A national advertisement by the newly formed group Health Care for America Now will take on insurance companies and argue for comprehensive, affordable healthcare in the United States. Health Care for America Now, an umbrella group of labor unions, healthcare organizations and liberal activists, announced it would spend $40 million to promote affordable healthcare.
If a long-awaited proposal becomes law, people living within the European Union will be able to receive most healthcare treatment anywhere in the 27-nation bloc without getting prior authorization. The plan could extend options to European residents who live in countries where waiting lists are long. It has been postponed for months because of fears in some countries of a large-scale increase in health tourism, but the entitlement applies only to procedures that are publicly financed in European residents' home countries, and reimbursement would be only up to the amount the procedure would cost in that country.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. has announced a lower profit outlook, a restructuring that will trim 4,000 jobs, and a $900 million payout to settle a class-action lawsuit over options backdating. UnitedHealth, the nation's second-largest health insurer, said its restructuring would change operations on every level to focus more on regional coverage. Analysts saw the announcements as perhaps the end of a long rough patch for UnitedHealth.
A half-million-dollar study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers will soon offer the first look at the official possibilities for resurrecting healthcare in eastern New Orleans. The study is expected to determine the possibility of reopening a hospital in the area. A subsequent NORA study represent the latest developments in a methodical campaign to revive healthcare services in the city.
Baptist Health Care will purchase the 531-bed West Florida Hospital from HCA for $245 million. The deal, announced Thursday, is still subject to financing and regulatory approvals, but it is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
When the deal is finalized, West Florida Hospital will be renamed Baptist Hospital, and together with nearby Baptist Medical Park— 9 Mile will give Baptist Health Care a larger presence in north Pensacola. "We've been trying to get a footprint in that area for 10 years," Baptist Health Care President and CEO Al Stubblefield says. "We tried to get a (certificate of need) to put a hospital just north of where this hospital is unsuccessfully four different times. This is a way to be able to branch out into that growing part of our market without having to invest in a new hospital."
West Florida Hospital is about 30 years old but recently underwent an expansive renovation. "It's got brand new operating rooms, a front lobby, exteriors. Physically it is in great shape," Stubblefield says.
Baptist and HCA officials say West Florida Hospital and the 492-bed Baptist Hospital provide too many redundant services for a competitive market serving about 250,000 people. "It just made sense with the thought that streamlining some of the services and personnel technology and equipment would bring some economy of scale to the area," says Kendrick Doidge, vice president of marketing and public relations at HCA's West Florida Healthcare.
Stubblefield agrees. "Basically you have two 500-bed, full-service hospitals, two open heart programs, two cancer programs, two neurodiagnostic and neurosurgical programs, and two trauma programs," he says. "The hospital we are acquiring is running 30% occupancy and yet they're trying to keep all of those high-end programs up and going. We estimate there is $50 million to $60 million in costs that we can take out of the system in the first full year of consolidation."
Stubblefield says there will be some job losses but he doesn't anticipate mass layoffs. "The business plan calls for about 300 less employees when the dust settles than what we have combined today," he says. "But that is an 18-month window and we expect the vast majority of that to happen through attrition in that time frame."
When the sale is completed, HCA's West Florida Healthcare will be left with four hospitals in Fort Walton, Panama City, Tallahassee, and Niceville.
Mercy Hospital Clermont in Batavia, OH, has received a $50,000 grant to help support the new intensive care unit at the facility. The grant is part of a $670,000 campaign to support the ICU plus a new atrium and main entrance.