The recession and the slow recovery from it are the major driving forces behind a recent slowdown in health care spending, while higher patient cost-sharing and other changes to the health system play a smaller role, according to a study released yesterday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Altarum Institute, The Hill's "Healthwatch" reports. For the study, analysts developed a model that tracked health care cost growth using economic indicators over the past 50 years to predict future growth rates for health care spending.
ST. PAUL — Rochester residents would be allowed to serve on the authority board overseeing Mayo Clinic's Destination Medical Center plan under a Senate plan unveiled Monday. It's a sharp contrast to the previous proposal, which would have prohibited any Rochester residents from serving on the authority. That group will decide how to spend millions of dollars on public infrastructure. The Senate plan also requires Mayo Clinic to spend $250 million on construction before state dollars could be tapped for Mayo's 20-year expansion. That's $50 million more than in the House version of the plan.
(Reuters) - The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, accused by the City of Pittsburgh of not deserving its status as a tax-exempt charitable institution, has fired back with its own suit, alleging that Pittsburgh violated the healthcare center's constitutional rights. In a lawsuit filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the university medical center claimed that Pittsburgh violated its rights to equal protection and due process, and to engage in interstate and international commerce. Friday's suit was responding to a March 20 case filed by the city and its mayor, Luke Ravenstahl, in a Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas.
SACRAMENTO -- In the healthcare world, there's not a whole lot that insurers, doctors and union workers all agree on. But a new coalition of powerful Capitol players from all three groups is hoping to reverse recent budget cuts, pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown, to those who provide care to the poorest Californians. But doctors, hospital officials and others say the rate cuts could threaten the success of the federal law. They say lower reimbursements for treating poor patients will reduce the number of people who agree to treat Medi-Cal patients.
A big, red, seven-digit number isn't the best welcome for a new CEO. But it's the greeting Erlanger's new top executive received at his first finance meeting Monday night. In its worst month this fiscal year, Erlanger lost almost $5 million in March, Chief Financial Officer Britt Tabor told the hospital's Budget and Finance Committee. March's shortfall doubled year-to-date losses from where they were the previous month. After nine months of fluctuating monthly financial reports, Erlanger's year-to-date losses now stand at $9.4 million. That's better than where the hospital was at this time last year -- about $17 million in the red -- but it's still not "where the hospital should be," said Tabor.
For the first time, the government will make information about financial relationships between doctors, teaching hospitals and drug manufacturers publicly available. To comply with a provision in the Affordable Care Act, drug and device manufacturers, along with group purchasing organizations, will have to disclose all of their payments and other compensation to physicians and teaching hospitals. Those who don't comply could be fined. The information will be gathered beginning in August and disclosed by Sept. 30, 2014 on a new website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The site is part of the National Physician Payment Transparency Program, an effort to bring the financial relationships to light.