Thousands of Ohioans could lost their homes and possibly even their health and lives right now, not because of the loss of jobs but rather state budget cuts to mental health services, according to WKSU News.

Home health care equipment maker Invacare Corp. could send jobs abroad if a new tax on medical device manufacturers in the U.S. Senate’s health insurance reform bill is implemented.

The dollar figure represents charity care, research, community outreach, donations to community groups and education provided by Mount Carmel Health System, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, OhioHealth and The Ohio State University Medical Center.

MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland is one of 42 public hospitals selected to participate in the Patient Safety Initiative at America’s Public Hospitals program, which aims to improve patient safety and quality.

The University of Cincinnati Department of Psychiatry hopes to join a national network proposed by U.S. Senate legislation to improve research, diagnosis, treatment and care for those suffering from depressive disorders.

Nationwide wants Peter J. Houghton to aggressively expand its commercialization efforts out of the institute. The hospital is designing new cancer therapies and wants to expand its clinical trials program — a perennial challenge in oncology, which struggles to enroll both adults and children.

Ohio’s five-year plan to fight obesity would put locally made foods in vending machines, nearly quadruple the number of farmer’s markets that accept food stamps, expand breast-feeding friendly policies in the workplace, and increase medical research on obesity.

Ohio health-care systems spent more than $2 million last year lobbying the federal government – more than half of which was spent by Cleveland Clinic, according to documents filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act.