Mayo Clinic recruits patients in Texas; Ga. hospitals' building boom

In state hospital news, Dallas Morning News reports on an advertising campaign by Minn.'s Mayo Clinic and two Georgia news organizations report on developments in the industry there.

The Dallas Morning News: Mayo Clinic Bids For Dallas Patients In New Ad Campaign
In a new marketing campaign, the world-famous Mayo Clinic is advertising for patients in Dallas, more than 900 miles from Mayo's home in Minnesota. The campaign, launched this summer, has caught the attention of North Texas health care providers, though publicly, they play down any competitive threat (Jacobson, 9/17).

Georgia Health News: Hospitals Invoke State Regs In Battle For Turf
Behind the regulatory battle between Northside Hospital and WellStar Health System that heated up this week lies a competition for affluent patients in Atlanta's northern suburbs. Those suburbs have attractive features for a large health system: plenty of people with good insurance, and projections of further population growth. ... And they're using Georgia's "certificate-of-need" process to wrestle over the turf (Miller, 9/16).

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Hospitals' Projects Boom
Hospitals across Georgia are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into new patient towers, major renovation projects and state-of-the-art technologies -; even as rising numbers of uninsured patients and falling reimbursements continue to pose financial pressures. … It's the biggest balancing act hospitals have -; dealing with current financial strains while positioning themselves for the future, said Kevin Bloye of the Georgia Hospital Association. Metro Atlanta is expected to add nearly 3 million new residents in the coming decades with the population hitting 8.3 million by 2040, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission (Williams, 9/18).

Meanwhile, in Illinois, a public hospital system is seeking more money -

Chicago Sun-Times: Cook County Health Systems Propose $937 Million Budget
The interim top boss at Cook County's perennially cash-strapped public health and hospital system introduced a $937.6 million preliminary spending plan for 2012 -; roughly $26 million more than this year's budget. The health system will ask County Board President Toni Preckwinkle along with the County Board for $327 million in taxpayer funds to help balance the budget. … The remaining $610 million will come from revenues -; including Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements -; generated by health services (Donovan, 9/16).