At a time when hospitals are receiving federal bailout money, Marty Markary, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health professor, surgeon and author, argues it's time to evaluate medical billing practices.
At a time when people around the world are especially appreciative of health care workers, it may come as a shock to see the local hospital laying off 100 employees. But significant loss of revenue caused by COVID-19 led Valley View Hospital to lay off about 10% of its workforce — an “unprecedented” step for an unprecedented situation, CEO Dr. Brian Murphy said in an interview Wednesday.
WASHINGTON—Negotiations on Capitol Hill over the next package of coronavirus economic relief have revived discussions about ending surprise medical billing, an effort to bolster patient protections that has sparked heavy spending by opponents who warn of damage to the health-care system.
Shares of 1Life Healthcare Inc. fell more than 7% in the extended session Wednesday after the primary-care provider doing business as One Medical reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss and sales that came in above Wall Street expectations.
Blue Cross Blue Shield has been ordered to pay more than $108.3 million in damages and attorneys’ fees to Little River Healthcare, which operated Milam County hospitals in Rockdale and Cameron until the facilities went bankrupt in 2018. An independent arbitrator found that BCBS had violated its contract with the Milam County hospitals and failed to meet the Texas Prompt Pay Statutes.
As the coronavirus pandemic begins to slowly abate in Massachusetts, hospitals are confronting the full breadth of the devastation it has wreaked on not only their patients, but their finances.