| Legislative
Bulletin |
August
31, 2001 |
 |
Health
Care News
 State’s
infant mortality rate lowest in history
North
Carolina's infant mortality rate in 2000 declined to 8.6
deaths per 1,000 live births, the lowest in state history,
Gov. Mike Easley announced Monday in releasing figures from
the State Center for Health Statistics. That’s a 5.5.
percent decrease from the 1999 rate of 9.9 deaths per 1,000
live births, he said. The governor also said the infant
mortality rate for minorities -- 14.4 deaths per 1,000 live
births -- was the second lowest in state history. Easley
warned that budget cuts could reverse the trend, referring to
a three percent budget cut recommended by GOP leaders that he
says could eliminate pregnancy-related care for 4,468 women
and remove support for 3,655 infants. Among the factors
contributing to the improvement in infant mortality were a 23
percent decline in deaths due to birth defects, and an 18
percent decline in sudden infant death syndrome
Groups
compete to offer MRI in Western N.C., Triad regions
Five
applicants have filed competing applications with the
Certificate of Need Section of the N.C. Division of Facility
Services to acquire magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners
in Western North Carolina. The 2001 State Medical Facilities
Plan states that a need exists for just three additional MRI
scanners in the five-county area that includes Buncombe,
Yancey, Mitchell, Madison and McDowell counties. A public
hearing for these projects will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday,
Sept. 13, in Lord Auditorium at Pack Memorial Library, 67
Haywood St., Asheville. The proposals are by Asheville Open
MRI, Park Ridge Hospital, Asheville MRI, McDowell MRI , and
Asheville MRI Partnership.
Five health care providers in the Triad area have filed
competing applications with the Certificate of Need Section to
buy MRI scanners. A public hearing for these projects will be
held at 10 a.m. on Sept. 12 in the Guilford County
Agricultural Center Auditorium, 3309 Burlington Road,
Greensboro. The 2001 State Medical Facilities Plan states
there is a need for one additional MRI scanner in the region
which includes Guilford, Rockingham, Randolph and Davidson
counties. The five applicants are Thomasville Medical Center,
Alliance Imaging, LexPoint (lessee) and Lexington Memorial
Hospital (lessor), Triad Imaging, and Moses Cone Health
System.
Meanwhile, Gaston Memorial Hospital has asked the state for
permission to acquire a heart-lung machine to expand the
open-heart surgery program at Gaston Memorial Hospital that is
operated through a collaborative program with Carolina's
Medical Center. A public hearing for this project will be held
at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 13, in the Gaston County Public
Library conference room at 1555 E. Garrison Blvd. in Gastonia.
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