The recent deceleration in U.S. health-care costs appears to be at least partially structural, and not entirely due to a still-lackluster economy. That offers some hope that the slowdown will continue. Still, more needs to be done to encourage the trend. Two new bipartisan proposals for the next round of health- care reform may point the way. Last month, the Bipartisan Policy Center released a set of ideas for improving value in health care. And just this week, the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution put forward its own set of initiatives.
More than $30 million has been donated for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Yet it may not be nearly enough to cover the years of medical bills for those injured. Massachusetts, where many of the more than 260 victims live, mandates residents have health insurance. But even those with coverage could face major out-of-pocket costs. "This will unfortunately be with them their entire lives," said Praveen Subramani, who organized a crowdfunding campaign for his friend's parents Ann and Eric Whalley, a retired Boston couple. Eric Whalley suffered brain trauma as well as nerve damage in his foot that may require an amputation, while Ann Whalley has undergone skin grafting and will require a bone graft.
AUGUSTA — A representative of Maine's hospitals said Monday he is surprised and disappointed that Democratic lawmakers want to combine a decision on Medicaid expansion with a proposal to pay a $186 million debt to hospitals. While hospitals support both the debt payment and expanding Medicaid coverage to 55,000 additional Mainers, differing time frames for legislative action mean that linking the two issues could slow down the payment of $484 million in state and federal money owed to hospitals, said Jeffrey Austin, lobbyist for the Maine Hospital Association. If Maine pays the hospitals money owed for past care provided to Medicaid patients before October, the state will save $5 million, he said.
Scripps Health made the winning bid Tuesday to buy San Diego Hospice's eight-acre Hillcrest property, but rival Sharp HealthCare didn't make it easy. The region's two largest health care systems squared off Tuesday before bankruptcy Judge Margaret Mann in an auction that started at $11 million. Mann sat silently as the two sides traded bids increasing at least $50,000 a shot. Now and then, the players would ask for a recess to strategize in private. A total of 50 bids later, Scripps finally hit a price — $16.55 million — that Sharp was not willing to match.
June 28, 2011: Highmark and West Penn Allegheny Health System jointly announce plans to affiliate, with Highmark promising to invest $475 million in the financially ailing health system over four years, including a $50 million upfront payment. Nov. 1, 2011: Highmark and WPAHS sign an affiliation agreement that immediately infuses an additional $100 million into the health system. The agreement calls for reopening the West Penn Hospital emergency department in Bloomfield, closed a year earlier as part of restructuring, and upgrading Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville.
The long, raucous dispute over the future of North Kansas City Hospital appears headed to a conclusion that avoids selling the treasured institution. The newly elected mayor and four North Kansas City Council members, who make up a majority of the council, have sent a letter to Gov. Jay Nixon saying they support a bill now before him that would allow a sale only if both the City Council and the hospital agreed. A sale would then have to be submitted to voters. In an interview Tuesday, Mayor Don Stielow said it was also time to end a lawsuit between the city and the hospital because there are better uses for the money being spent on litigation.