For 35 years, Maryland has enjoyed a unique exemption from the federal government that allowed it to regulate hospital rates so that patients are charged the same no matter where they seek care. The state has come dangerously close to failing a test it must meet every three months to keep the exemption, under which the federal government gives Maryland larger Medicare payments than other states. To pass, the state must show federal officials that its Medicare costs have grown more slowly than in the rest of the country. For years, clearing that bar wasn't a problem, but that changed as healthcare costs in the state soared in recent years. The margin keeps narrowing and is all but nonexistent this year.
University of Iowa Hospitals is giving patient names and specific patient-treatment information to a fundraising organization that solicits donations through written appeals signed by physicians. Officials with both the hospital and the privately run University of Iowa Foundation say they have no ethical concerns with the campaign. Patient advocates, however, say the fundraising seeks to take financial advantage of patients who feel indebted to their doctors for their medical treatment. Hospital spokesman Tom Moore said the fundraising campaign is legal and "completely ethical."
The Premier healthcare alliance's PremierConnect technology network will allow its member physicians and executives in 2,500 hospitals to work together online as one in communities of common interest. It allows more than 100,000 providers to share best practices, as well as data based on thousands of patient outcomes. Individual health systems can use PremierConnect it to interact with colleagues across all of their care sites, including hospitals, physician offices, and outpatient clinics. Premier CEO Susan DeVore said that data shared by others on the PremierConnect network enables clinicians to make data-driven, evidence-based medical decisions that improve their performance.
Over the past six years, nonprofit Memorial experienced steady growth, bringing in $190 million in profits. Meanwhile, Erlanger, the area's only Level 1 trauma center and the public safety-net hospital for indigent patients, saw steadily declining profits. Last year alone, Memorial raked in a record $42.9 million—more than the $40.7 million Erlanger made over the last six years. The gap likely will widen this year, with Erlanger losing more than $17 million so far. The two hospitals have competed for market share in the past, but the most recent numbers show Memorial closing the gap in total revenue numbers and surpassing Erlanger in profits and expansions.
When Nationwide Children's opens the crown jewel of its $786 million campus expansion next week—a 293-bed inpatient hospital—it hopes to raise its standing among its pediatric peers. The overall campus expansion, billed as the nation’s biggest ever in terms of square footage, came in $54 million under budget, thanks in part to lower construction costs during the recession, hospital officials said. The 12-story hospital cost $450 million to build, $30 million under budget. The project was kept under budget despite $79 million in added projects.
As Florida embarks on its plan to move 1.2 million Medicaid patients into private health plans, WellCare Health Plans of Tampa is widely expected to win state contracts that will shift healthcare for the poor into managed-care programs. The move is an early stage of the Medicaid reforms approved by the Legislature in 2011, pending a green light from the federal government. WellCare's decision to bid, though not unexpected, has sparked an outcry from critics who say they wonder how badly a company must act before it is banned from government contracts—and from serving the state’s most vulnerable residents.