CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Clinic today announced new leadership at several of its community hospitals and its regional executive team. The appointments are being made to meet the growing needs of the Clinic system and prepare for changes in healthcare reform next year. Officials said that the changes will occur in four community hospitals and take effect on Sept. 1. The Clinic also name Jan Murphy to head the Sheikh Kalifa Medical Center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Regional Operations, which includes 27 ambulatory locations and 12 family health centers outside of Lorain County, will now be part of the regional executive administration under Dr. David L. Bronson, president of Cleveland Clinic Community Hospitals and Family Health Centers.
The use of electronic health records (EHRs) by ambulatory care practices in three Massachusetts communities resulted in a significant reduction in costs compared to control practices, says a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. However, the study also found that the total cost of care continued to rise in both groups of practices. In 2006, the practices in the three communities received EHRs and training funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Of 167 eligible practices, 86% participated in the pilot program, which was conducted by the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MaeHC).
WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House voted on Wednesday to delay core provisions of President Barack Obama's health care law, emboldened by the administration's concession that requiring companies to provide coverage for their workers next year may be too complicated. After a day of heated rhetoric, the House voted largely along party lines, 264-161, to delay by one year the so-called employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act. It voted 251-174 to extend a similar grace period to virtually all Americans who will be required to obtain coverage beginning Jan. 1, the linchpin of the law.
Deep inside the White House, in a bare room that the chief of staff uses for meetings, David Simas is still thinking about turnout. Turnout has been Simas's job for years now. As director of public-opinion research and polling for President Obama's reelection campaign, Simas was at the center of the effort to find and persuade young and minority voters to go to the polls like they did in 2008. Many doubted the Obama campaign's contention that it could recapture the 2008 electorate. Simas's data, however, convinced the campaign that was possible. And when the smoke cleared, young voters and minorities did show up to the polls, and Obama won.
I recently reported on a state investigation into improper patient transfers from St. Rose Dominican Hospitals - Siena Campus to the region's only public hospital, University Medical Center. The investigation found a systemic pattern of shifting patients from the St. Rose Siena campus in Henderson to UMC, where officials there long suspected they were victims of inappropriate transfers. It turns out, St. Rose was not the only local hospital improperly moving patients to the taxpayer-supported UMC, which is running a deficit this year of about $30 million. Valley Hospital Medical Center, Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center, Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center and Desert Springs Hospital also were found to have "inappropriately transferred" patients to UMC.
Individuals buying health insurance on their own will see their premiums tumble next year in New York State as changes under the federal health care law take effect, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Wednesday. State insurance regulators say they have approved rates for 2014 that are at least 50 percent lower on average than those currently available in New York. Beginning in October, individuals in New York City who now pay $1,000 a month or more for coverage will be able to shop for health insurance for as little as $308 monthly. With federal subsidies, the cost will be even lower.