Rural CA hospital CEOs see 'collaboration' differently
Could the three hospitals in Plumas County consolidate? Not likely. Could the three hospitals in Plumas County collaborate? Yes, but it could take some time. "We've met for nine months and gummed this...
View ArticleCapital Health laying off 175 employees at NJ hospitals
Capital Health officials confirmed today that approximately 175 employees at its Trenton and Hopewell hospitals will be laid off. The workers, including those in finance, management and technical...
View ArticleSteward Health Care's power play
Chris Hopey, the president of Merrimack College, brought an intriguing proposal late last year to his board of trustees: Steward Health Care, the upstart, for-profit hospital chain that is challenging...
View ArticleHouse votes (again) to repeal healthcare overhaul
Waging old battles with new zeal, the House passed a bill on Wednesday to repeal President Obama's healthcare overhaul law less than two weeks after the Supreme Court upheld it as constitutional. The...
View ArticleWill Medicaid bring the uninsured out of the woodwork?
What really has many state leaders worried is something called the "woodwork effect." When big parts of the health law go into force in 2014, they worry it will bring out of the woodwork the millions...
View ArticleMedicaid patients turn to hospitals for emergencies, not routine care
Most people covered by Medicaid visit hospital emergency rooms for perceived emergencies, not for routine care, much like those with private insurance, according to a study released Wednesday....
View ArticleInsurers pay big markups as doctors dispense drugs
At a time of soaring healthcare bills, experts say that doctors, middlemen and drug distributors are adding hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the costs borne by taxpayers, insurance...
View ArticlePersonal Tech-Wielding Docs Challenge IT Leaders
Rogue physicians are being tempted by personal technology devices such as tablets and apps available outside traditional information technology departments, raising issues about how health data can be...
View ArticleAn Accountable Care Organization that's actually working
Harvard researchers have found something that looks a whole lot like their unicorn: An ACO that is up, running and looks to be delivering the exact results everyone has hoped for. Blue Cross Blue...
View ArticleChrist Hospital settles $1.8M whistleblower suit
Christ Hospital has paid nearly $1.8 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that a doctor was signing off on vascular tests, and charging Medicare, without reading the tests. It's the...
View ArticleAll MA maternity hospitals now ban infant formula gift bags
All 49 birth facilities in the state have voluntarily eliminated the formula giveaways as of the beginning of July, making Massachusetts the second state to do so. Rhode Island hospitals ended the...
View ArticleLow reimbursement rates could hinder Medi-Cal expansion
Many doctors now refuse to accept Medi-Cal patients or sharply limit the number they see because of what they describe as extremely low reimbursement rates. As California gears up for a major...
View ArticleIn FL, lines are drawn over opting out of Medicaid plan
A battle is brewing here in Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott took to national television soon after the ruling to announce that he would reject the expansion. Mr. Scott describes Medicaid as a...
View ArticleDespite Gov., TX agencies expected to work with feds in health exchanges
Gov. Rick Perry might have rejected the opportunity to run a state health insurance exchange outlined in the federal healthcare law, but that doesn't mean state agencies won't work closely with...
View ArticleHow a model state is implementing health reform
Consider Maryland—a state that has been moving aggressively to implement the ACA since President Obama signed it in 2010. The state expects to hit all the federal deadlines to be ready to go in...
View ArticleFeds probe Vanderbilt's Medicare billing practices
The U.S. Department of Justice and the inspector general in the Department of Health and Human Services are investigating Medicare billing practices at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The probe,...
View ArticleGlobal physician payments show promise as consumers wait for savings
One in five patients in Massachusetts is now under some kind of global payment. Blue Cross Blue Shield launched this experiment in Massachusetts in 2009. Michael Chernew, and a team of researchers at...
View ArticleNearly All Nursing Homes Fail Federal Rules on Anti-Psychotics
The improper use of anti-psychotic drugs in nursing homes is much worse than previously reported, according to the Office of Inspector General, which says that 99.5% of sampled records fail to meet all...
View ArticlePhysicians Weigh In on SGR Debate
Five physician group representatives added their voices to the sustainable growth rate debate at a Congressional roundtable about Medicare payments. But they were unable to offer a fix by January 2013,...
View ArticleACOs' Real Test Will Come with Two-Sided Risk
The announcement this week of 89 Accountable Care Organizations is like a college acceptance letter: Great work so far, you got in, now the real work begins. The project's viability will be proved only...
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