Children's Hospital of Orange County and Rady Children's Hospital San Diego announced a merger Wednesday, combining the two hospitals into a system called Rady Children's Health. The merger went through a process requiring approval by the California AG among other regulatory hurdles and was finalized on Dec. 31, 2024. CHOC and Rady's announced intentions to merge in late 2023.
A new artificial intelligence tool developed at Stanford Medicine combines data from medical images with text to predict cancer prognoses and treatment responses.
When it comes to improving patient care, feedback is the compass that guides healthcare providers in the right direction. But here’s the catch, traditional feedback often fails to capture honest patient opinions due to fear of judgment, privacy concerns and other potential repercussions. This is where anonymous surveys prove to be valuable. Studies have demonstrated that anonymous surveys yield more candid responses, leading to a deeper understanding of patient experiences.
Tampa General Hospital will pay $6.8 million to settle a class-action lawsuit arising from a May 2023 data breach that compromised the personal information of about 2.1 million people. According to the settlement, people who received written notification from Tampa General about the cyberattack may choose to submit claims to recover losses or receive a lump sum of $125.
A Virginia hospital is facing federal criminal charges over what prosecutors say was an extended scheme to profit from a high-billing doctor's troubling practices, including dozens of medically unnecessary surgeries performed on unsuspecting women, which left some of them sterile.
An indictment filed Wednesday in federal district court in Norfolk charges the hospital, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare, with healthcare fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The hospital collected about $18.5 million in reimbursements from private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid for questionable procedures performed between 2010 and 2019 by Javaid Perwaiz, prosecutors say. The obstetrician-gynecologist was sentenced to 59 years in prison for abusing female patients with unnecessary surgeries to enrich himself with insurance payouts.
In a statement Wednesday, the hospital called the allegations from federal prosecutors "unfounded and an excessive overreach." "Chesapeake Regional is dedicated to patient safety, prioritizing high-quality care that meets rigorous national standards," it said.
Seven UnitedHealth Group shareholders are calling on the health care conglomerate to produce a report on how often its policies lead to denied or delayed care, and the effects on patients and the economy. The proposal, which could go up for a vote by UnitedHealth's investors at the company's annual meeting later this year, comes as the company is under tremendous public scrutiny for tactics such as prior authorization and care denials. The killing of the CEO of UnitedHealth's health insurance business in early December ignited a firestorm of anger — not against the alleged killer, but against health insurers like UnitedHealth who many blame for the industry's dysfunction.