The Snohomish, WA, Health District is facing a $4.4 million budget shortfall that could jeopardize programs to fight communicable diseases and promote maternal and child health. Administrators say 35 employees will likely be laid off as part of the first round of cuts. The reductions come as health departments around the state face similar funding crises. The economic slowdown has meant plummeting tax revenues for the state and local governments that fund public health at the same time rising medical costs make it harder for families to afford private care.
Rodney E. Miller, administrator and chief operating officer of Memorial Regional Hospital in Miami, has resigned from his $370,000 job after being the subject of a government investigation that found "fraud and mismanagement" at a Virgin Islands medical center he ran until last year. A report by the islands' inspector general said Miller had pocketed $1.3 million over five years "in excess of the amounts specified in the employment contracts." Frank Sacco, chief executive of the Memorial Healthcare System, said the system did all it could to check into Miller’s past, but Miller misled them in his application.
The number of people admitted to the hospital for heart attacks fell by 17% in the year after Scotland’s smoking ban took effect in March 2006, according to a study. The study’s author says the size of the decline strongly suggests it was the smoke-free law and not some other trend or lifestyle change that prevented the heart attacks. In the decade before the law was in place, heart attack admissions fell by an average of about 3% a year. And heart attacks fell by 4% in the same period in neighboring England, where a smoking ban took effect beginning in July 2007.
Medicare is adding to its do-not-pay list for hospitals two new categories of preventable conditions it won't cover. Last year, CMS determined it would no longer pay extra costs for treating certain preventable conditions, referred to as "never events." Medicare officials have now announced that it no longer will pay the extra-care costs associated with treating dangerous blood clots in the leg following knee or hip-replacement. The program also will not pay extra for complications stemming from poor control of blood sugar levels. The changes were made as part of a final rule setting payment rates for inpatient hospitals for the next fiscal year.
Caritas Christi Health Care System, New England’s second-largest hospital chain, has resigned its membership in the Massachusetts Hospital Association. Caritas Christi representatives said the chain could not justify the expense of belonging to the association, which they said was about $700,000 a year. It is the first time a hospital has resigned from the Association since 2003.
Health insurer Cigna's second-quarter profit rose 37% on a jump in premiums and fees as the company's acquisition of Great West Healthcare boosted membership. Profit rose to $272 million, or 97 cents per share, from profit of $198 million, or 68 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. Excluding one-time gains and charges, the company earned $1.08 per share in the latest quarter.