In what may be the first nursing contract of its kind in the nation — and one that others may model around the U.S. — the University of Michigan Health System has agreed to a contract that offers protection for nurses if they treat patients with Ebola. Among the provisions: Nurses that must be quarantined after treating patients with Ebola will be paid for their time off. They also will not have to use sick or time or vacation days during that quarantine. Additionally, they must be able to return to same position after they are deemed free of the virus.
The United States has over 5,700 hospitals, and most of them are central to their communities for an obvious reason: They help people get healthier. When I look at these hospitals, I see an untapped resource, a way they could provide greater value to their communities and the country. Intellectual assets — the ideas and know-how in the heads of clinicians — are vital, intangible resources for most hospitals. They're equivalent to the research assets at universities. In addition to knowledge and know-how, clinicians working in hospitals are creating ideas for new health care technologies (apps, processes, devices, therapies, drugs) and cost-effective care models, often as part of their response to the value-based care principles of health care reform.
Medicare Advantage plans that draw a lot of their enrollment from the poor side of town say they're at a disadvantage on the government's five-star ratings scale, which commands respect and governs pay. One company pressing the issue is WellCare Health Plans, based in Tampa. Its Medicare Advantage plans are rated at 3 or 3 1/2 stars, below the 4-star minimum required for plans to qualify for bonus payments. Plans' premium and bonus payments are kept confidential, but other media report that the bonuses amount to a few hundred dollars per member. When the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released new star ratings in October, WellCare issued a statement saying the scale "unfairly penalizes plans focused on serving low-income, medically complex members."
Florida Hospital will donate up to $6 million over the next three years to address the long-festering issue of homelessness in Central Florida, officials will announce Tuesday — a move that is being called historic in its potential to change the lives of individuals living on the streets and families living in cars and cramped motel rooms. Along with more than $4 million already pledged by the city of Orlando and up to $700,000 in cash and rental assistance from Orange County, this stands to be the first serious money spent to do something more than studying the area's homeless problem, which is among the most severe in the nation.
The U.S. administration on Monday dramatically cut expectations for 2015 Obamacare enrollment, saying it aims to have a total of 9.1 million people enrolled in government-backed federal and state health insurance marketplaces next year. The stated goal, 30 percent lower than a Congressional Budget Office forecast of 13 million enrollees, reflects the government's latest thinking about new enrollees and returning customers, according to officials who expect the actual number to fall between 9 million and 9.9 million.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said Monday she is confident that Obamacare subsidies will survive Supreme Court review. The case centers on the constitutionality of Affordable Care Act subsidies in states operating on the federal government's insurance exchange. Those subsidies have already gone into effect for nearly 5 million people, and could reach up to 7.4 million by 2016. Healthcare experts have warned that the case could gut the core of Obamacare, with at least $36 billion in subsidies at stake, but Burwell said she is not worried.