Gardner-based Heywood Healthcare has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the organization announced Monday. Heywood Healthcare operates Athol Hospital, Heywood Hospital, Heywood Medical Group, Heywood Rehabilitation Center, Murdock School-based Health Center, The Quabbin Retreat, and Winchendon Health Center. “Core hospital services will continue to operate as usual,” Rozanna Penney, co-CEO of Heywood Healthcare, said in a statement Monday.
A plan announced late last week by Gov. Tate Reeves could provide a shot in the arm to many of the state’s struggling hospitals if it meets the approval of the federal government. If approved, the plan’s two initiatives are estimated to generate around $700 million more for hospitals around the state, including South Sunflower County Hospital and North Sunflower Medical Center.
Cigna Group (CI.N) says it has reached a settlement with the United States over claims it overcharged the government's Medicare Advantage program by making it appear patients were more ill than they actually were. The settlement includes a payment of about $172 million by Cigna. Cigna said it also will enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the U.S. Office of Inspector General.
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by two dozen hospitals challenging their Medicare payments for fiscal years 2019-2021. Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday found the hospitals jumped the gun by filing suit before they had exhausted their administrative remedies. The lawsuit, brought by Saint Francis Medical Center of Peoria, Ill.; University of Chicago Medical Center; and 22 other hospitals, concerns the calculation of the “standardized amounts” used to determine their annual Medicare reimbursements.
More than 24,000 employees of Prospect Medical Holdings in Connecticut may have had some of their personal information exposed during the recent cyberattack. Prospect notified employees and the state Attorney General’s office of the breach on Friday afternoon. Prospect also told the Attorney General’s office that 63 Connecticut residents who were patients at Prospect hospitals in California may have had their information breached, including patient names, health insurance and financial information.
Discrepancies in healthcare payments in the city of Chicopee were addressed in a news conference Tuesday. An insurance audit report detailed the process of health and dental premium reconciliation after it was discovered that payments to the city’s insurance provider were made for retired or deceased former employees. Mayoral candidate Delmarina Lopez had called for an audit into the city’s health insurance premium payouts saying hundreds of thousands of dollars were mistakenly paid.