Medical Journal Houston Vol. 11, Issue 11, February 2015
Legal Affairs: Court dismisses doctor’s ADA claims against hospital system, see page 3
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The Leading Source for Healthcare Business News
February 2015 • Volume 11, Issue 11 • $3.50
Texas Children’s Hospital to build new pediatric
tower in the Texas Medical Center
INSIDE
▼
The evidence for coverage
expansion
see page 8
INDEX
▼
Legal Affairs......................3
Financial Perspectives.......4
Physicians’ Forum.............5
THA................................8
Texas Children’s Board of Trustees has
enthusiastically approved expansion and
renovation plans for the hospital’s main
campus in the Texas Medical Center.
The expansion includes reinvesting in the
programs needed by the most critically ill
patients, primarily in the critical care units,
operating rooms, Heart Center, Emergency
Center, and many of the diagnostic and
therapeutic services offered by the hospital.
Texas Children’s will build 19 floors on top
of the existing building base next to Texas
Children’s Pavilion for Women, adding
640,000 square feet, resulting in a 25-floor
tower. Slated to be completed in 2018, the
new tower will house 130 beds for pediatric
and cardiovascular intensive care, new
operating rooms with the latest technology,
and will be the new home to Texas
Children’s Heart Center, including the
outpatient clinic, cardiovascular operating
rooms, and catheterization labs. The total
project budget for the vertical expansion is
$506 million.
Following the addition of the new tower, the
hospital plans to renovate the Emergency
Center, as well as other areas in the hospital’s
West Tower. Diagnostic and therapeutic
services will be expanded throughout the
main campus so care can be delivered close
to the patients.
Texas Children’s the best possible place to
give and receive care.”
“These programs are at the core of our
mission to create a healthier future for
children throughout our broad community
and will ensure the best possible outcomes
for some of the nation’s sickest children,”
said Mark A. Wallace, president and CEO of
Texas Children’s Hospital. “The expansion
will help us deliver on our promise to make
The hospital has contracted with a number
of design and construction professionals
to see this project through to fruition
including FKP Architects, Walter P. Moore,
Smith Seckman Reid, Inc., and WS Bellows
Construction Corporation, among others.
t
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Integrative medicine: the evolving story of the human
microbiome
The buzz of IASTM
see page 5
. . . . . . . . . . . .
BY Victor S. Sierpina,
MD, ABFM, ABIHM,
Director, Medical
Student Education
Program, WD and Laura
Nell Nicholson Family
Professor of Integrative Medicine,
Professor, Family Medicine
University of Texas Distinguished
Teaching Professor
A few weeks ago, I served as a panelist and
speaker on a pre-conference workshop on
Probiotics at the annual Scripps Natural
Supplements Conference in San Diego.
This is the premier conference held each
January that covers emerging clinical,
research, and regulatory issues related to
herbs and natural supplements. Put it on
your CME calendar for next year.
During our panel presentations, a number
of themes and issues emerged which I will
touch on briefly. Some key items were:
the effect of diet on our microbiome: how
alterations in gut bacteria can produce
endotoxemia, inflammation, and glucose
intolerance; alterations in gut bacteria
contribute to obesity; fecal transplants
are good for resistant Clostridium dificile
and even ulcerative colitis; antibiotics
significantly deplete the microbiome species
variation and this dysbiosis can have longterm health consequences well beyond
simple antibiotic-induced diarrhea; nocalorie soft drinks alter gut biota which
might account for why weight loss is not
robust and diabetes risk are not lowered by
these beverages.
Much research on the microbiome is
emerging and like studies into the human
genome, is revealing not only what we have
newly discovered, but also the large gaps in
what we don’t know in this area.
Please see MICROBIOME page 11
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
HOUSTON TX
PERMIT NO 13187