The past few years have been a period of unprecedented turmoil for the hospital industry. Now, a new report confirms that Catholic hospitals are emerging as one of the few clear winners — and the study adds its voice to a growing chorus of warnings about how church doctrine could affect women's reproductive health care. The report is by MergerWatch, a New York–based nonprofit that tracks hospital consolidations, and the American Civil Liberties Union. It traces the growth of Catholic hospitals across the U.S. from 2001 to 2011, the most recent year for which complete data is available.
As CIO of Partners Healthcare, James Noga leads an IT organization poised to replace a generation's worth of hospital software with an industry-standard electronic medical record and revenue management system -- and that's only the beginning. In May 2012, Partners announced what the press release called "a historic commitment to, and investment in a health information technology infrastructure of the future," with software from Epic Systems at its core. In its annual report for 2012, the healthcare non-profit talked up the promise of this new enterprise system, dubbed Partners eCare.
Washington's highest-paid public-hospital executive has won a new two-year employment contract that will pay him more than $1 million a year in salary and bonuses. But for longtime Valley Medical Center Chief Executive Rich Roodman, the deal amounts to a pay cut. Roodman's contract was the focus of a Kaiser Health News story last June, which looked at how incentives for hospital CEOS were driving the kind of hospital profits and expansion that many say are no longer affordable for patients, employers and taxpayers. The 30-year CEO of the Renton hospital — whose soaring pay has stirred local controversy for years — won unanimous approval for the contract extension Tuesday from the Valley Medical board of trustees.
When Jody Sabatino opened her mailbox last month, she got some jaw-dropping news: Her insurance company, UnitedHealthcare, was cutting the 79-year-old's most trusted doctor from its Medicare Advantage plan. In fact, four of her six regular doctors won't be covered at all next year. "I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it," Sabatino said. What's easier to believe for those affected by the cuts is that because Obamacare makes it harder for insurers to cut patients from their rolls, they're cutting doctors instead -- and hoping patients follow them off the plan.
A Boston surgeon and his wife, an anesthesiologist, are pushing to stop a widespread surgical technique used on thousands of women during hysterectomies, which they say caused her undetected cancer to dangerously spread. Dr. Hooman Noorchashm, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, has started an online petition and written dozens of letters to medical journals and media organizations charging that the technique, called "morcellation," is endangering women and creating a public health crisis. He has adamantly demanded that his own hospital—where his wife's operation was performed—stop using the procedure, and called on other hospitals and doctors nationwide to do likewise.
Family physicians have a message as Congress and state legislatures consider a range of policies that would squeeze doctors' pay: People still want their doctor in charge. There's a shortage of primary-care doctors in the U.S., and demand is about to surge because of the coverage expansion in the Affordable Care Act. As a result, many states are considering measures that would let nurses and nurse practitioners take on more responsibility. But the American Academy of Family Physicians says that's not the answer--and that patients won't like it, either.