Florida's medical command centers

| 12/31/2019

Florida Trend Exclusive
Florida's medical command centers

Hospitals around the state are building high-tech nerve centers to maximize bed capacity, predict staff shortages, catch deadly conditions such as sepsis and tackle other problems. Here’s a look at a few.

Florida’s youngest children are losing out on health insurance coverage

More than half of uninsured children live in just seven states. After Texas, Florida is home to the greatest number of them with 76,000 uninsured. For the first time since the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014, the number of uninsured young children is back above 1 million nationwide. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

Flu strain’s early emergence, dominance is somewhat unexpected, experts say

Seasonal flu activity has been elevated across the nation for the past six weeks and continues to increase amid an early outbreak of the influenza B strain of the virus, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Influenza B tends to be more common near the end of a flu season, CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said. While both humans and animals can contract influenza A, influenza B is almost always passed from human to human. [Source: Palm Beach Post ]

Opinion: Florida needs to embrace modern physical therapy techniques

Sweeping legislation restricting opioid prescribing is in effect across the country. Bad actors in the pharmaceutical industry are facing a reckoning in the courts. But what is to become of people who still need treatment for chronic pain? Echoing sentiments from the Centers for Disease Control and the White House, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Powell recently declared that “physical therapists are key to overcoming not only the opioid epidemic but in creating healthier societies.” [Source: Tallahassee Democrat ]

Health matters: Screening for anxiety and depression

Unlike your weight, cholesterol, or blood pressure, there’s no simple test to tell how you feel. Doctors are using a screening process called PHQ-2 to determine if patients are struggling with anxiety or depression. “It helps us to target who either has issues with depression or who has issues with anxiety, and then we can kind of go a little bit deeper with our interview process,” explained Dr. Juliana Odetunde, a family medicine physician with Lee Health. [Source: NBC-2]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› New JU curriculum to help health care professionals tackle deadly medical errors [Florida Times-Union]
In January, Jacksonville University will launch two new online degree programs to help decrease medical errors. The Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety and Post-Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Quality and Safety — the first of their kind in the state — are designed for working professionals already in the health-care field.

› UF Health acquisition of Central Florida Health hospitals could lead to growth [Biz Journals]
An acquisition of two area hospitals could help foster additional growth in Central Florida for University of Florida Health. UF Health will acquire two Central Florida Health hospitals, Leesburg Regional Medical Center and The Villages Regional Hospital, on Jan.y 1, 2020.

› 2 more dengue cases in Miami-Dade; total for year is 14 [WPLG]
Two more cases of dengue fever have been discovered in Miami-Dade County, bringing the total for the year to 14. That represents an uptick in reported cases of the mosquito-borne tropical disease. It continues to spread rapidly through Latin America, raising concerns that the number of cases in Miami will continue to rise.

› UNF medical nexus funding faces budgetary hurdles [Daytona Beach News Journal]
After getting approval from the Board of Governors of the State University System earlier this year, a University of North Florida plan to build a “medical nexus” in Palm Coast faces its biggest hurdle when the legislative session begins in Tallahassee Jan. 14.

Tags: Health Care eNews

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