TennCare has released a request for proposals for healthcare plans to offer both medical and behavioral health services to enrollees in East and West Tennessee. At stake in the latest opportunity is 790,000 beneficiaries and premium revenue of $2.1 billion. In July 2006, AmeriGroup and AmeriChoice by UnitedHealthcare won after completion of a similar process for Middle Tennessee members of the state's expanded Medicaid program.
To offset a looming state budget gap, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will propose shifting more of the cost of health insurance premiums onto tens of thousands of state employees. Under the plan, about 37,000 employees would see their monthly premiums increase by 10 percent. Patrick also plans to require the purchase of more generic drugs in the state Medicaid program, and wants to cut Medicaid reimbursements to some hospitals and doctors for additional savings, according to officials.
Milford (MA) Regional Medical Center will open a treatment center in collaboration with Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. The Milford facility is part of a growing trend among city hospitals to expand their reach, bringing their services to more convenient locations for patients. The new cancer center will provide comprehensive services and progressive technology for residents in 20 communities.
Two community hospitals in working class Newark, NJ, neighborhoods will be shuttered by a Pennsylvania-based healthcare company that is also absorbing the larger St. Michael's Medical Center in the city's downtown. The three hospitals have been losing $6 million a month, but city officials described the closings as a betrayal.
Britain prime minister Gordon Brown is lobbying for overhauling the country's organ donation system to make it easier for doctors to remove body parts from deceased patients without prior consent. Brown noted in an opinion piece that more than a thousand people die in Britain each year waiting for organ transplants, and switching to a different system could save thousands of lives. Patients' rights groups are skeptical about the plan.
A new strategic plan for the Young Men's Christian Association envisions the organization as America's paramount fitness and anti-obesity crusader, combatting what it calls "the nation's ongoing lifestyle health crisis." The Y is aggressively expanding health-related initiatives, one of which is a program called Activate America.