HealthLeadersMedia.com - Community Hospitals News

Troubled West Penn Allegheny shows $34M loss in latest period

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:05:00 GMT

Losses continue at West Penn Allegheny Health System, which said Thursday it lost $34.1 million in the last three months of 2011, according to its most recent financial statement. That compared to a net loss of $1.4 million in the same quarter the year before. The troubled five-hospital health system's loss was driven by a 7.3 percent drop in revenue, to $387.3 million for the October-December quarter, compared to $417.8 million in the same quarter the year before.

For-profit cancer center to make its case to NH lawmakers

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:01:00 GMT

Cancer Treatment Centers of America is eyeing a spot in New Hampshire. The for profit chain wants to build a hospital in the Northeast. CTCA successfully lobbied Georgia to change its regulations so a specialty hospital could be built in that state. The company is hoping lawmakers in New Hampshire will make similar changes.

Union launches effort to cap pay of hospital executives

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:59:00 GMT

The union that represents 1,200 El Camino Hospital workers formally kicked off an effort Wednesday to qualify a measure for the November ballot that would slash the pay of the health care provider's top brass. The proposed measure stands to affect as many as nine executives who each make more than $200,000 a year, not counting bonuses. One of the top earners is recently appointed CEO Tomi Ryba, who is to be paid at least $695,000.

Opinion: End may be near for hands-off regulation of healthcare insurance in TX

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:57:00 GMT

Like it or not, healthcare reform is coming to Texas, and it's dragging health insurance into the modern age. In this state, lawmakers and businesses embrace the mantra of free markets and low regulation. Regulators don't have the authority to reject increases in health insurance premiums. They didn't even bother with a rate review unless an increase topped 50 percent a year—a threshold that speaks volumes about the role of limited government here.

Hospital exec charged in $116M Medicare scam

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:55:00 GMT

An executive of Riverside General Hospital was arrested and charged Wednesday in a $116 million Medicare scheme involving kickbacks to patient recruiters and the owners of homes for the elderly and disabled in exchange for steering residents to Riverside's mental health clinics.

Wheaton sells stake in Fox Valley health system

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:51:00 GMT

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare has sold its stake in Affinity Health System to Ministry Health Care. Affinity operates hospitals in Appleton, Oshkosh and Chilton, and the deal creates a health system with more than $2 billion in revenue, and more than 12,000 employees.

NH hospital officials blast for-profit cancer center bill

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:54:00 GMT

Representatives of New Hampshire's major hospitals fought a proposal that could pave the way for a for-profit cancer facility to come to the state at a hearing Tuesday that was notable for the absence of the company that was the impetus for the legislation: Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). The bill would create a special "destination cancer hospital" classification, which would be exempt from the state's Certification of Need review process for new hospitals, as well as the Medicaid Enhancement Tax on the grounds that it wouldn't accept Medicaid patients.

LSU criticized for hospital cuts

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:50:00 GMT

Louisiana's health chief Bruce Greenstein on Tuesday blasted LSU for "irresponsible" cuts to its hospital operations and lack of planning to offset their impact. Greenstein also said LSU overspending—not Gov. Bobby Jindal's midyear budget cuts—is responsible for the reductions. "They got their budget and a whole lot more money," Greenstein said. "They were spending at a rate that would have put them above it." LSU's top officials refused Tuesday to respond to Greenstein's accusations.

Payment Cuts to Critical Access Hospitals 'Inevitable'

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:54:00 GMT

Many rural hospital leaders lack contingency plans for what one expert in healthcare strategy calls an inevitability—Medicare critical access funding cuts within the next three years.

Doctor discipline: MN fails to offer full disclosure

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:04:00 GMT

Malpractice findings are increasingly easy to find on websites maintained by medical boards in 19 states, but not in Minnesota, where regulators have resisted efforts to make more information available to people who want to check into the backgrounds of their doctors. The Minnesota Board of Medical Practice also doesn't disclose whether doctors have been disciplined by regulators in other states or lost their privileges to work in hospitals and other facilities for surgical mistakes and other problems—information provided in 13 other states.

WA state has new plan for ER limits; doctors critical

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:53:00 GMT

Lawmakers last year called for reducing poor patients' use of emergency rooms to save Medicaid $72 million, but state officials' first try at a three-visit limit on "nonemergency" visits to the ER was criticized by doctors and hospitals and struck down by a judge over procedural flaws. The state now has a new plan with a stricter limit: Medicaid will cover zero ER visits if treatment in an emergency room is "not medically necessary" for a health condition.

Fake PA blames hospital for issuing badge

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:49:00 GMT

A teenager accused of bluffing his way into an Osceola County hospital emergency room last year says it's not his fault. The state attorney's office released interviews with Matthew Scheidt, 18, who is being held on no bond after he was accused of impersonating a physicians assistant and a police officer. Scheidt faced two counts of impersonating a physician's assistant and four counts of practicing medicine without a license in October.

$1.5M New West deal before insurance commissioner

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:15:00 GMT

State regulators are examining a $1.5 million proposal by an Oregon insurer to take over a portion of Montana's third-largest health insurance company as part of a government anti-trust settlement. Commissioner of Securities and Insurance Monica Lindeen has scheduled a hearing Tuesday on the proposal by PacificSource Health Plans to buy New West Health Service's commercial business. The hearing will examine whether the deal is fair and protects the estimated 9,000 New West policyholders who will be affected, said Lindeen spokesman Lucas Hamilton. The hearing will include a public comment period.

VT would allow ’bronze plan’ to encourage health

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:10:00 GMT

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and legislative leaders said Monday they wanted to make it possible for more of the state's small businesses to offer lower premium health insurance plans sometimes known as "bronze plans" until the state can implement its single payer health care system. Speaking Monday in Montpelier, Shumlin and leaders from the House and Senate, all Democrats, said they would also allow businesses with more than 50 employees to remain outside the federally-mandated health care exchange until 2016. "We feel strongly that the exchange is not the answer to all Vermont's health care problems," Shumlin said at a news conference in the Montpelier Statehouse.

Medicaid changes challenge TX hospitals to do things differently

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:09:00 GMT

The goal is lofty: improve and expand health care for millions of Texans. But with billions of dollars at stake and the new project under way before the rules are even written, decisions made over the next few months are causing anxiety in many Harris County hospitals. The new rules—part of a complicated, first-of-its-kind project approved by the federal government—will determine who gets paid for providing charity care, and how much. Hospitals that historically received the most government reimbursement for charity care are not guaranteed to prosper under the new rules.

Health secretary to Mayor Landrieu: LSU at fault for hospital cuts

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:56:00 GMT

State Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein responded Monday to New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu's call for state leaders to rescind major cuts to mental health services for the poor and uninsured. The Louisiana State University System approved the changes Friday. In his letter and in public statements since LSU's decision, Greenstein puts responsibility for the bed closures and layoffs squarely on LSU. The university points to Jindal administration budget maneuvers earlier this year that, according to LSU, limited its access to federal money intended to cover "uncompensated care," the cost of treating patients who are under-insured or have no insurance.

Questions raised about proposal for PA's insurance exchange

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:34:00 GMT

Advocates for health insurance reform are taking a dim view of a draft proposal for the state's health insurance exchange, saying it could keep the playing field tilted in favor of insurance companies and against consumers. Speaking at a conference call Friday, Antoinette Kraus, project director of Pennsylvania Health Access Network, a coalition of organizations supporting consumer-friendly health reform, said the draft proposal distributed by the state Insurance Department, if enacted, would not change the status quo. "They're using this as an opportunity to line the pockets of big business," said Kraus.

NY eyes tough reporting system for dispensing of prescription drugs

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:18:00 GMT

Maybe it's the mounting death toll or the sobering addiction statistics. Or that it's an election year for all state lawmakers. No matter the reason, efforts are taking hold for New York to join other states that require doctors and pharmacists to participate in a real-time reporting system before dispensing prescriptions for painkillers, sleeping pills and other controlled drugs. Stalled for several years, the push is on at the state Capitol to end a system that now permits growing numbers of people addicted to powerful narcotics to physician- and pharmacy-shop for their drug supplies.

TX prisons consider switch to local hospitals for convict care

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:05:00 GMT

State prison officials are poised for the first time in 18 years to contract directly with someone other than a state university to provide medical care for Texas convicts. Officials confirmed to the American-Statesman on Friday that an agreement has been reached for Huntsville Memorial Hospital to provide nine emergency-care beds on the second floor of its hospital, and that negotiations are under way for the hospital to operate an emergency room and specialty care clinic inside the Estelle Unit east of town.

Businesses divided on VT healthcare exchange legislation

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:15:00 GMT

The business community sent a mixed message to lawmakers Wednesday about the future of health care for their employees. Some business owners are concerned that they will have to give up the health insurance plans they have worked hard to set up as the state transforms its health care system. Others feel their costs of paying for health care are breaking the bank, and they want everyone to pay into a program that provides care for everyone.