$3.4 billion. That's the total value of some 50 hospital construction projects occurring all over the state, a Colorado Public News examination has found. This expansion is occurring at a time of great change in the industry, with some factors driving demand up, while others drive it down. The high cost of health care was cited as the second most important issue facing the country in polls during the fall election. Colorado Public News found five new hospitals underway or opened within the past three years, from Denver to Rangely in northwestern Colorado.
Adding to the growing trend toward hospitals acquiring physician practices, Florida Hospital announced Monday that its medical group has purchased one of the region's largest cardiology practices. Florida Heart Group's 19 cardiologists and 125 workers became employees of Florida Hospital on Jan. 1. Florida Hospital President Lars Houmann would not disclose how much the non-profit hospital system paid for the practice but said such acquisitions were "essential to our strategy," and added that the region's largest multi-hospital system was looking to acquire more groups.
A Central Florida man associated with medical centers and an injury hotline admitted in federal court Monday that he paid Florida Hospital employees to steal patient information. Federal authorities say Sergei Kusyakov, who was involved with Metro Chiropractic and Wellness Center and City Lights Medical Center, illegally obtained private information about patients through Dale Munroe II and his wife, Katrina Munroe, who worked at Florida Hospital's Celebration campus. Authorities said Dale Munroe accessed more than 763,000 records for patients treated at various Florida Hospital locations. He focused on patients who were in automobile accidents, and inappropriately reviewed in detail more than 12,000 patient records.
Hospital workers in Connecticut are being accused of taking pictures of a young man's corpse and texting them to each other, Courthouse News reports. In a lawsuit recently filed against New Haven, Conn.- based Saint Raphael Healthcare System, Virginia Williams claimed hospital workers took pictures of her son Travis Washington's body after he was shot to death in June of 2011, Courthouse News Service reported Monday.
For all the hits the hospital industry took in the final fiscal cliff deal, it managed to persuade Congress to avoid some of the biggest cuts that had been looming over it for years: cuts to outpatient payments, graduate medical education and "bad debt" payments. The hospitals aren't celebrating—Congress still cut the industry elsewhere, and hospital lobbyists insist those savings will be painful. But the fact that hospitals escaped the most widely expected cuts shows that the industry still holds real power with lawmakers.
President Barack Obama could seek common ground with Republicans in the looming battle over Medicare spending by broadening the debate over entitlement reform to encompass the spiraling healthcare costs that confront a wide range of Americans. In recent public remarks the president has identified the U.S. healthcare system's sky-high price tag—by far the highest in the world—as a driving force for Medicare reform. The administration is expected to release a report on 2011 national healthcare expenditures on Monday that should further underline well-known trends. In 2010, health spending hovered at almost 18 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.