HealthLeadersMedia.com - Around the Web

Legislation may enable states to offer universal healthcare

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:19:00 GMT

The catch is that to make universal coverage work at the state level, you'd need some way to channel Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare funds into the system. At the moment, that's difficult if not impossible. But legislation quietly being drafted by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) would change that. It would create a mechanism for states to request federal funds after establishing their own health insurance programs. If passed into law, McDermott's State-Based Universal Healthcare Act would represent a game changer for medical coverage in the United States. It would, for the first time, create a system under which a Medicare-for-all program could be rolled out on a state-by-state basis.

NC fights Medicaid fraud with analytics

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:16:00 GMT

States budgets are under pressure, and Medicaid funding is often among the hardest hit. But in some states, including North Carolina, data analytics software is helping to uncover millions of dollars in potential savings through the detection of fraudulent Medicaid billing. North Carolina's department of health and human services began collaborating with IBM in 2010 to develop analytics to help identify suspicious billing patterns by healthcare providers. To date, North Carolina has identified $191 million in potentially false Medicaid claims by 206 outpatient behavioral health providers in the state.

South Shore Hospital to pay $750,000 to settle data breach charges

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:14:00 GMT

South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth will pay $750,000 to settle charges related to a 2010 data breach that compromised the personal information of more than 800,000 people, according to a release from the Massachusetts attorney general's office. The settlement, approved Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court, includes a civil penalty of $250,000 and $225,000 for a fund to be used by the attorney general's office to promote education on the protection of personal data, the release said. South Shore Hospital was also credited for $275,000 it spent on security measures following the breach.

Senate backs bipartisan bill to speed drugs and avert shortages

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:10:00 GMT

The Senate passed a major bipartisan bill on Thursday to prevent drug shortages and to speed federal approval of lifesaving medicines, including lower-cost generic versions of biotechnology products. A similar bill is on a fast track to approval in the House. President Obama, consumer groups and pharmaceutical companies strongly support the legislation. The measures reflect the government's effort to keep up with new therapies developed during a decade of rapid progress in biomedical research.

When your doctor rushes like the Road Runner

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:05:00 GMT

To physician Larry Shore of My Health Medical Group in San Francisco, it's no surprise that patients give doctors low marks for time and attention. A doctor's impatience, though, is often driven more by economics than ego. Reimbursement rates for a primary care visit are notoriously low, and Shore laments the need to hustle patients in and out. A new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health found about 3 out of 5 patients think their doctors are rushing through exams. That's nearly the exact same number as three decades ago. NPR's survey asked people the same questions as another poll did back in 1983. When it comes to time, there is a stubborn feeling that doctors are in too big of a hurry.

Nursing groups locked in lawsuit

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:03:00 GMT

A national organization, which the New York State Nurses Association helped found three years ago, is now suing the state group, seeking delinquent membership dues and other payments. The National Federation of Nurses, formed in 2009 by the state nurses union and unions from five other states, filed sued last week in U.S. District Court in Albany. It seeks $609,000 in overdue membership dues, another $228,000 in withdrawal and disaffiliation charges, the equivalent of three months of dues. It also seeks unspecified additional amounts to cover attorneys' fees and other costs.

Cancer doctors put competition aside to share treatment options

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:58:00 GMT

Over an informal dinner in a Chevy Chase home, 25 doctors peppered one another with questions about prostate cancer treatments and clinical trials. The District has the highest incidence and highest death rate of prostate cancer in the country, according to federal health statistics. But doctors say there is no easy way for doctors to find out what trials may be available for their patients. Difficulty in finding such information was the inspiration for the informal dinner and gathering of doctors. What’s unusual about them is that the doctors hail from a diverse group of hospital systems, many of them competitors. Such collaboration is rare, according to doctors and other experts.

High deductibles, unexpected hospital bills produce sticker shock

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:54:00 GMT

Aileen Stalvey says she was "born to shop," but shopping for surgery left her with a bill from Baptist Hospital for more than twice the amount she’d been quoted.Her quandary is one that more will face as employers increasingly switch to high-deductible health plans—some of which require workers to spend as much as $5,000 before filing an insurance claim. These plans are intended to lower overall health spending by making consumers more cost-conscious, but experts say hospitals and physician practices have been slow to embrace the changes to make this paradigm work.

Research profiles cancer doctors' emotions and their effects

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:44:00 GMT

Some cancer doctors may build up emotional walls—distancing themselves from the patients they can't save—to avoid grief, sadness and even despair, new research shows. In a profession where death and dying "are part and parcel of the work," study author Leeat Granek said grieving is mixed with "feelings of self-doubt, failure and powerlessness that come from the idea that doctors are responsible for their patients' lives and for making their treatment decisions." Twenty oncologists at three adult cancer centers in Ontario described how they dealt—or didn't deal—with grief, and its effect on their professional practice and personal lives. The report was published online May 21 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Too many people get angioplasties, study says

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:39:00 GMT

One out of every seven patients having a non-emergency angioplasty to clear a clogged artery in the heart didn't meet criteria for needing the procedure, in a new study from New York. And based on guidelines, it was uncertain whether the stent-inserting surgery was appropriate in another one-half of patients. Stent procedures have exploded in popularity in recent years—and several studies have raised concerns about overuse (see Reuters Health reports of July 5, 2011 and July 7, 2011). Angioplasty procedures cost around $12,000 to $15,000, compared to medications, which can be several hundred dollars per year. Many patients who have a heart procedure also take medications.

For hospitals and insurers, new fervor to cut costs

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:15:00 GMT

UCLA Health System tries to ensure that doctors spend more time with patients and work more closely with parents to coordinate care. The program has cut emergency room visits by slightly more than half. The effort is part of a much broader ambition by UCLA Health System to reduce its costs by 30 percent, or hundreds of millions of dollars, over the next five years, according to Dr. David T. Feinberg, the system's president. Hospitals, doctors and health insurers say there is a strong effort under way to slash the rate of growth in the nation's $2.7 trillion healthcare bill by roughly half to keep it more in line with overall inflation.

Individual health policies fall short, study finds

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:11:00 GMT

More than half of all medical insurance policies sold to individuals now fail to meet the standards of coverage set by the federal healthcare law under review by the Supreme Court, a new study says. The law would significantly improve the quality of coverage for individuals in several ways, the researchers concluded. Insurers would be required, for example, to limit how much people pay toward their own medical bills, even if they have a chronic and expensive condition. Insurers would also have to provide a comprehensive set of benefits and cover pre-existing medical conditions. The study was published online Wednesday in Health Affairs.

Putting patients first, hospital making care more personal

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:02:00 GMT

Some hospitals are trying to make their patients' stays a little less unpleasant. They're members of an organization called Planetree, which was founded by a patient named Angelica Thieriot, who had a not-so-good hospital experience back in the 1970s. Today Planetree has certified, or "designated," 30 hospitals and nursing homes in the U.S. and four countries as meeting a specific list of criteria that qualify them as providing truly patient-centered care. Among the 14 Planetree hospitals in the U.S. is Fauquier Hospital, a 97-bed facility in Warrenton, Va., on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. CEO Rodger Baker says there was an element of business to his decision to transform his hospital into a more patient-centered place.

Docs win most malpractice suits, but study says road is long

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:57:00 GMT

Malpractice claims against U.S. doctors are often dismissed, and when they go to trial, the verdict is usually in the doctor's favor, according to a new study. But even when a case is dismissed, the road is typically long for both doctors and the patients suing, researchers said. Medical malpractice claims have become a hot-button issue in the U.S., coming up repeatedly in debates about healthcare reform. Some specialists must pay a couple hundred thousand dollars a year in premiums for insurance against malpractice claims—though rates vary by state. But not much has been known about how long malpractice claims take to resolve, or what proportion of them actually end in a payment to patients, according to Jena.

University Hospital viability "questionable at best" without partner (KY)

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:51:00 GMT

Even if University Hospital in Louisville improves its operations and business strategy, its long-term viability is "questionable at best" if it does not partner with another hospital and expand its patient base, according to a consultant's report released Wednesday. Consultants from Dixon Hughes Goodman of Hudson, Ohio, were advising the hospital?s ad hoc committee, which was established to oversee an operational review of the 329-bed site with an eye toward bolstering finances. The committee voted unanimously to accept the report, which will go to the board of University Medical Center, the nonprofit company that runs the hospital.

After decade, UMC Princeton's $522M Plainsboro hospital debuts

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:44:00 GMT

Tuesday a procession of ambulances moved patients out of the University Medical Center of Princeton to a brand new $522 million facility in Plainsboro. The new hospital, the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, opened today after a decade of planning and construction. The Plainsboro hospital, at 630,000 square feet, is 50 percent bigger than the old one a few miles away in Princeton. All of the new 231 patient rooms are single-occupancy. Roughly 1,200 studies were consulted to maximize the therapeutic effects of nearly everything in the building, according to Barry Rabner, the president and CEO of Princeton HealthCare System.

Healthcare merger will affect 700,000 patients, new company will have $3.8B debt

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:38:00 GMT

In the $4.4 billion deal announced Tuesday, Torrance-based Healthcare Partners merged with DaVita, Inc., a Denver-based firm with deep roots and a rocky financial history in Southern California. The merger is the latest example in an ongoing trend toward consolidation in healthcare, and raises a number of red flags for patients, said Anthony Wright, executive director of the consumer advocacy organization Health Access California. The deal will leave the new company, to be based in Denver and called DaVita Healthcare Partners, with $3.8 billion in new debt.

Death rate drops among Americans with diabetes

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:24:00 GMT

A 40 percent decline in the death rate of diabetic American adults from heart disease and strokes is a sign that patients are taking better care of themselves and receiving improved treatment, according to a government study released on Tuesday. Overall death rates among diabetic adults dropped 23 percent from 1997 to 2006, according to the study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. The study examined data from 250,000 patients. Despite the significant decline in diabetic deaths from cardiovascular disease, the rate is still twice as high as those without the disease, the CDC said.

Houston doctor blames agencies in Medicare scam

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:17:00 GMT

Houston physician Ben Echols, accused of federal healthcare fraud, admitted Wednesday he did not read every patient request for home health services but relied on the now-questionable judgment of the two companies, Family Healthcare Services and Houston Compassionate Care, who paid him when he signed off on bogus and unnecessary Medicare benefits. But federal prosecutors contend the doctor's alleged conspiracy to defraud the government resulted in more than $5.2 million in bogus claims billed to taxpayers. The gastroenterologist's testimony was meant to explain how and why he referred 352 patients for Medicare-funded home healthcare that they neither qualified for nor needed.

Katie Beckett, whose case led to coverage of children’s home care, dies in Iowa

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:01:00 GMT

Katie Beckett, whose struggles with childhood disease and federal bureaucracy brought landmark changes to the federal-state Medicaid program allowing children with disabilities to live at home, has died in Iowa, her mother said. Katie Beckett died at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids on Friday after suffering digestive problems, Julie Beckett said. She was 34. Her case led to development of the "Katie Beckett waiver," under which Medicaid pays for home care for disabled children. The U.S. law was passed in 1982, and Iowa's version took effect in 1984.