After hearing many constituents complain about the high cost of medical care and hospital billing, Fort Wayne Sen. Justin Busch decided that it was time for the public to have any opportunity to ask questions of the state's health care institutions.
Last year he authored a bill that required hospitals and health insurers doing business in the state to each hold an annual public forum to discuss pricing in the interest of transparency.
Oracle Corp. is in talks to buy electronic-medical-records company Cerner Corp. , according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that could be worth around $30 billion and push the enterprise-software giant further into healthcare. An agreement could be finalized soon, some of the people said, assuming the talks don’t fall apart or drag out. Should a deal come together, it would rank as the biggest ever for Oracle, which has a market value of more than $280 billion.
As evidence mounts that consumer expectations in healthcare are rising, healthcare providers may be rushing to offer online services and digital communication options. But new data released today suggests that one area providers and insurers ought to focus on more if they want to delight consumers is billing and finances.
The fraud trial of fallen Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is set to resume Tuesday with continued cross-examination of Holmes and possible expert psychological testimony. Holmes, 37, has pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding investors and patients by failing to deliver on her promise to revolutionize health care with a technology that was supposed to be able to detect a wide range of diseases and other problems by testing just a few drops of blood.
With rural hospitals crippled by the pandemic, nearly a quarter of federal money that was intended to largely help those institutions in Pennsylvania went to UPMC, even as the state’s largest health care system is on track to take in more than $1 billion in profits this year.
The 24/7 operational complexities of hospitals are associated with significant energy consumption. The energy use intensity (energy per square foot), or EUI, of a hospital is more than four times that of a typical commercial building. High energy use also means high energy costs—according to the Premier Safety Institute, 3% of a hospital's total operating budget can be attributed to energy.