The opening of the Carolinas Medical Center-East Lincoln Medical Plaza in Denver, NC, has been pushed back from March to November 2008 after revised designs and plans for the facility's surgical center needed approval from the North Carolina Department of Health. When complete, the $10 million facility will feature a surgical center, doctors and staff offices, and other speciality services including family medicine, cardiology and orthopedics.
Florida's Medicaid reform experiment is being challenged in court in a federal class-action lawsuit filed by three recipients who claim the state improperly traps people in unsuitable medical coverage. The reform plan put about 200,000 recipients from Broward County and the Jacksonville area into HMO-style plans in an attempt to save money and improve care.
Aiming to slash $1.1 billion from Medi-Cal, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has presented a budget plan that would reduce reimbursement to providersby 10 percent, and cut podiatry, hearing and vision services to adults. Many healthcare experts said that essential services are on the cutting block, critically affecting millions of people, especially poor, older adults and the disabled.
Retiree advocates gave a mixed reaction to a new regulation allowing employers to provide more limited healthcare benefits for retirees who are 65 and older. The regulation from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission makes clear that employers can spend more on retirees under 65 than those over 65 without breaking age discrimination laws, so they can cut or reduce benefits for retirees when they become eligible for Medicare.
A for-profit health insurance company recently said noto a dying 17-year-old girl in California, then changed its mind after bad publicity. The case raises complex questions about how the country rations resources and makes medical decisions in what one ethicist called "last-chance" situations. The case also illustrates how the payment battleground has shifted, experts say.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance has granted full accreditation for CIGNA's preferred provider plans nationwide. The accreditation is based on a review of the PPO and "Open Access Plus" plans and how they meet standards for quality improvement, management of use of services, credentialing of care providers, and other areas.