Central Ohio's nonprofit hospitals receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks each year. But the traditional justification for those exemptions is fading rapidly. For decades, caring for the poor without expectation of payment served as the primary basis for tax breaks provided to hospitals. But Ohio's Medicaid expansion has shaken that foundation, reducing the charity-care burden by nearly half in just two years, a "Dispatch" analysis found. The amount of charity care provided at central Ohio's four hospital systems dropped to $107 million in their most recent fiscal year from $194 million two years earlier. Net community benefit stayed virtually unchanged at $651 million.
A California hospital has been fined $86,000 after a surgeon left a towel in a patient's stomach during surgery. The patient was treated at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno in 2014 and weeks after the procedure, and he said he felt like he was dying. It appears that doctors were keeping count of medical tools used during surgeries, but not the blue towels. The hospital has changed its protocol after it nearly cost a patient his life. KFSN legal analyst Tony Capozzi says the payout may end in far more than the $86,000 fine imposed by the state.
So much for controlling medical costs. According to the Department of Health and Human Services report on trends in spending that was recently published in Health Affairs, health-related spending in the U.S. topped the $3 trillion mark in 2014. This equates to $9,500 for every man, woman and child in America. To put the spending into further perspective, total government spending in 2014 was $3.5 trillion. Health-related spending increased by 5.3% in 2013, reversing the historically low increase of 2.9% in 2013. It equaled 17.5% of America's gross domestic product (GDP) for the year. Federal health spending accounted for almost $844 billion of the total, representing an 11.7% increase over 2013.
Anthem Inc., the second-largest U.S. health insurer by membership, said premiums for Affordable Care Act insurance probably will go up next year. Anthem is eking out a small profit from selling policies to individuals under the health law also known as Obamacare. Many of its rivals aren't, though, which means prices have to go up, the company told investors and analysts on Wednesday. Other insurers are charging premiums that are "still well below what we think appropriate rates are for a sustainable environment," Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt said on a conference call with analysts. "Our price point isn't wrong, as much as others need to strengthen their price point."
After a relatively slow week of Obamacare sign-ups, the number of customers shopping for insurance plans on the federal health marketplace was up by 50 percent on Thursday over the prior week, as the end of open enrollment drew near, officials said. The sign-up surge, which is expected to grow in coming days, came as the Obama administration ramped up advertising and visits around the country by health officials urging people to beat Sunday's cutoff for enrollment in individual health plans. Both President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, along with other health officials, have done interviews with local TV news stations this week to push that theme.
Partners HealthCare, as it steps up efforts to commercialize research done at its labs and hospitals, is offering up to $1 million in grants for employees who come up with promising ideas for new drugs, devices and other inventions that have the potential to improve patient care. The grants, up to $100,000 each, are open not just to researchers, but to anyone in Partners' workforce of 64,000 who has a good idea. The small sum is intended to help early-stage ideas get off the ground. Partners, with a research budget of $1.5 billion, and has been working to increase the deals it does with the life sciences industry, including by licensing technology and spinning off companies.