News

Construction Begins on Washington Project After Delays

3 mins

TACOMA, Wash. — Construction of a new $26 million health center — delayed for months — began in Tacoma, Wash. The 54,000-square-foot project, financed by tax credits, private donors, the state, the city of Tacoma and several non-profit corporations, replaces a small community health care clinic that has served the Hilltop and near-downtown-Tacoma areas for three decades.

The three-story brick facility will serve more than 17,000 patients annually and include medical and dental clinics, urgent care, radiology, pediatrics, internal medicine and obstetrics.

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Minnesota Hospital Plans Major Expansion

5 mins

MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — Mercy Hospital in Moose Lake, Minn., has been tapped to receive $38 million in loans from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development for a 116,400-square-foot facility.

With construction slated to begin next May or June, the major project is a big step for the locally operated facility that has a primary service area of approximately 13,000 people.

The original facility is more than 50 years old and has undergone numerous additions and renovations over the decades.

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Fee Cut for Maine Hospital Alarms Some

3 mins

NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine — A decision to lower application fees for a construction project by Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Norridgwock, Maine, has some concerned about legal challenges.

Code Enforcement Officer Frank Tracey recently told the media that the hospital board decided in October not to charge the hospital more than $12,000 in fees for the project in order to be more friendly to business.

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Popular or Not, Electronic Medical Records March Forward

10 mins

CHICAGO — The transition to electronic medical records (EMRs) has been less than seamless on a national level. Our last two presidents have been relatively unanimous in their support of the change. President George Bush signed an executive order in 2004, calling for all Americans to have their medical information stored electronically by 2014. President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act codified that goal into law. The medical community has been less united in embracing the change.

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DPR Attempts to Predict Future of Health Care

7 mins

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Between electronic medical records, green technology and increasing attention from Washington in terms of new laws and regulations, health care is becoming an ever-increasingly complicated industry. Ironically, the phrase “it’s not like this is brain surgery” does not seem to apply to the industry that actually conducts those procedures. The actual act of carrying out complicated operations is merely one facet of a very complex organism.

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