Missouri is suing the federal government to avoid having to recoup nearly $162 million in alleged Medicaid overpayments made to some hospitals across the state. The lawsuit, filed Aug. 17 in the District of Columbia, seeks an injunction to block the federal government from using a calculation that shows excess payments were made to cover hospital costs of poor patients. The dispute stems from an ongoing disagreement about Medicaid payments made to hospitals for what is called disproportionate share hospital, or DSH, funding. DSH funding is designed to help offset the cost for hospitals who treat a large number of Medicaid and uninsured patients.
On September 25, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule altering the regulatory regime governing the handling and disposal of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals generated at healthcare facilities and managed at pharmaceutical reverse distributors. The proposal is intended to simplify the regulatory burden of complying with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act's (RCRA) cradle-to-grave management of hazardous wastes at healthcare facilities by providing an industry-specific approach to hazardous waste regulations that takes into account the realities of waste management within the industry. Currently, facilities that generate, ship, store, or dispose of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals must comply with all of the requirement of RCRA Subtitle C.
Last week, the MacArthur Foundation announced its annual list of "geniuses." These are folks who have made significant contributions in the arts, sciences and humanities and are awarded a no-strings-attached grant of $625,000. This year's geniuses include an economist, a neuroscientist and a puppeteer. Two of the 2015 class of fellows have ties to our region — Ta-Nehisi Coates and Gary Cohen. Coates is a D.C.-based writer for The Atlantic, and a Baltimore native. Cohen is the founder of the Reston, Virginia-based nonprofit, Health Care Without Harm. It's a global organization dedicated improving environmental stewardship in the healthcare sector.
A Texas doctor is accused of repeatedly raping a patient while she was confined to a hospital bed. The alleged incidents happened two years ago. Prosecutors now say they have evidence linking the 43-year-old doctor to the attacks. The woman was a patient in a fifth floor room at Ben Taub Hospital where she was admitted for a medical procedure on the night of November 2nd. Investigators say the then 27 year old woman says she was sexually assaulted three times by the same man, now identified as Dr Shafeeq Sheikh.
The efforts to unionize more than 3,900 nurses at three Indiana University Health hospitals have stalled. The United Steelworkers union is working to earn support from nurses at IU Health's Methodist, University and Riley hospitals in Indianapolis, where there have been complaints of low staffing levels, low pay and troublesome attendance policies. But Maria Somma, organizing coordinator for the Pittsburgh-based Steelworkers union, which was invited to work on the unionizing effort about nine months ago, said that there's no estimated date for a vote.
As Baptist Health prepares to open an MD Anderson-branded cancer care center on its Jacksonville campus later this month, competing local provider St. Vincent's HealthCare has announced it will partner with Mayo Clinic to expand its cancer care services by the summer of 2016. Though the move could easily be seen as a direct response to the introduction of big name MD Anderson into the Northeast Florida market, Michael Schatzlein, the new CEO of St. Vincent's, said that wasn't the case. St. Vincent's and Mayo's combined cancer care services will be housed in a 11,500-square-foot medical suite on St. Vincent's Riverside campus, which is slated for completion by next summer.