Since 2000, UnitedHealth has been sanctioned in nine states for paying claims slowly, shortchanging doctors, hospitals or patients or poorly handling their complaints and appeals. The payment problems related to an array of medical care, from ER visits to specialist referrals to oral surgery on children.
Even as the community rallies to save Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, the 115-year-old facility could run out of money by the end of 2007. The hospital is expecting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, but that money may not arrive for months, and some may not arrive at all.
Loyola University Health System is interested in acquiring Gottlieb Health Resources of Melrose Park, IL, for $100 million, and is considering maintaining the 46-year-old institution as a general purpose hospital. Loyola operates a major hospital and medical center in Maywood, IL, with satellite clinics and medical services around suburban Chicago.
Brockton (MA) Hospital has gone regional, creating a system of primary care physicians and medical centers to form a new, larger healthcare provider. The hospital and its parent company, Brockton Hospital Corp., will now be known as Signature Healthcare.
Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, DC, had its national accreditation yanked because of the overwhelming problems that pushed the facility close to collapse for much of 2007. Eric Rieseberg, president of Greater Southeast ownwer Specialty Hospitals of America, said he does not expect reimbursement from Medicare or Medicaid to be at risk.
As Congress receives a push to stave off a 10 percent cut in the fees Medicare pays doctors has revived political interest in another thorny issue. Lawmakers who previously have sought tighter scrutiny of physician-owned specialty hospitals say there is a small chance that Congress will address the issue as part of the fee cut legislation.