Agnesian HealthCare and its physician group have agreed to pay $10 million to the federal government and the state of Wisconsin to settle a whistleblower case brought by an orthopedic surgeon who alleged the hospital paid doctors kickbacks and other financial incentives to get patient referrals.
Following a year in which it saw an operating loss of more than $100 million, Paramount Health Care has decided to cut costs in its Medicaid Managed Care Program.
OneMedical, a chain of primary-care clinics that has been valued at more than $1 billion by backers including Alphabet Inc. filed for an initial public offering Friday. The company, which is officially incorporated as 1Life Healthcare Inc.
Over the New Year’s holiday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York’s health care providers will see a 1% drop in the reimbursements they receive for the government-funded Medicaid health care program. It’s part of an effort to reduce a multi-billion-dollar budget gap that the state is facing.
Let me begin this sobering post by saying there are aspects of the U.S. healthcare system that are admirable, especially regarding the use of cutting-edge innovative medicines and medical procedures. In cancer care, in particular, the U.S. has been at the forefront of a number of advances which have delivered miraculous benefits to patients. Yet, on the whole, America’s healthcare system appears “woefully dysfunctional.”
The lone physician still practicing at Ellwood City Medical Center before it closed Dec. 11 said Thursday that he has not been paid since November and has not seen a patient since early December.