Congress looks unable to protect patients from "surprise" medical bills before the election, despite a push from key health committee chairs and the Trump administration to include a fix in a new coronavirus relief package.
A group of economists and business leaders urged Congress on Monday to include healthcare price transparency in the next COVID-19 stimulus package. In a letter sent to President Trump and other GOP leadership, signatories — including former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Forbes Media chairman and CEO Steve Forbes, former state treasurer of Ohio Ken Blackwell and Vanderbilt University economics professor Larry Van Horn — expressed support for the Health Care PRICE Transparency Act, which would require hospitals and insurers to publish their cash prices and secret negotiated rates in an easily accessible place online.
Ohio hospitals lost billions of dollars over the past several months as the coronavirus forced rapid changes and temporary shutdowns in some health care services. In total, that state's hospital systems lost around $3.3 billion in revenue from March 9 — when COVID-19 became an emergency in Ohio — through July 1, according to the Ohio Hospital Association.
Passport Health Plan is joining with a competitor to stay in business, just six weeks after it was shut out of a new state Medicaid contract — which could have spelled the demise of the Louisville-based company.
Johan Lee Thompson has been a registered nurse for three years at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, a member of Trinity Health of New England. She was working in the radiology department but was prepared for the possibility of getting redeployed to another area of the hospital because of the pandemic.
Seattle Children's Hospital has announced in an email to staff that it is shutting down its daycare center in a cost-cutting move, as the coronavirus pandemic has reduced demand for lucrative elective medical services. The center will be closed effective June 30, 2021.