National health spending grew in 2007 at the lowest rate in nine years, mainly because prescription drug spending increased at the slowest pace since 1963, according to a government report. Other types of health spending rose at a brisk pace, pushing the total to $2.2 trillion, or 16.2% of the gross domestic product. Spending averaged $7,421 for each person. Total health spending rose 6.1%, compared with a 6.7% increase in 2006.
Healthcare activists have attacked the Grady Memorial Hospital proposal to increase medical costs to some uninsured patients, saying hospital leaders were being insensitive to poor people. The plan would effectively shut needy people out of care at an Atlanta hospital that they depend on as a health center of last resort, said several people who spoke at the Grady board meeting. Grady officials set off a storm of controversy when they recently aired proposals that could eliminate free care to some patients. Stressing that the hospital remains millions of dollars in debt, Grady CEO Michael Young said the hospital wants "to make sure that people who can afford to pay something will pay something."
Boston-based Tufts Medical Center has begun warning thousands of patients that Tufts doctors will no longer accept Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO coverage after Jan. 31. A letter to patients states that Blue Cross refuses to pay Tufts doctors at a "reasonable rate." The medical center is encouraging its patients to contact Blue Cross directly to "express your frustration."
Four hospitals in New York state paid kickbacks to get more patients into their drug treatment programs, which billed Medicaid for services that weren't standard or necessary and lacked state certification, lawsuits allege. Another hospital paid people to search homeless shelters and other places for patients to enter a three-day stay in detox in exchange for cigarettes, beer, food, and other items, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuits allege those five hospitals and two others fraudulently billed Medicaid for more than $50 million in more than 14,000 different claims.
Applicants for nursing jobs are still so scarce that recruiters have been forced to get increasingly inventive. One Michigan company literally rolled out a red carpet at a recent hiring event. Recruiters across the country have tried similar techniques, offering chair massages, lavish catering, and contests for flat-screen TVs, GPS devices, and shopping sprees. The shortage has left employers no choice: it has led to chronic understaffing that can threaten patient care and nurses' job satisfaction, and the problem is expected to worsen.
Kaiser Permanente's decision to send nearly all its patients needing hospitalization to the Cleveland Clinic was designed to enhance the health-maintenance organization's reputation and boost profits by consolidating care from 11 hospitals to one. A decade and a half later, Kaiser has gone back to using numerous community hospitals as well as its own health centers for members who do not need transplants or specialized care. Kaiser never saw the increase in Cleveland-area customers it expected, and instead went from 206,000 members when the decision was made to 150,000 today.