NEW MOM GLAD SHE CAN EXTEND HOSPITAL STAY.Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer Between visits and phone calls from excited well-wishers to her hospital room, new mother Kris Higgins can't keep the worries from crowding in. Is she feeding her new son, Randy, correctly? What can she do to soothe her crying child? ``I didn't know how to feed him, he started hiccuping when I tried - it really scared me,'' Higgins said. ``I was so glad that I could just push the call button and the nurse came in to help.'' Higgins delivered her baby by Caesarean section caesarean section: see cesarean section. at Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield. Medical Center in Panorama City, affording her a 48-hour hospital stay. If she had delivered vaginally with no complications, Higgins said, she was told she would be allowed to stay 18 to 24 hours. But in a legislative agreement reached Thursday in Washington, insurance companies would be required to pay for any new mother to stay in the hospital for 48 hours. For C-sections, the stay could extend to 96 hours, said Scott Brenner, spokesman for the House Ways and Means WAYS AND MEANS. In legislative assemblies there is usually appointed a committee whose duties are to inquire into, and propose to the house, the ways and means to be adopted to raise funds for the use of the government. This body is called the committee of ways and means. Committee. President Clinton strongly supports the proposal. The change would take effect in January 1998. Ironically, the legislation that goes back to both houses of Congress for a vote next week would bring women with insurance up to the level of care currently afforded to women delivering babies under government-funded care at Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County hospitals. ``It's a well-kept secret - Medicare has been very generous - and we're grateful for that,'' said Lynn Kersey kersey coarse, narrow cloth used for leg bandages in horses. , director of Maternal Child Health Access, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit education and training agency. At the Women's and Children's Hospital A children's hospital is a hospital which offers its services exclusively to children. The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th century, as pediatric medical and surgical specialties separated from internal medicine and adult surgical specialties. at County/USC Medical Center, most women have stays of around 48 hours, said Maria Elena Sanchez, administrator. ``We don't send anyone home in eight or 12 hours like some other hospitals do,'' Sanchez said. Kersey said that extra time is needed for most women, and is crucial for the child as well. ``There are certain medical conditions or problems that don't show up in the first 24 hours,'' she said. ``The baby may be jaundiced jaun·diced adj. 1. Affected with jaundice. 2. Yellow or yellowish. 3. Affected by or exhibiting envy, prejudice, or hostility. jaundiced Adjective 1. or dehydrated de·hy·drate v. de·hy·drat·ed, de·hy·drat·ing, de·hy·drates v.tr. 1. To remove water from; make anhydrous. 2. To preserve by removing water from (vegetables, for example). . A woman's breast milk may not come in immediately, and they may stop breast feeding breast feeding Pediatrics The provision of a neonate and infant with liquified lacteal products 'on tap'; lactation and BF–≥ 6 months before age 20 is associated with a relative risk of 0. .'' Many hospital officials say the decision on when to discharge mother and child is not financially driven. Rather, they maintain it is a medical decision made between physician and patient. For that reason, the legislation won't affect patient care at Kaiser, said Faustina Navarez, chief of service of obstetrics and gynecology obstetrics and gynecology Medical and surgical specialty concerned with the management of pregnancy and childbirth and with the health of the female reproductive system. at the hospital's Los Angeles location. ``The woman is covered for as long as appropriate,'' she said. Navarez said women who deliver in a normal, vaginal birth stay on average 26 hours. Last year, the giant health maintenance organization came under fire for sending home new mothers and their babies as early as eight hours after delivery. Navarez said that not every woman needs to stay in the hospital for 48 hours, but agreed that mothers need a choice. Women at Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank stay on average between 1.5 and 3.8 days for normal births, said spokeswoman Sue Wyninegar. ``There are some insurance companies that do try to encourage patients to leave within 24 hours,'' Wyninegar said. ``But we don't feel the patients should leave before they need to. If a woman needs to stay, she stays.'' Many hospitals also offer options in lieu of longer stays, including home health care visits. And, women and infants usually are encouraged to return to the hospital soon after delivery for check-ups. There, they can get additional help in breast-feeding breast-feeding /breast-feed·ing/ (brest´fed?ing) nursing; the feeding of an infant at the mother's breast. or other concerns. Officials at Woodland Hills-based insurance company Health Net said they weren't pleased by the proposed changes. ``It sets an unfortunate precedent to be legislating medical practice that should be up to physicians and patients,'' said David Olson, vice president of investor and public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most . Olson said he believed that it was a ``consensus of the medical community'' that sending women home early, barring complications, was good medicine. ``The earlier a mother and child go home, the better for everybody,'' Olson said. And, he warned that if the new legislation increases costs, ``premiums will go up.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Kris Higgins holds her new son, Randy, whom she deliv ered by Caesarean section at Kaiser Permanante. Terri Thuente/Daily News |
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