A colleague and I recently got into a heated discussion over health care spending. It wasn't that he disagreed with me about the need to rein in costs; but he said he was frustrated every time he tried to do so. Earlier that week, for example, he had tried to avoid ordering a costly M.R.I. scan for a patient who had been suffering from headaches. After a thorough examination, my colleague was convinced the headaches were the result of stress.
Summa Health System in Akron has announced its intent to partner with Catholic Health Partners, a 24-hospital system based in Cincinnati. The partnership, announced this morning, has been in consideration since July, when Summa's Board of Directors voted to explore the possibility. The board considered 10 health systems both inside and outside the state, board member Rich Marsh said in a phone interview. "At the end of that it became clear that [Catholic Health Partners] was by far the best fit for Summa," he said.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber will brief other state leaders this weekend on his plan to lower Medicaid costs, touting an overhaul that President Barack Obama highlighted in his State of the Union address for its potential to lower the deficit even as health care expenses climb. The Oregon Democrat leaves for Washington, D.C., on Friday to pitch his plan that changes the way doctors and hospitals are paid and improves health care coordination for low income residents so that treatable medical problems don't grow in severity or expense. Kitzhaber says his goal is to win over a handful of other governors from each party.
Thirty-five states will be ready with new healthcare eligibility and enrollment systems by Jan. 1 of next year, according to a new federal report. The Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General surveyed states in March and April 2012 about their readiness to comply with a variety of technical requirements under President Obama's healthcare law. These requirement include simple, streamlined application systems for Medicaid, CHIP and the healthcare law's new insurance exchanges.
A New York judge has issued a temporary restraining order stopping the State University of New York from closing the Long Island College Hospital. The stay comes on the same day that SUNY submitted its official closure plan to state health authorities, who will decide whether the hospital can close. Earlier this month the SUNY board of trustees voted unanimously to close the Brooklyn hospital as an in-patient facility.
Massachusetts will receive up to $44 million in federal money over three and a half years to continue ongoing efforts to change the state's health care system. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Thursday that it would distribute $250 million to six states that are trying new methods of delivering care to people enrolled in government health care programs serving children, the poor, and the elderly.