When Congress struck a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, it also dealt a quiet blow to President Obama's health overhaul: The new law killed a multibillion-dollar program meant to boost health insurance competition by funding nonprofit health plans. The decision to end funding for the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans has left as many as 40 start-ups vying for federal dollars in limbo. Some are considering legal action against the Obama administration, after many spent upwards of $100,000 preparing their applications.
Four New Jersey hospitals, express urgent care centers and affiliated physicians are coping with flu patients with their "surge" plan, officials say. Virtua, a comprehensive healthcare system involving four hospitals in Southern New Jersey, designed the plan to manage patients outside the hospital to keep the hospital emergency rooms from being overwhelmed, NJbiz.com reported.
The inspector general at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs should launch an independent investigation into the reuse of insulin pens at the Buffalo VA Medical Center, Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins said Tuesday. Noting that the use of the insulin delivery devices could have exposed 716 patients at the hospital to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C, Schumer and Higgins wrote separately to George J. Opfer, the VA inspector general, to request the probe. "We must use all available resources to ensure that we find out what happened in this case and prevent any future incidents," Schumer wrote. "Our veterans and heroes deserve this and more."
Gov. Paul LePage unveiled a far-reaching plan Tuesday to repay the $186 million the state owes Maine hospitals for treating patients covered by Medicaid as part of a wider proposal to boost the economy. The plan includes borrowing against future liquor revenue to fund the hospital payments. The hospital payments from the state would trigger a $298 million match from the federal government. The state's current debt to hospitals has accumulated largely since 2009 as facilities continue to serve Medicaid patients without being fully reimbursed by the state. "We've gotten in a bad habit of having a very expansive and expensive health care system, but we use the hospitals to pay for it," LePage said Tuesday. "It doesn't work. There's a day of reckoning, and we're at that day."
A troubled Pittsburgh healthcare system is expected to announce as soon as Wednesday that it has reached a deal to avoid a $1.6 billion bankruptcy, which would cut its debt and leave its assets in the hands of insurer Highmark Inc, according to a source familiar with the matter. Under the tentative agreement, Highmark would offer cash payments of about 87.5 cents on the dollar, plus accrued interest, to West Penn Allegheny Health System's bond holders, the source said. The system has about $710 million of outstanding debt, which was issued in 2007.
The Jackson Health System and its unions announced Tuesday a wide-ranging agreement that settled the hotly contested issue of emergency room staffing and resolved class-action grievances and a federal lawsuit sparked by the layoffs last spring. "This was a true negotiation of all our outstanding issues," said Martha Baker, president of SEIU Local 1991, which represents Jackson's nurses and other healthcare professionals. "It's truly a win-win." Chief Executive Carlos Migoya said in a prepared statement that the decisions were "difficult" but "in the transformation of Jackson we always analyze all of our business assumptions and latest data as we look for new opportunities to provide high quality healthcare at lower costs."