HealthLeadersMedia.com - Leadership News & Analysis

$6.4B Henry Ford, Beaumont Merger Failed on Cultural Hurdles

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:49:00 GMT

A merger between two Michigan healthcare providers has been called off because of stark cultural differences between them, observers say. Those differences include the patient populations they each serve and the organizations' physician compensation models.

Less Blood Testing for Some Surgeries Safe, Cost Effective

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:29:00 GMT

The ordering and testing of blood for surgery that rarely requires blood transfusions is expensive and "overutilized" by hospitals, researchers say. At Johns Hopkins alone, more appropriate blood ordering practices could save $200,000 a year.

How the most powerful woman in healthcare finds balance

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:26:00 GMT

Since taking her post as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2009, Power Woman Kathleen Sebelius has arguably one of the most difficult jobs in the nation. Just named by Forbes as the 25th Most Powerful Woman in the world, she's not just at the center of one of the most controversial and immensely complicated pieces of legislation in this country – the Affordable Care Act – she's tasked with turning it into a reality. For Sebelius, this involves a nightmare of administrative challenges, particularly given that something on this scale and difficulty has never before been attempted in American history with the possible exception of Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration which the Supreme Court eventually ruled to be unconstitutional.

UC hospitals cancel surgeries, divert patients amid strike

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:23:00 GMT

A strike by University of California patient care workers Tuesday caused the cancellation of hundreds of surgeries, the closure of laboratory stations and the diversion of emergency room patients, officials said. The hospitals prepared for the two-day strike by postponing elective surgeries and hiring temporary workers, but services still were affected after thousands of employees took to the picket line at the medical centers in Los Angeles, Irvine, San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento, where the UC Davis facility is located.

Latest from Parkland: All the good stuff happens in executive session

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:16:00 GMT

Parkland Memorial Hospital's board of managers met Wednesday for its monthly committee meetings, an all-day affair starting at 8 a.m. and ending somewhere around 3 p.m. The agendas promised lively discussions about: – The federal Affordable Care Act, which likely will bring dramatic changes to Dallas County's lone public hospital. – Review of recent "safety events" at the hospital, which actually describe mistakes that had the potential to harm patients. And, most importantly, an update on the hospital's efforts to satisfy a System's Improvement Agreement with the federal government, Parkland's on-going effort to retain its government funding. However, none of these discussions occurred during the board’s public session. They took place behind closed doors so that the media and members of the general public could not hear what anyone said.

KY short 3,800 doctors even before Medicaid expansion

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:10:00 GMT

FRANKFORT, KY. — Kentucky needs 3,790 more doctors, including 183 additional primary care physicians, to meet current demand for care — and those numbers will grow when more Kentuckians get coverage through a Medicaid expansion and health benefit exchange under health reform. Those are some of the findings in a workforce capacity study report by Deloitte Consulting that was the subject of a briefing Wednesday held by the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The report is scheduled to be made available on the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange website next week.

Lake Erie Regional Health System cuts jobs at two hospitals

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:08:00 GMT

The parent corporation of Lake Shore Health Care Center in Irving and Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk has laid off at least 40 employees over the past two days to lower costs and eliminate overlapping services, The Buffalo News has learned. Lake Erie Regional Health System of New York laid off about 40 employees at Lake Shore Health Care across a variety of departments, with workers learning their fates late Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a current hospital employee and an employee who was laid off, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

Uncompensated Care Faces a Double Hit in Some States

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:27:00 GMT

Hospitals in states that opt not to expand Medicaid are at a severe disadvantage to their counterparts in other states, not only because they will miss out on additional Medicaid-based reimbursement, but also because they will face the same cuts in disproportionate share funding as everyone else.

House Lawmakers Grill CMS Over Health Exchange Navigators

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:11:00 GMT

The role of navigators, expected to help millions of uninsured make their way through the health insurance market, came under fire Tuesday by members of Congress who raised questions about oversight and the role of the IRS in the implementation of healthcare reform.

Henry Ford, Beaumont $6.6-billion mega merger is called off

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:14:00 GMT

After six months of planning and one delay, Henry Ford and Beaumont health systems called off their planned $6.6-billion mega merger today that would have created one of the largest hospital systems in Michigan. In a letter to employees, Henry Ford CEO Nancy Schlichting said her hospital system's 20-member Board of Trustees voted late this afternoon to allow the deal's letter of intent to expire at the end of this week. "This decision was made because it became apparent that two very different perspectives had emerged for the new organization between Henry Ford and Beaumont," Schlichting's letter says.

Tornado struck hospital but patients, staff unharmed

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:12:00 GMT

Hospital emergency department manager Nick Stremble didn't need the television to tell him the tornado would hit Moore Medical Center. All he had to do was look outside the window. "There's a big window area that faces southwest," Stremble said, recalling his final check before heading to the safe area on the first floor of the hospital in Moore, Okla., about 10 miles from Oklahoma City. "I could see the tornado in the neighborhood across the street from us. I could see the debris. It was more than obvious it was going to be there in under a minute."

End of health price secrecy may be starting in Miami

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:02:00 GMT

When Medicare released thousands of health-care prices this month, one of the biggest criticisms was that these figures didn't represent what patients actually paid. Medicare, for example, pays hospitals on a set fee schedule, regardless of their prices. Health insurance plans typically negotiate a lower rate with a hospital than the sticker price that showed up in the new data. Those prices still remain secret — but that may change. Spurred by the release of the Medicare data, the chief executive of Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami has now pledged to release those negotiated rates that tend to be kept secret. Via MedCity News:

House immigration talks hang on healthcare

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:56:00 GMT

House immigration negotiators have given themselves until the end of the week to hash out language on what kind of health benefits should be available to undocumented immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship, a crucial issue for the talks. If they can't resolve this issue, the four-year immigration negotiations could come to a crashing halt. Top Democrats said late Tuesday they do not think Republicans will walk away from the talks. It was only less than a week ago that the bipartisan House group announced it had reached a tentative agreement on a proposal "in principle" to be introduced in June.

18 CT hospital execs' paychecks top $1M

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:49:00 GMT

Eighteen Connecticut hospital executives received pay packages over $1 million last fiscal year, as many of the state's acute care providers saw their financial performance improve from a year earlier, a new report says. The state's two largest hospitals—Hartford Hospital and Yale New Haven Hospital—each had four senior executives that received million-dollar plus pay packages last fiscal year, while Stamford Hospital had two administrators earn over $1 million, according to a new report from the state's Office of Health Care Access, which regulates hospitals. The OHCA report did not name individual administrators, but it did list the top 10 paid positions at the state's 30 acute care hospitals.

ED Physicians Key to Half of Hospital Admissions

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:21:00 GMT

Doctors in the emergency department are the major decision makers in nearly half of all hospital admissions, giving them a significant role in controlling healthcare costs, research shows.

How Chargemaster Data May Affect Hospital Revenue

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:05:00 GMT

The now transparent federal database of hospital prices could motivate hospital financial assistance offices to write more flexible policies for collecting from uninsured, underinsured, and Medicare Advantage patients.

Healthcare regs move forward

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:22:00 GMT

The Obama administration is moving forward with a pair of major Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulations, as Republicans move to link the landmark law to the ongoing scandal at the Internal Revenue Service. Final rules written to extend access to insurance for people with pre-existing conditions and set maximum profit margins for certain providers are set to be published this week in the Federal Register. Beginning in 2014, insurance providers would not be able to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions that currently make it impossible for them to get health insurance under current market realities.

A hospital CEO promises more pricing transparency—and makes rivals squirm

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:19:00 GMT

Steven Sonenreich, chief executive of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, isn't afraid of controversy. As the Miami Herald reported, this month he announced on a radio talk show that the hospital will start publishing what it charges insurers for procedures. "We will post our prices relative to Blue Cross, and Aetna, our contractual prices," said Sonenreich, during an appearance on WLRN 91.3-FM. He challenged other hospitals to do the same. A hospital competing on price? That's virtually unheard of. And the impact is likely to be felt nationally. The South Florida hospital chief is shining a bright light on the fee-for-service system that's largely responsible for inflating health-care costs in the U.S.

Healthcare workers set to strike CA public hospitals

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:10:00 GMT

Nearly 13,000 healthcare employees at five University of California medical centers plan to strike on Tuesday in a move that threatens to back up emergency rooms and already has forced the postponement of elective surgeries. Vocational nurses, respiratory therapists and radiology technologists say they will walk off their jobs for two days to draw attention to issues they tried unsuccessfully to address at the negotiating table - "chronic understaffing and reckless cost-cutting," said Todd Stenhouse, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Hospital Pricing Data Dump Won't Hurt You, Yet

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:49:00 GMT

If you are a high-cost outlier, don't panic. Even if you can't kill your chargemaster, you can mitigate its effect by identifying—and rectifying—what your hospital charges.