In the first of an expected avalanche of post-election regulations, the Bush administration has narrowed the scope of services that can be provided to poor people under Medicaid's outpatient hospital benefit. The new rule conflicts with efforts by Congressional leaders and governors to increase federal aid to the states for Medicaid as part of a new economic action plan. Public hospitals and state officials immediately protested the action, saying it would reduce Medicaid payments to many hospitals at a time of growing need.
The AARP has announced it would voluntarily suspend sales of a type of health insurance plan critics say leaves policyholders vulnerable to tens of thousands of dollars in costs. Suspension of sales will occur "as soon as possible" and last until AARP completes an independent review of the plans their marketing efforts, the group said.
North Oakland Regional Medical Centers, a 336-bed Pontiac, MI-based hospital, was sold to a large Oakland County physicians group and Flint's McLaren Health Care system, which acquires a 35% ownership of the hospital. The deal also calls for the City of Pontiac to receive 5% of any possible profits the new for-profit hospital makes, said McLaren representatives.
The Wisconsin Senate passed a sweeping healthcare reform proposal in its last session, and the legislation would have provided health insurance to nearly everyone in the state. The bill died in the Republican-controlled Assembly, but may be back on the table now that Democrats control the Senate and Assembly. The Healthy Wisconsin proposal has fervent supporters, but the unknown is whether they can persuade legislators to pass a bill of its scale when Washington is expected to move forward on healthcare reform.
About one-third of the enrollees in the six major health maintenance organizations in New Jersey gave them a high rating for overall service, and 45% said they're doing a very good job handling claims, according to a report card released by the state. The ratings for most of those HMOs were about the same or slightly better than the 2007 customer survey, according to the Department of Banking and Insurance.
One day after internal medicine specialists at Health Center Associates notified West Penn Allegheny they were leaving the hospital system to join the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on Dec. 1, two West Penn administrators walked into the group's Bloomfield offices and ordered the doctors to leave the premises that day. The incident this week underscores the ongoing intense competition between the two health systems. Earlier this year, a group of six obstetrics/gynecology physicians at UPMC Mercy were locked out of their offices one month after giving notice that they were moving to West Penn Hospital.