Florida regulators have prevented more than $100 million in fraudulent Medicaid overpayments in the past three years, according to a report released by the offices of the state attorney general and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. The report also noted that there has been particular focus on Medicaid fraud related to durable medical equipment, with most of the cases occurring in South Florida.
A recent report from Moody's Investors Services shows that even before its November 2007 purchase of Cedars Medical Center, 37 percent of revenue for the University of Miami came from patient care. Administrators expect the addition of the 560-bed hospital will mean patient care will soon contribute more than 50 percent of revenue to the school's coffers.
Two highly unusual measures in Alameda County, CA, are both geared toward building a new $750 million Children's Hospital. The hospital would hold 250 beds, 80 more than the current structure holds. The ballot initiatives, which ask voters to approve a parcel tax to help pay for the hospital expansion, have generated a sizable outcry. Detractors say the measures set a private medical institution ahead of others in the county, particularly county-operated hospitals, which will need to fund their own seismic upgrades down the road.
Statistics show that 24 percent of Texans don't have health insurance--the highest percentage of any state in the nation. Charities have responded by opening more than 40 medical clinics in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, thanks to volunteer doctors and other health-care professionals, according to the Dallas County Medical Society.
After three straight years of increasingly dismal fiscal results, Bristol (CT) Hospital has posted a stunning turnaround. After $14 million in losses during the three previous years, the hospital's day-to-day operations came close to breaking even in 2007. The hospital's operating budget ended 2007 with a loss of $259,318. In 2006, it posted a $7,913,532 loss.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina announced a plan that makes it possible for members to see the average prices the insurer pays for a wide range of prescription drugs and services online. Members will also be able to access the price breakdown for hundreds of services from annual physicals to heart surgery. It also provides average costs for care that can be provided on an inpatient basis or delivered at an outpatient location.