Sunrise, FL-based Pediatrix Medical Group has lowered its earnings expectations for the third quarter and announced the completion of two acquisitions. The company said it is seeing lower patient reimbursement rates and fewer neonatal ICU patients and expects to report earnings per share for the quarter of 81 to 83 cents. Pediatrix also said it completed the acquisition of Critical Health Systems of North Carolina and Nashville, TN-based Maternal-Fetal Group.
Although South Florida's top federal prosecutor said healthcare fraud is "massive" in the region, the creation of a federal Medicare Fraud Strike Force has boosted the number of prosecutions. The Strike Force is led by South Florida and Justice Department prosecutors and FBI and Health and Human Services agents. In the 12 months that ended at the end of September, 245 South Florida defendants were charged with filing almost $793.5 million in false Medicare claims, U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said.
A national campaign is trying to get Mexicans to collectively trim about 2 million pounds. The project is one of several new efforts to fight obesity in Mexico, which is on track to catch up with the United States within a decade as one of the world's fattest countries. Nearly half of Mexico's 110 million people are overweight, and the number of fat children has climbed 8% a year in the last decade.
Officials with Williamson Medical Center and Saint Thomas Hospital have broken ground on the 45,000-square-foot Tollgate Village Medical Pavilion in Thompson's Station, TN. In the joint venture, the two hospitals are coming together as Williamson Saint Thomas Community Health LLC and will share 30,000 square feet in the three-story building. The remaining 15,000 square feet will be available for custom-designed medical office suites. The facility will house an urgent-care clinic, women's health services center, a sleep lab, primary-care physicians, physical therapy and imaging as well as dentistry, orthodontics, dermatology, pediatrics and orthopedics.
Fewer Tennesseans are without health insurance than a year ago, according to a study by the University of Tennessee's Center for Business and Economic Research. The study found that the estimated number of state residents without health insurance dropped to more than 566,000, or 9.3% of the population. The study credits the decline, in part, to the growth of CoverTN, a state healthcare program that began in 2007.
Despite a sagging economy, one of Tennessee's health insurance programs for low-income residents will expand benefits next year without raising premiums, Gov. Phil Bredesen said. On the same day, healthcare advocates leveled sharp criticism at Bredesen's administration for cutbacks to home nursing services, a change expected to affect as many as 1,000 people with severe disabilities who could be forced into nursing homes. The differing directions of the two programs illustrate the administration's path in trying to provide affordable health coverage while keeping costs down, sometimes raising the ire of those facing cuts.