For the second year running, HCA is potentially not in compliance with its 2019 purchase agreement for the Asheville-based Mission Health hospital system. The repeated compliance issues raise questions about whether HCA is fulfilling its promise to maintain health care services for Western North Carolina residents. HCA purchased Mission Health, the region's largest hospital system, for $1.5 billion in 2019. In allowing the acquisition, the attorney general's office placed key stipulations on the purchase, to which HCA agreed.
Vermont's largest hospital system announced dozens of layoffs this week as part of a plan to cut nearly $185 million in spending by the end of next year. It's an effort to rein in ballooning health care costs in the state, which are among the highest in the country. Hospitals in the state account for nearly half of the state's total spending on healthcare, and UVM Medical Center in Burlington, part of the health network, is by far the largest hospital. It's responsible for more than half of all hospital revenue and is one of the largest employers in the state.
Texas is home to 156 rural hospitals, but more than two-thirds are in jeopardy, according to a June report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Recent data indicates that 108 of those hospitals have reduced or lost critical services. Eighty-seven are at risk of closure, and 22 face the threat of shutting down immediately.
Chicago's Weiss Memorial Hospital will soon lose it's Medicare funding, which could lead to the hospital closing. The North Side hospital has been under investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health. An IDPH spokesperson said as a result of the investigation, federal authorities have made the decision to end Weiss' involvement with the Medicare program on August 9. They did not say why the move is being made, but said Weiss Hospital can appeal. ABC7 tried to reach out to hospital officials, but their voicemails say they are no longer accepting messages.
Gov. Maura Healey on Friday named the state's top hospital lobbyist to a position at the regulatory agency that oversees virtually all major health care decisions — including those directly affecting his clients — in Massachusetts. Healey appointed six people to the Health Policy Commission's board of directors, including Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association President Steve Walsh, punctuating a flood of hand-wringing from business leaders, health care advocates and other segments of the industry worried about a potential conflict of interest.