ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300057
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Health Notes
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
Last year, more and more insurance companies began refusing to pay for stays of longer than 24 hours after delivery of a baby, giving rise to the label of "drive-through deliveries." Several states passed bills to stop the practice, and Virginia is considering doing the same.
No woman will be forced to leave a hospital earlier than 48 hours after a normal vaginal birth if House Bill No. 87 makes its way through the current General Assembly in Richmond.
Roanoke Del. Chip Woodrum promised in last fall's campaign that he would propose the legislation, and he did.
HB No. 87 also requires that if the birth is complicated and requires a Caesarean (surgical) delivery, then the allowable stay should be at least 96 hours.
Woodrum's bill would allow the minimum requirements to be shortened with the mother's written consent and if other conditions, such as stability of the woman and baby and follow-up visits, are met.
Sixteen of Woodrum's colleagues are patrons on his bill.
In another health issue, 16 delegates and three senators have penned House Joint Resolution No. 47 calling for the continuation of a joint subcommittee established last year to study women's access to obstetrical and gynecological services.
The study was prompted by concerns that some managed-care programs that require a primary care physician might block women from ready access to their ob-gyn doctors. The resolution asks that the subcommittee findings and recommendations be given to the governor and the 1997 session of the legislature.
Biological clock
On Friday , Gene Block, director of the National Science Foundation Center for Biological Timing, will be at the Roanoke Valley Graduate Center in downtown Roanoke at noon to explain what in our body actually constitutes a biological clock.
He also will talk about the problems that occur with the disruption of our internal circadian rhythm (about 24 hours) by things like shift work, travel and sleep disorders. Block is vice provost for research at the University of Virginia.
His appearance is part of a brown-bag series that has no admission charge. Just take your lunch and listen; soft drinks are usually supplied. To reserve a seat, call 857-7900.
Patient `dumping'
Everyone has heard a story about, or seen a television show on, patient "dumping." That's when one hospital recognizes that an emergency patient doesn't have insurance or money to pay the bill and ships the poor, suffering soul to some other hospital.
Maybe it has never happened in Southwest Virginia, but now it never should occur anywhere. Changes approved last fall to the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act strengthen the rules. Among the changes are requirements that hospitals report what they suspect are inappropriate transfers and that they keep a log of whether each individual who comes to the emergency department seeking assistance was transferred, admitted and treated, or stabilized and transferred or discharged.
The original act requires hospitals to screen patients to determine whether the person has a medical emergency and to provide the necessary treatment to stabilize the patient's emergency condition.
Unstabilized patients who are transferred have to be accompanied by a physician's written certification that the benefits of the transfer outweigh the risks.
The Health Care Financing Administration asks that consumers who think they or a family member have been "dumped" should report it by calling (215) 596-0623.
Physicians and hospitals can use the same number to report suspected violations.
You can reach staff writer Sandra Kelly by calling 981-3393.
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