mice that had tinnitus had decreased inhibition. He says that the brain emits excitable and inhabitable forces. Neurotransmitters excite while neurochemicals inhibit. The brain slices that were taken from the mice show that inhibition is very much reduced leading them to believe that a lack of inhibition causes tinnitus.

Tzounopoulos says that this opens the door to much more research towards treating the condition. He says that while it was debated among experts what causes tinnitus they can focus on where to go next.

Highmark: No Deal to Acquire West Penn Allegheny At This Time

Pittsburgh-based health insurer Highmark, Inc. is trying to clarify reports by some local media about an effort to acquire the West Penn Allegheny Health System which would put the company into even greater competition with UPMC as both an insurer and a care provider.
Highmark issued a statement saying it is always interested in having discussions with key stakeholder and "looking for ways to improve the efficiency and quality of the region’s health care system. While the West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS) is a vital element of the local health care system, Highmark does not have a deal to acquire WPAHS at this time."
The statement went on to say that for decades the company has encouraged competition among multiple health care delivery systems.
" Highmark has historically supported an inclusive hospital network that includes a broad mix of advanced care and community hospitals to meet the medical needs of its members."

Highmark's current contract with UPMC expires June 30, 2012.
" Contrary to some media reports, under the terms of the current agreement, Highmark members will continue to have access to UPMC hospital services through June 30, 2013. Highmark is continuing contract discussions with UPMC with the goal of finalizing an agreement, which will preserve provider choice and broad access to UPMC for Highmark members into the future."

Highmark has about 4.8 million insurance subscribers, three times that of UPMC.

Field Hearing on Healthcare Leans Right

A year after the federal health care overhaul was signed into law, the measure remains a partisan lighting rod. On the legislation’s one-year anniversary, Republican Congressman Joe Pitts held a Harrisburg field hearing on the measure’s impact. The press release announcing the event included phrases like “broken promises” and “Obamacare” and the first few questions of the event followed suit. An early question from Republican G.T. Thompson was directed at acting Pennsylvania Public Welfare Secretary Gary Alexander. “Mr. Secretary, the new law creates a trillion dollar entitlement program, expands Medicaid, imposes new taxes and regulatory burdens on American employers and workers. In your view, does the new law control and reduce the trend of increasing public health care expenditures in Pennsylvania?” Sec. Alexander’s response, “Absolutely not.”

On the other side of the spectrum was the Democratic group Organizing for America. The group is holding several events across Pennsylvania celebrating the law’s passage. Organizing for America argues the measure has already expanded coverage options by letting people stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26, and barring companies from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions. OFA’s PA Director, Elizabeth Lucas says, “It includes free preventative care, that can change things down the road for them significantly. It also lowers the cost of prescription drugs that they have to pay, the Medicare they can count on.”

In the meantime, Governor Corbett is asking President Obama to speed up legal challenges, so the Supreme Court can rule on the case. “Pennsylvania and all states need clarity. Our businesses, our health care providers and our citizens deserve quick action, and frankly, we need to know what our options and obligations will be.” says Corbett.

Anniversary For Health Care Law

It's been one year since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the health care overhaul legislation and supporters are touting its success.
Families USA, a national organization for health care consumers, has issued a study that examines the numbers of people: children, young adults, and seniors, plus small businesses that are eligible for benefits.
In the first year of the law, uninsured young adults were allowed to stay on their parents' health insurance plan until age 26. Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, says nationwide 3.4 million young adults are eligible including 89,100 in Pennsylvania...
"How many have done so, it's hard to say. The reason it's so important to let people know how many people might be eligible is that people might not be aware they are eligible. When they learn about it, they're more likely to talk to their parents to see if their parents are willing to put them back on."
The law also prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to children who have pre-existing conditions. That affects about 178,000 children in Pennsylvania.

According to Pollack, nearly 217,000 seniors in Pennsylvania, who fall into the so-called "doughnut hole," received a $250 prescription drug rebate check but this year, "these folks when they fall into this coverage gap will be eligible for 50% discounts in brand name drugs. So, I suspect there will be more people who benefit from this."

161,000 small businesses in Pennsylvania, 4 million nationwide, with fewer than 25 employees are eligible for a tax credit to help cover the cost of health insurance premiums for their workers. It's uncertain how many companies want to provide the coverage in order to get the tax credit.
Pollack says even though most of the big provisions of the legislation don't take effect for a couple of years, it's already providing help to children, young adults and seniors.

Hospital Germs Spike Health Care Costs

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council is releasing a report that looks at the rate of healthcare-associated infections and their great influence on healthcare costs and hospital readmission.

The study found that 29.8 percent of patients who acquired an HAI were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days while non-infected patients were only readmitted 6.2 percent of the time.

Stephanie Suran, spokesperson for PHC4, says this data shows their can be an improvement in Pennsylvania’s hospitals.

“These differences suggest that reducing these infections may present opportunities for improved patient care and restraining costs,” Suran says.

Another area the study focused on was Medicare costs to those patients 65 years or older who contracted an infection during their stay. For a Medicare patient with an HAI, healthcare costs skyrocketed from an average of $6,600 to $20,000. Also, 29.5 percent of those infected were readmitted while only 8.7 percent without an HAI were readmitted.

The data found that only 1.2 percent of patients hospitalized in 2009 contracted an HAI but Suran says the profound healthcare costs mean that quality care can still be improved.

“It’s important to point out from our data that we cannot tell with certainty how much of the initial infection contributes to their readmission,” Suran says. “But it does seem to present opportunities for quality improvement and it’s an area for hospitals to take a second look at.”

This was the first year the PHC4 studied HAI’s but Suran says the council will continue to look at this data and continuing trends in the future.

Valentine's Day Becomes National Organ Donor Day

The Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) hopes that this Valentine’s Day, people considering becoming an organ donor and giving a true gift of affection.

Misty Enos, Associate Director of Community Outreach for CORE says that the number of organ donations needed remains high, but the list of providers is still very low.

“Last year we transplanted a little bit over 27,000 organs but over 110,000 people are waiting,” Enos says. “So the demand is very high, the need is very high, but the list of people who are actually registered as donors or who say yes is actually pretty low.”

Enos encourages those considering becoming an organ donor to do the research and educate themselves about the reality of donation. She asks the people on the fence to imagine if the person in need of a donation was a close relative and what you would want others to do.

“For me I look at my son, my husband, my mother, my brothers and sisters, and I think to myself if there was ever a time where their lives depended on a lifesaving organ transplant, what decision would I want my family to make?” Enos says.

Only 44 percent of people choose to be organ donors in the state of Pennsylvania and Enos says that anyone interested in becoming an organ donor should visit www.donatelife-pa.org and register using the PA State Donor Registry run through the DMV. Another method would be including your decision to be an organ donor in a living will.

Legislative Surplus Could Fund adultBasic

Governor Tom Corbett says Pennsylvania's dire finances mean that his administration can't extend a low-cost health insurance plan for 42,000 working adults when the program
runs out of money in less than three weeks. Corbett is blaming his predecessor Ed Rendell for adding people to the rolls of adultBasic but not ensuring there was enough money in place.

However, some state lawmakers want to use the General Assembly's surplus to continue the health insurance program.
Senator Mike Stack, a democrat from Philadelphia, has introduced legislation that would sustain those who stand to lose health coverage at the end of the month when adultBasic expires. The program had been funded by contributions from the Blue Cross/Blue Shields across the state. Senate Bill 420 would allocate the General Assembly’s $188.5 million budget surplus to
fund operating expenses for adultBasic for another year.
Democratic State Senator John Yudichak of Luzerne County says there aren't many funding options..."There are few line items in the budget that have a surplus. Legislative leadership accounts have a surplus. I think this is an important step so that we can continue to provide services."

Stack, the bill's sponsor, says adultBasic must be more accountable....
"It's probably going to be necessary to change how frequently coverage is offered to people on the waiting list. We would also have to look at what's covered, how much is covered and also we may have to ask for folks to get involved with cost-sharing."

Assuming that adultBasic expenses remain at the current $14 million a month. The measure would give the state another year to determine how to help the program survive until federal health care coverage starts up in 2014.

Impact of Health Care Spending Caps

While Congress debates repealing the federal health care law or changing specific provisions such as mandatory health insurance and prohibiting denial of coverage for those with preexisting conditions, Families USA says one low-profile provision will protect Pennsylvania families from catastrophic medical expenses.
That provision puts a cap on out of pocket costs for insured people for co-payments, deductibles and treatments not covered. The spending caps take effect in 2014 like many other features of the health care law. Starting in 3 years, those caps will be $5,950 for an individual per year and
$11,900 for a family.
Ron Pollock, executive director of Families USA, says this year alone 452,000 Pennsylvanians will spend an estimated $655 million beyond the out-of-pocket caps.......

"This is going to provide a significant protection that does no exists and that will enable people to save money for other necessities."

Pollock says their study shows that nearly 40% of Pennsylvanians who will spend more than the caps are in families where the head of the household works for a small business...
"These caps will be of special value to small businesses and the employees of small businesses."
He says that's because rising health insurance costs have pressured small business owners into passing off the increases to workers through higher deductibles and co-payments.

Pollock says their study shows that there is still a great deal of confusion about the federal health care legislation because "it's a big law with many features."

He says they are not releasing this study as a preemptive strategy to head off a possible elimination of the 2014 caps...."I don't thing that this provision is under attack. I have not heard yet that anyone is really interested in eliminating, or reducing, or changing the caps."

He says there are features of the law that have engendered more controversy. He adds there are many provisions that are not controversial and therefore have not gotten much attention, and that's the purpose of this report on the out-of-pocket caps.

Family Hospice Launches ‘Transitions’

Three organizations on the north side of Pittsburgh are joining forces in an effort to bring more hospice and palliative care to the African American community. Family Hospice & Palliative Care CEO Rafael Sciullo says a few years ago it became clear that there was a disparity in access to hospice and palliative care. “We were finding, as has been the trend nationally, that access for African Americans to hospice and palliative care has been very limited and certainly not at the level it was for other populations,” says Sciullo.

The CEO says he knew he had to do something. “We began to formulate, what were the obstacles creating that and then how could we overcome them with a program that responded positively to support, responded to education, to outreach and to using the right language,” says Sciullo.

Family Hospice teamed up with the Northside Christian Health Center and the Bidwell United Presbyterian Church to form an initiative called “Transitions.” Sciullo says through focus groups, they learned that many African Americans felt hospice was only for rich white people and that they equated the word “hospice” with “the end.” He says the community did not want to see death as the end but rather as a transition to another life. Bidwell United Presbyterian Church Pastor De Niece Welch says many in the community did not even know what palliative care meant and others equated hospice with nursing homes, which she says carries a negative connotation in the community. She says she is often called to a member’s bedside as they near death and she sees pain and suffering that she knows is not necessary.

Welch says she tells those with life limiting illness, and their families, “You can live your best life until your transition from this life to the next.” But she says it is not enough to just talk about the benefits of hospice care. She says you need to be able to point to a provider who can help rather than forcing families to “call around looking for help.”

Welch says Transitions will allow African Americans on the north side to continue their tradition of caring for family members at home for as long as possible without having to put loved ones through undue pain and without having to make trips to the emergency room. She says people are dying in bright loud emergency rooms rather than at home with loved ones where they can be more comfortable. Most of Family Hospice’s clients stay in the homes. Last year Family Hospice cared for an average of 400 clients a day but have just 12 beds in its inpatient facility.

Sciullo says providing families with the needed training is a key part of the Transitions as well as recruiting volunteers from Manchester and other north side communities to help provide care and to spread the word.

Listen to an audio version of this story here.

PA House Committee Tries To Block Mandated Insurance

A state House panel has approved a bill blocking a key portion of the new federal health care law within Pennsylvania.

The health care legislation requires every American to purchase health insurance, or face penalties, beginning in 2014. The House Health Committee voted on straight party lines to void the mandate within Pennsylvania's borders.

Democrats on the panel argued the legislation is unconstitutional, since it would directly contradict federal law. Committee Chair and bill sponsor Matthew Baker countered that similar bills have been introduced in 42 states, and passed by six. "So it is the issue all across America right now: that this forced mandate is unconstitutional, and that states have the authority and the wherewithal under their constitutional construct to oppose a mandate that is unconstitutionally exacted upon them by Congress," he said.

Baker said President Obama and Congress were the ones who overstepped constitutional boundaries, by penalizing consumers who don't want to buy health insurance. "We need this bill in order to affirm and reassert our autonomy and freedoms. That what is not provided by federal law, the states have the ability to enact. And what this does is, it enacts an unconstitutional section of the federal health care bill called the mandate."

Democratic Committee Chair John Myers argued the 14-9 vote was a stunt. "What they're attempting to do today is to move forward their philosophical agenda, and not address the real issue. Because if they wanted to address the real issue we would be dealing with adultBasic today. And not dealing with this philosophical statement, anti-Barack Obama," he said. AdultBasic provides health insurance for more than 40-thousand low-income Pennsylvanians, but it's set to expire at the end of the month.

According to Baker, several constitutional elements are at play here. "The [Obama Administration] has to demonstrate that [the law] is derived from Congressional authority to regulate interstate commerce," he said, arguing regulation of "inactivity is an over-reach." (That's what a Florida federal judge recently found, in a lawsuit joined by then-Attorney General Tom Corbett.) Baker said the Tenth Amendment is also relevant. The language reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, not prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Whether or not Americans purchase health insurance, said Baker, is not Congress' responsibility.

So why not just let the federal courts decide the law's constitutionality, instead of pass a law that may violate another portion of the document, which reads, "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States...shall be the supreme law of the Land; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding"? "This is an added hedge of protection against federal overreach," said Baker.

So what's next? It's unclear when the full House would vote on the measure, though GOP leadership supports its intent. It's also unclear when or where the next federal court action will happen, though nearly every political and legal observer in the country agrees the health care law will ultimately end up before the United States Supreme Court.

Allegheny General Hospital Embarks on Pharmaceutical-Company- Backed Study

Allegheny General Hospital will be taking part in an international study to determine whether the hormone progesterone may aid in the recovery following a severe head injury.

The study is being funded by pharmaceutical company BHR Pharma. About 100 medical centers around the world will take part in the study, scheduled to last three years.

Jack Wilberger, Chairman of The Department of Neurosurgery at Allegheny General Hospital will be a principal investigator on the study. He said the study came about because women appear to recover better from traumatic head injuries than men do even though they receive the same care.

The overall study will enroll 1,800 patients. Allegheny General Hospital sees about 75 people with severe head injuries a year. They estimate that about twenty percent of those will participate.

A severe head injury is classified as one that leaves someone in a coma. The most common cause of them are automobile accidents. Previous studies show that progesterone serves as a brain protector. It occurs in men and women but is best known as a female hormone that plays a role in maintaining pregnancies.

Casey: Health Care Repeal Doesn't Make Sense

A day after a Florida federal judge struck down the entire Affordable Care Act as "unconstitutional," the White House and Democratic lawmakers continue to warn about the negative impact of repealing the law.
U.S. District Judge C. Roger Vinson said through through the law, Congress exceeded its power to regulate interstate commerce. Vinson agreed with the plaintiffs that the law cannot force citizens to obtain health insurance or face a fine. He is the first judge to strike down the entire act while 2 other courts upheld the health care law. However, Vinson did not issue an injunction to prevent the law from proceeding pending appeal.
White House Deputy Senior Advisor Stephanie Cutter said the President has indicated that anything can be improved and he's willing to work to make the law better and care more affordable but not re-fight the battles of the last 2 years.
Pennsylvania's senior U.S. Bob Casey says he agrees with the President ...
"There are plenty of reasons to have discussions about changes we can make. But the idea of repeal and turning the clock back on families in Pennsylvania makes no sense, especially when we're trying to fully recover from a horrific recession."

Casey says repeal would mean insurance companies could again deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, and could deny or cap coverage unexpectedly.
Although the House voted to repeal the health care overhaul law, the Democrat-controlled Senate is highly unlikely to do so, and President Obama would veto it.
Casey says he's still reviewing the Florida judge's ruling....
"I just want to make sure that as we have a debate, it won't just be a debate that takes place in the courts with and among lawyers, that this is a debate across the country. I think it's important
that people understand the stakes."

Not Treating Some Breast Cancer May Be Okay

Researchers at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh are arguing that doctors may want to step away from testing and treating very small amounts of breast cancer. For decades, there has been a raging debate among oncologists as to what to do when a women who has had breast cancer treatments is found to have no cancer in her sentinel lymph nodes through normal testing but is found to have very small amounts of cancer known as micro metastases upon more intensive analysis. Sentinel nodes are normally the first lymph nodes to receive cancer cells from the breast tumor and can be removed with a surgical procedure. AGH Breast Care Center Associate Director Thomas Julian says their study found that women who had aggressive treatment for cancers under 2 millimeters have a survival rate after 5 years that is just 1.2 percent better than those who are not treated. “When you look at that one to one-and-a-half percent difference, it’s kind of hard to improve on that by giving more intense chemotherapy, so why go chasing for these teeny tiny amounts if you’re not going to treat the patient,” says Julian.

The study randomly assigned 5,611 breast cancer patients with clinically negative auxiliary lymph nodes to undergo either a sentinel node biopsy alone, or a sentinel node biopsy plus auxiliary dissection. Julian says studies done in the past used to argue for more treatment were riddled with poor testing procedures. They did a poor job of detecting the cancer in the first round of testing, says Julian. He says this shows the power of doing good, scientific based research.

While the debate may never be over, Julian says this study and another like it will swing the pendulum toward non-treatment. “For most [Doctors] it will give them satisfactory information so they can treat their patient adequately and not have to pursue things,” says Julian, “There will always be somebody who says, ‘you know, I’m really worried you have this teeny tiny little bit of cancer in there and
I think you should get more treatment.’” Julian says by not testing or treating, doctors will save women the negative side effects associated with such procedures. It could also save money. He says he expects the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network to issue new treatment guidelines in the coming years reflecting the new information.

Rep. Murphy Hopes to Hear Bipartisan Talk in Obama's Address

President Obama will address the nation tonight at 9:00 from the chamber of the House of Representatives. In his State of the Union Address, Obama will likely look back on his first two years in office, citing accomplishments and shortcomings, and look forward to the next two years of his term.

Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy hopes that the President will speak of moving more towards the center to cooperate with a congress that has become much more conservative following the mid-term elections in November. Murphy has been critical of the nation’s continued spending and the growing national deficit. He fears that the growing national deficit hurts our foreign negotiating powers.

“If we are going to be working for the good of our country, good of our jobs, we’ve got to be standing up for fair trade and be able to enforce that and not find ourselves in a situation where we have to turn back with our tail between our legs because another nation says you can’t enforce this because we have your money,” Murphy says.

He admits however, that the mission to reduce federal spending is not just on the President, but rather cooperation between all members of congress and the President.

“It’s up to congress to put forth a budget and work with the president on that, one that is going to not continue to increase spending,” Murphy says. “You know the President at one point said he wanted to reduce spending, in fact he campaigned saying he wanted to reduce spending, but it has increased drastically, by the trillions."

Murphy hopes the President speaks on allowing the private sector to create jobs, rather than government regulation, along with agreeing to a review of the health care bill that Murphy thinks was pushed through too quickly.

For NPR’s complete coverage of the State of the Union Address, tune into WDUQ tonight at 9:00.

Health Insurance for Low Income To End in 5 Weeks

Democratic leaders in the State Senate are trying to come up with a plan to prevent AdultBasic, a health insurance program for low income Pennsylvanians from running out.
AdultBasic is funded through tobacco settlement money, and contributions from Pennsylvania’s four Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance companies.
The Blues’ agreement with the state has expired and the state has failed to negotiate a renewal so the program is likely to stop at the end of February.
Governor Tom Corbett plans to offer AdultBasic enrollees a spot in the providers’ “Special Care” program, but health care advocates say that program is more expensive and allows just 4 doctor's visits a year.

AdultBasic was created in 2001 to provide health insurance for state residents ages 19 through 64 who meet income-eligibility requirements, with a monthly premium of $36 per person. Special Care’s rates start at 80.
Senate Democratic leader Jay Costa of Allegheny County says he' sent a letter to legislative leaders and the Corbett Administration asking for a meeting to discuss alternatives....
"We don't think we are out of policy options and we need more substantive discussion with legislators on both sides of the aisle, and in both chambers, to resolve the AdultBasic funding crisis. The impact of failing to look at all alternatives will be devastating to those families who rely on this insurance."

The AdultBasic program currently covers 41,953 state residents, and there is a waiting list of 478,735. That waiting list more than doubled between January 2009 and January 2010, creating an estimated three-year wait.

Legislative Investigations into Clinic

A grand jury report on the arrest of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell is prompting hearings and new bills in Harrisburg.
The report paints a picture of a dingy corner abortion clinic, filled with stray cats, dirty medical equipment and the remains of fetuses.
The Department of Health hadn’t inspected the site since 1993, and allegedly failed to act on complaints about the clinic.
In a response to what the grand jury calls a “total abdication” of the department’s responsibilities, Republican State Senator Pat Vance, who chairs the Public Health and Welfare Committee, is drafting a new bill.

"It would just make it mandatory for the Department of Health to immediately respond to any complaints, in addition to doing much more timely inspections, and just closer closer watch on those."

Vance says she’s equally appalled by allegations the Department of State never acted on complaints about Gosnell filed by other Philadelphia doctors.
Her committee will hold hearings on the matter this year.
Vance’s House Counterpart, Republican Health Committee Chair Matthew Baker, says he’d support her measure.

"It’s really not about the issue of the traditional debate about whether you support abortions or not. What this is about is public health safety for anyone going into such a clinic, and that public health safety protocols be adhered to."

Baker says he’ll draft additional bills of his own.

UPMC Hopes for a Vaccine Factory

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hopes to put a vaccine factory that is partially federally funded in a 30 acre brownfield site in Hazelwood.

First, they would have to go through a selective process through the Department of Health and Human Services. If the facility were to be built in Pittsburgh, it would cost about $600 to $800 million dollars, with about half of that cost coming from UPMC and the other half coming from the government.

Last year the Department of Health and Human Services, which has set aside more than $12 billion to improve vaccine production asked for comments prior to requesting the Request for Proposal. UPMC submitted as did other institutions.

UPMC has established a non-profit arm to prepare for the facility called 21CB. It has partnerships with IBM, Merck and Co. and GE Healthcare.

If selected, Robert Cindrich, Special Advisor to UPMC's President Jeffrey Romoff, said it would be several years before the facility would be up and running. It would focus on flu vaccines and medical countermeasures for bio-terrorism. It's estimated the facility would employ thousands.

There are no other vaccine factories in Pittsburgh.

"That's one of the reasons why we're so interested in this. This is a new industry for Pittsburgh, it fits our high tech and health care face that we're putting on the region and we have the talent for it and this would be, we hope, the precursor for other businesses in the vaccine field," said Cindrich.