The Mayo Clinic has stopped providing clinical services at its retail outlet in the Mall of America and will not be part of an expansion project at the Bloomington mall. Even with those decisions, the Rochester, Minn.-based clinic is not closing the door to having a presence at the Mall of America or other shopping centers, Brian Anderson, a spokesman for the Mayo Clinic, said last week.
The Obama administration's announcement Thursday that it has given Utah a conditional okay to run its own state health insurance marketplace came as a surprise to many exchange watchers. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, had resisted making major changes to the state's existing market, which was built before passage of the health care law and is geared to small business. Acknowledging that Utah's exchange was "atypical," Herbert suggested it serve as "the minimum standard for all federally compliant exchanges." The feds announced that Utah was one of seven states to gain conditional approval.
House Republicans signaled Thursday they will not follow rules in President Obama's healthcare law that were designed to speed Medicare cuts through Congress. The House is set to vote Thursday afternoon on rules for the 113th Congress. The rules package says the House won't comply with fast-track procedures for the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)—a controversial cost-cutting board Republicans have long resisted.
In a move expected to shake up health care labor battles statewide, the powerful California Nurses Association announced Thursday that it will affiliate with the National Union of Healthcare Workers in fights with major health systems over wages, benefits and patient care issues. CNA also agreed to use its 85,000 members and considerable resources to help NUHW in its campaign to defeat a large rival, the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, in an upcoming election for the right to represent 43,500 Kaiser Permanente service and technical workers.
Master trustee UMB Bank has sent a notice of default to West Penn Allegheny Health System because the health system failed to furnish audited financial statements by the Dec. 28 deadline. The notice, delivered to WPAHS on Thursday, states that unless the audited statement is provided in 30 days, the health system will be considered in default on its $726 million Series 2007 bond offering. The health system notified bond holders last week that the financial statements were not available, but added that "the system intends to continue to work with its independent auditors to finalize the same."
The New Year marks a week into NYU Langone Medical Center's official reopening of many of Tisch Hospital's inpatient services on NYU Langone's main campus, including surgery and radiology. Two months into the post-Hurricane Sandy recovery period, Langone's recuperation has been smooth. According to spokesperson Lisa Greiner, Langone students and staff worked around the clock to meet their recovery goals.