Steward Health Care on Tuesday signaled its support for a blockbuster ballot question that would regulate and make more uniform the rates hospitals are paid for providing care. Kim Bassett, president of Steward's Norwood Hospital, submitted testimony to the Legislature's Health Care Finance Committee in which she said the ballot question may not be the ideal way to address the widening pricing disparities between community hospitals and Boston teaching hospitals, but it represents a start. The testimony on behalf of Steward was an outlier in the hospital community, which closed ranks behind the Massachusetts Hospital Association in opposition to the ballot question. Steward, owned by the private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management, is not a member of the hospital association.
Victims of the largest hepatitis C outbreak in recent U.S. history dropped their claims against a ND nursing home on Tuesday, which joined them in suing a hospital that the victims and the nursing home believe is really at fault. The amended complaint filed in state district court alleges that the deaths of at least three people were tied to the outbreak. In court documents in a related federal lawsuit, Trinity Health has denied responsibility
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and four Democratic colleagues are pushing legislation that would help patients receive mental health care coverage. Warren said the bill introduced Monday would strengthen accountability for insurers by requiring them to disclose to federal regulators how they make coverage decisions and the rate of and reasons for denials of mental health claims.
After a tempestuous 14-year fight and a $5 billion lawsuit that got as far as the U.S. Supreme Court, a congressionally approved fix will gradually increase doctors pay in San Diego County and 14 other California counties that were inappropriately classified. Starting Jan. 1, the new rule, embedded in the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, will pay them higher rates, more like doctors practicing in Orange County and other higher cost urban areas of the state.
Administrators at Salt Lake City's veterans hospital believe a pharmacy supervisor bypassed security and created fictitious patients, some with famous names, as a way to hide the theft of more than 24,000 painkillers and 25 vials of testosterone. The breach may not have happened, according to Department of Veterans Affairs brass, if required software had been in place.
Vantage Health Plan executives saw an opportunity when they realized few of their female Medicare members were being screened for osteoporosis after they broke bones. The test to identify women at increased risk for fractures is one of 40 measures that Medicare applies to produce its 5-star ratings comparing the private plans chosen by nearly a third of seniors over traditional coverage. More than $3 billion is in play for insurers. Health plans earning at least four stars qualify for federal bonus payments. Those that don't, lose out.