CVS Health Corp.'s CFO plans to leave his post as new Chief Executive Officer David Joyner charts a path forward for the healthcare conglomerate. Thomas Cowhey, the current CFO, will leave the position, according to people familiar with the situation. The timing of his departure is unclear. A spokesperson for CVS declined to comment.
Citing declining patient volume and reimbursement for care from commercial insurers, Heritage Valley Health System is closing its Kennedy Township hospital June 30. Among the services that will end is emergency room care, inpatient behavioral health, outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging and lung rehabilitation. The services will be moved to the system’s other two hospitals, with Heritage Valley Sewickley being the closest at just 8 miles from the Kennedy campus. Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation services will be moved to the system's Robinson Township Medical Neighborhood building while HVHS explores partnerships that would continue the inpatient behavioral health care that is provided at the Kennedy campus, according to the health system. Negotiations with Birmingham, Ala.-based for-profit Encompass Health's 12-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit at the Kennedy hospital were continuing.
Renton's Valley Medical Center announced Tuesday it is laying off 101 employees after federal Medicaid benefits were ended. Elizabeth Nolan, Valley Medical Center's chief communications and philanthropy officer, confirmed the layoffs. The laid-off employees were in the non-clinical, support, leadership and ancillary departments. The hospital does not expect patient care to be impacted by the job cuts.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System eliminated 300 positions amid financial uncertainty on Tuesday. The March 25 terminations were announced to employees in an internal email obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian and represent a 0.5% reduction in UPHS's workforce. According to the email, the "restructuring and consolidation of certain roles" came as part of a plan to help "ensure strong financial footing."
President Trump's new hospital price transparency executive order directs federal agencies to enforce regulations that the president put into effect in his first term. Trump's action reflects a step toward enforcing long-ignored regulations, ensuring patients have access to relevant pricing information to make informed healthcare decisions. Without strict enforcement and meaningful penalties, hospitals will continue to resist transparency in the cost of services provided, preventing a competitive, value-driven healthcare marketplace.