A survey by United Benefits Advisors LLC has found that Wisconsin employers want to see more pricing information from physicians, hospitals and insurance companies. According to the findings, of the southeastern Wisconsin employers surveyed 90.3% felt the government should require physicians and hospitals to publicly disclose pricing; 83.9% said insurers should be required to publicly disclose actual discounted prices to paid providers; and 80.6% said the government should mandate healthcare provider quality reporting.
The Blue Shield of California Foundation has awarded $12.3 million in grants to California nonprofits, with $8.1 million to go to increase access to healthcare for uninsured residents in the state. Another $1.3 million is designated to improve patient care using technology.
Geisinger Health System representatives say construction is nearly complete on its new $35 million Grays Woods facility in Centre County, PA. An Aug. 4 opening is being planned for the building, which includes 70 exam rooms, 16 procedure rooms and six imaging suites. Services will include pediatric care, women's health and family medicine as well as cardiology, pulmonary medicine and urology.
Ohio and national experts discussed the challenges and possible solutions to controlling costs at a forum hosted by the Cleveland Clinic and the Brookings Institution. The panel discussion touched on what changes the new president is likely to push in reforming the U.S. healthcare system. Ohio officials also discussed the initiative started by Gov. Ted Strickland to get half the state's uninsured adults and all Ohio's children in health plans within three years.
To show opposition to the move of South Bay Hospital, the community association for Sun City Center, FL, have kicked off a letter-writing campaign to send opinions to state officials, representatives and senators. South Bay is trying to move its hospital to Riverview and leave behind an emergency room and diagnostic services. In late 2007, the Agency for Health Care Administration approved South Bay's plans despite opposition voiced during a community meeting that drew more than 1,000 residents.
Federal health officials will begin monitoring prescription drug usage by Medicare participants in an effort to identify potential safety problems. New regulations will enable the FDA, states and academic researchers to screen the Medicare claims data. The FDA primarily relies on physicians and patients to report suspected adverse events, and it often takes a number of cases before someone at the agency detects a pattern that's worth investigating. But now at the first hint of trouble, the FDA now will be able to query databases involving tens of millions of patients.