Former patients have sued Glens Falls Hospital and a medical records contractor after their records were stored on an unsecured computer server. Portal Healthcare Solutions and the Glens Falls, NY hospital face a lawsuit filed by two of the 2,300 patients whose records were stored on an unsecure system for several months, according to a report by the Post Star.
Nearly 26 million people will be eligible for tax credits next year to help them purchase health insurance through ObamaCare's new state marketplaces, according to a new study. The figures from liberal advocacy group Families USA shed light on the future reach of one of healthcare reform's central provisions. The subsidies are designed to make health insurance affordable for less wealthy individuals and families. Most people will be required to have coverage starting next year or face fines.
New York City will seek a new provider for its $6 billion health-insurance plan that would require workers to pay premiums for the first time, with discounts for participating in wellness programs, Deputy Mayor Caswell Holloway said. The proposal, which requires approval by unions, would save about $400 million a year, Holloway said. Contracts have expired with all 300,000 city employees, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said any deal must require workers to start paying for health coverage, a cost Holloway said may rise 32 percent to $8.3 billion by 2018. The city reserved 1.25 percent pay raises in its $70.1 billion budget for fiscal 2014, which begins July 1.
Dr. Hemanth Rao, a Charlotte neurologist, has agreed to pay more than $2 million to the federal government to settle civil fraud allegations in connection with administration of intravenous therapy. Rao is owner of the Neurological Institute in Charlotte, formerly known as Neurological Consultants of the Carolinas. The group has four offices, in Charlotte and Monroe. The settlement was reached following a multiyear investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Investigators found that, from Oct. 13, 2003, to May 26, 2006, Rao failed to meet Medicare regulations requiring physician supervision of intravenous immunoglobulin therapy, according to a statement from Anne Tompkins, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Assembly member Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) yesterday said he wants to undo the 10% Medi-Cal provider reimbursement rate cut passed by the Legislature in 2011. The across-the-board reductions were challenged in a lawsuit still pending in federal court and have not taken effect. California lawmakers in 2011 faced a huge budget shortfall, and this particular cut was made to save the state an estimated $50 million a month, health officials say. Physicians and other providers of Medi-Cal services have been leery of this further reduction, when California already ranks near the bottom in the nation in Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Over the past decade, in response to public concerns about medical errors arising from fatigue, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the organization responsible for accrediting American medical residency programs, has been progressively limiting the number of hours that trainees can work. The latest mandate, which took effect in 2011, is the most stringent and deals most specifically with interns. These youngest doctors are allowed to work no longer than 16 hours in a day; and residency programs that violate the restriction risk losing their accreditation.