Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / April 6, 2004, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
VOLUME 112, ISSUE 27 Probe jeopardizes hospital funds CHANGE IN PSYCHIATRIC UNIT SOUGHT BY FEDERAL CENTER BY EMILY STEEL ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR A state investigation of the psy chiatric unit of UNC Hospitals has spurred a federal investigation, at the same time prompting officials to implement changes last month to the policies dictating patient restraint procedures. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services notified officials Friday that UNC Hospitals could lose eligibility to receive reimbursements through “Good trade policies are necessary to keep jobs at home.... We ought to make sure the playingfields are level.” president george w. bush ■ *■■ \ t. x. __ i_. mMm&WrWBMm - < COURTESY OF THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER/JOHN SIMMONS President George W. Bush speaks at Central Piedmont Community College during one of his two appearances in Charlotte on Monday. BUSH DETAILS PLAN DURING TRIP TO N.C. BYCLEVE R. WOOTSON IR. STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR CHARLOTTE The nature of the U.S. economy is evolving, President Bush told a crowd of supporters Monday, and communi ty colleges should be at the forefront of that metamorphosis, helping workers attain new skills to get better jobs. Bush spoke to more than 400 people at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte and ushered in plans for retooling a key federal worker training program. He also spoke at a campaign fund-raiser at the city’s downtown convention center after announcing proposed changes to the Workforce Investment Act, which allocates money to America’s community colleges. The act gives state governments money to set up facilities at which people can learn about education and job opportunities. It also gives money to eligible people who want to expand their skills in a particular area via vocational training or additional education. But for all its good intentions, Bush said, the act has flaws that need to be fixed. “Last year, only about 206,000 workers attained job training through this program,” Bush said. “We’ve got to do a better job of training people with the money.... I believe we can double the number of workers” helped by the program. He said that his plan, which he intends to submit to Congress, would: ■ Give WLA money directly to state gov ernors and stop what Bush called microman agement by the federal government. “Let the (state) government distribute to programs and actually train people for jobs that exist,” Bush said. ■ Reduce overhead expenses. Bush said overhead expenses for the program are capped at 15 percent. The cap would remain INSIDE ALL THAT JAZZ Amateur and professional drag stars rock the Great Hall with sequins, spangles and stilettos PAGE 3 Serving the students and the University community since 1893 ®lje Satin ®ar MM the Medicare and Medicaid pro grams if changes are not imple mented by April 21. UNC Hospitals now receives $275 million through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Investigations of the psychiatric unit and all four units of UNC Hospitals conducted by the CMS soon will take place to determine the hospital’s eligibility to receive Medicare and Medicaid payments. A routine inspection by the N.C. Division of Facility Services from the same, but the President said he would reduce what he deemed frivolous costs. “We want the money going to people,” Bush said. “By making sure the cap is enforced, we will save an added S3OO million, which means an added 100,000 workers get trained.” ■ Require clear results. “There are now 17 goals” of the program, Bush quipped. “If you’ve got 17 goals, there really are no goals.” ■ Provide federal job training money directly to community colleges. Bush said he wants to add an additional $250 million to community colleges to help form partnerships between businesses and the colleges to make sure they train workers for jobs that are in high demand in their area. The president said he hopes the changes will lead to 100,000 extra jobs. These changes were but a few that he said were necessary in his 50-minute speech. His job, he said, is to continue pulling the economy out of a recession in the coming months. After a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, corpo rate scandals that rocked consumer confi dence and a march to war, Bush said, the economy was badly in need of resuscitation. He said he hoped that making some pivotal changes to “make America a good place for business” would complete the turnaround jumpstarted by tax cuts in previous years. One of the most important goals of his administration is to get foreign markets to open their borders to U.S. business, Bush said. “Good trade policies are necessary to keep jobs at home. We’re good at growing things. We’re good at building things.... We ought to make sure the playing fields are level.” Although he said he fully understood “that SEE BUSH, PAGE 10 www.dailytafheel.com March 23 to 26 prompted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to take action. The inspection found that dur ing five of the 2,000 admissions to the psychiatric ward, UNC Hospital police officers used hand cuffs to restrain violent patients. While the patients did not suffer any injuries, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said, the practice was not in com pliance with patient restraint pro cedures. “All these regulations are subject to some interpretation, and honest people may interpret them differ ently,” said Dr. Michael Hill, direc tor of inpatient psychiatry services N.C. visit has mixed meanings BY CHRIS COLETTA ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR President Bush’s visit to Charlotte on Monday might have been the last major fund-raiser on his campaign schedule, but the commander in chief isn’t likely to pay close attention to North Carolina between now and November’s elections. Still, Bush isn’t apt to neglect the Tar Heel state entirely, as members of his Republican Party face close races for national office and the GOP looks to solidify a base of donors. “The state’s importance goes like this: It remains part of the Republican base in a presidential election,” said Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC’s Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life. “And second, as evidenced by Bush’s pres ence in the state (Monday), it’s a big enough state and an affluent enough state that he can raise some money in it.” Republicans have dominated presidential elections in North Carolina for the last half century. In 2000, Bush won 56 percent of the state’s vote to defeat Democratic candidate A1 Gore, who garnered 43 percent. In addition, numerous polls, including those conducted by The (Raleigh) News & SEE CAROLINAS, PAGE 10 at UNC Hospitals. “It is important to realize that what they were con cerned about are rare instances. They are pretty uncommon.” Soon after the investigation, hospital officials implemented a number of changes to patient restraint policies. “We corrected all of those defi ciencies completely at the time that (investigators) left,” Hill said. The hospital has used alterna tive methods since March 25 to restrain patients who pose a threat to public safety. “It is a special way of helping people deal with situations, includ ing talking and helping them move to a different location,” Hill said. SPORTS CLOSE COMBAT Men's lacrosse games teem with suspense, charging Saturday's narrow loss to Johns Hopkins PAGE 7 “It is important to realize that what they were concerned about are rare instances.” michael hill, UNC INPATIENT PSYCHIATRY DIRECTOR “There are a whole host of tech niques to help them feel safe and feel better.” Employees who work in the psy chiatric unit also are required to complete annual de-escalation training through the Crisis Prevention Institute. All police officers now have completed their de-escalation training and are required to renew their training each year. Tepper finishes eventful term Observers tout effectiveness as leader BY CLAIRE DORRIER STAFF WRITER UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees Chairman Richard “Stick” Williams recollects the first time he met Student Body President Matt Tepper at a UNC BOT meeting. Tepper began explaining his platform to the trustees, and one of his main items was installing a bike pump on campus. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh no, what are we getting ourselves into?’” Williams recalled. One year later, Williams assessed Tepper as a very effective student member of the BOT. “He studied the agenda and the issues,” Williams said. “He pulled together representatives in the administration and crafted propos als or responses to issues. He always came in with alternatives, instead of just voting ‘no’ to everything.” Today, Tepper hands over his position to Matt Calabria. Observers say he leaves with many accomplishments and few failures. As soon as Tepper was elected, he hit the ground running with Outgoing Student Body President MattTepper packs up his office in the Student Union on Monday before his final day in the position UNC recruit faces probation, service Curry pleads guilty to 6 drug counts FROM WIRE REPORTS BURLINGTON - North Carolina recruit JamesOn Curry pleaded guilty Monday to drug charges and was sentenced to three years’ probation. Curry, the leading scorer in state high school basketball history, pleaded guilty to six counts: two each of possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, two each of the sale of marijuana and two each of delivering marijuana, in Alamance County court. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation, 200 hours of com munity service and various fines. Curry was kicked off the Eastern Alamance team shortly after his arrest in February. He was one of 49 students arrested that month WEATHER TODAY Sunny, H 65, L 43 WEDNESDAY Mostly sunny, H 75, L 52 THURSDAY Showers, H 70, L 44 TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2004 New hospital policies also require a formal physician’s order to restrain violent patients. “We are striving to make 100 percent of patients happy, so any suggestions they make we are always going to make change,” Hill said. “I am sure we will move for ward in a positive direction.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu. aspirations of accomplishing all of the items, both big and small, on his extensive platform. “I wanted to complete every thing we promised the student body,” he said. “We talked about the platform from day one.” Tepper’s ability to craft alterna tive proposals and to respond to sudden issues was most evident in his battle against tuition increases. “We tried to reach out and find creative ways to address the prob lems,” he said. Tepper encouraged students to voice their opinions to the BOT through e-mails and by coming to meetings. Derwin Dubose, co-pres identof(he Campus Y, sais Uepftgr calledstudent leaders to get their perspective on the tuition issue. Tepper co-chaired the tuition task force, which proposed a three year S9OO increase for all students. Tepper said that because tuition increases are inevitable with the changing economy, the best solu tion was to make them predictable. SEE TEPPER, PAGE 10 DTH/iUSTIN SMITH after a systemwide undercover drug investigation by the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office and the Alamance-Burlington School System. The operation was aimed at dealers and distributors, authorities said. Last summer, Curry committed to the University. UNC spokesman Steve Kirschner said the school would have no further comment until coach Roy Williams returns from the Final Four in San Antonio and speaks with Curry and his family. Kirschner also said that Department of Athletics policy stipulates that current athletes con victed of a felony become ineligible but that no policy is set in stone for prospective student-athletes. 0
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 6, 2004, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75