The University of California is prepared to discuss reopening Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in Los Angeles as its sole operator, according to UC Provost Wyatt "Rory" Hume. Hume added, however, that the university was proceeding with extraordinary caution and continued to prefer a scenario in which the university would play only academic and clinical roles at the hospital, while a third party acted as administrator. The university's ability to take over King entirely could also be derailed by insufficient funds to operate a hospital at which most of its patients have been uninsured, Hume added.
Consumer advocates say many patients may be unnecessarily paying bills because of a controversial practice known as "balance billing" used by a growing number of healthcare providers who say insurers are shortchanging them. Balance billing occurs when doctors and hospitals claim they've been underpaid by insurers and ask patients to pay the rest. Some patients assume that such bills are cleared by their insurer. For example, a doctor may charge $2,000 for a procedure, but the health plan pays $1,500. Under balance billing, the hospital would ask the patient for $500 even though a patient had paid his or her full share of the service.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell says the state has begun one of the nation's most comprehensive programs to help people who suffer from chronic diseases. The program is in place in southeastern Pennsylvania and will be expanded statewide over the next year. It calls for educating patients about ways to improve their health, coordinating their care through teams of primary care doctors and other healthcare professionals, and changing the way insurers reimburse providers.
A nonprofit coalition in Connecticut is urging towns to pass resolutions calling for the state to solve the healthcare insurance crisis. Caring Families Coalition, funded by grants from the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, has successfully ushered measures through town governments in Meriden, Norwich, New Haven, and Windham. It is now seeking similar moves in Mansfield, Danielson, East Hartford and Manchester, said Kevin Douglas, coordinator for the Coventry campaign.
The Maury Regional Hospital Board of Trustees has approved a plan to join Williamson Medical Center in seeking a review of a final decision by the Health Services and Development Agency to grant HCA approval to build a hospital in Spring Hill, TN. The Agency has twice approved a certificate of need for a 56-bed hospital in Spring Hill, but the county owned hospitals successfully appealed the first approval through an administrative law process. Both hospitals contend that the HCA hospital would cause them financial harm and lower their ability to provide comprehensive care.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital has quietly purchased a 10-acre piece of undeveloped land for future expansion in Northbrook, IL.
The hospital has spent more than $1 billion to build two new hospitals in the last decade in downtown Chicago, and its
specific plans for the new site are uncertain. Chicago-area hospitals have been engaged in building sprees of late in an effort to attract insured patients in affluent suburbs. Some hospitals, mostly non-profit, say they need to generate revenue by opening hospitals in areas with more insured patients to cover costs of those who cannot pay their bills.