A Michigan Senate committee met to hear from both sides in a dispute over physician pay between the Detroit Medical Center and the Wayne State University School of Medicine. In February, DMC presented WSU with a letter saying it would withhold $12 million a year in state Medicaid payments to WSU. DMC says lawyers questioned whether additional reimbursement the state began giving WSU and some other doctors in October for indigent care might violate federal laws that require doctors be paid at fair market value. The state and WSU says its doctors are underpaid despite the reimbursement increases.
Ohio-based EMH Regional Healthcare System will host 12 Japanese healthcare professionals as part of the 15th Annual Japanese/American Symposium on Healthcare. EMH representatives will share with the visitors, which include hospital officials, doctors, and physical therapists, how they care for patients with heart attacks arriving via helicopter or directly to the emergency department.
Chester River Health System will join the University of Maryland Medical System on July 1. Chester River includes an acute care hospital, a nursing and rehabilitation facility and a home-care and hospice agency.
Three former employees of Miami-based Kendall Regional Medical Center have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with an alleged $7 million kickback scheme involving the hospital and a medical supply company now in bankruptcy. Prosecutors allege that the workers helped place phony orders from January 2001 to June 2007 for medical supplies that were never delivered. The HCA hospital chain, owner of Kendall Regional, paid $5.4 million to the medical supply company for the nonexistent supplies and $1.5 million to Allied Medical Products.
California has cited and fined healthcare centers in Contra Costa, Sacramento, and San Mateo counties after patient deaths. The California Department of Public Health says the penalties are the most severe allowed by state law.The department fined Gramercy Court in Sacramento $90,000, Atherton Healthcare in Menlo Park $100,000, and Care Center of Rossmoor in Walnut Creek $60,000.
Jeffery Sterman, former public affairs director of Kaiser Permanente, is suing the Oakland-based Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Sterman charges that Kaiser discriminated against him as a gay man with AIDS. In response, the senior vice president of human resources for Kaiser said Kaiser Permanente has a widely recognized commitment to diversity and is dedicated to creating and maintaining a work environment "free from discrimination and harassment."
A vacuum-cleaner-like device that sucks blood clots out of the arteries of heart attack victims before angioplasty reduces the death rate in the following year by nearly half, according to researchers. By physically removing clots, the device prevents loose fragments from breaking off, flowing through the bloodstream and blocking other vessels. Cardiovascular surgeons in many large centers are already using the technique to improve outcomes for their patients.
Gwinnett Medical Center has received approval from the state to establish an open-heart surgery program in Lawrenceville, GA.
The Georgia Department of Community Health approved the hospital's Certificate of Need application for a $33 million cardiovascular center. The hospital filed for the CON in January, but the effort actually began last October when the hospital created a dedicated Web site for the cause. GMC collected 1,000 letters and testimonials from local residents supporting its quest for a complete cardiovascular center.
After a state audit found people earning as much as $295,000 enrolled in taxpayer-funded health programs created for low-income people, New Jersey lawmakers are trying to keep the wealthy out of healthcare programs for the poor. An state Assembly committee has advanced legislation requiring the state to verify applicants' incomes, and the bill has cleared Senate committees.
Michael Reese Hospital on Chicago's South Side intends to close as early as fall, according to a plan submitted to Illinois regulators by the hospital's owner. The closing the facility has been in the works for months, as the hospital has been deteriorating for years amid tens of millions of dollars in losses and a series of challenges such as ownership changes, competition from rival medical centers and a rising number of uninsured patients who cannot pay their bills.
