The nonprofit Consumers Union is launching a new hospital-ratings service, which will include around 3,000 facilities. Consumers will be able to see a graph showing how intensely each hospital tends to treat patients, on a scale from zero for the most conservative to 100 for the most aggressive. Intensity of care is based on time spent in the hospital and the number of doctor visits, and the index reflects the hospital's handling of nine serious conditions.
Aetna Inc. ranked first among more than 130 big health insurers in how quickly and accurately they reimburse doctors. The rankings were based on factors such as how long carriers take to pay bills, the percentage of claims they resolve after one submission, and their claim-denial rates. The annual ratings reflect a greater push toward performance measurements and transparency across the health sector. A 2007 survey of hospital executives and insurers found that administration and billing account for one of every $3 spent on healthcare in the United States.
Under a bill before the state Senate, pharmacies in California would be allowed to sell confidential patient prescription information to third-party marketing firms working for drug companies. The legislation would allow pharmaceutical firms to send mailings directly to patients, and supporters say the intent is to remind patients to take their medicine and order refills. The California Medical Association opposes the legislation, contending that it could jeopardize patient safety and hurt doctor-patient relationships.
The chancellor at the University of California-San Francisco has formed a task force to review and improve security practices following two recent security breaches involving patient medical information. The group will review security practices nationally and develop a "rapid-response" plan to ensure that patients, physicians and others are given timely notice about breaches. In one breach, information about 6,300 patients was exposed on the Internet for several months.
Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, CA, has been a key healthcare provider to nearby residents for nearly a century, but now some patients and activists worry that recent cuts and other changes are diminishing its role in the community. Since taking over the hospital in late 2007, the medical center's new owner has shuttered departments, laid off 13% of its staffers, and canceled most private insurance contracts. To the disproportionately low-income and uninsured residents of South Los Angeles and other nearby communities, the changes at Centinela are another blow after a long spate of hospital cutbacks and closures throughout the area.
Some hospitals in Southeastern and South Central Pennsylvania have had security breaches in their newborn-care units, and an e-mail alert has been sent to hospitals by the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania. The warning, which also was posted on the association's Web site, noted that at one hospital, an obstetrician's white lab coat, identification, stethoscope, and prescription pad were stolen. A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Health Department would not specify the number of incidents or hospitals involved in the security breaches.
Hartford (CT) Hospital has agreed to reimburse the federal Medicare program $788,960 to settle allegations that it overcharged for certain cancer treatments over a four-year period. The hospital has became the fourth in the state to pay damages and penalties under the U.S. False Claims Act stemming from overbilling for intravenous treatments given to patients from 2000 to 2004. Federal law allows hospitals to bill Medicare for one unit of chemotherapy per patient visit, and instead Hartford Hospital often billed Medicare for up to six units of chemotherapy per visit, said lawyers who announced the settlement.
Amid a major renovation of its hospital complex in Chicago, Rush University Medical Center got some good news as it prepares to issue $400 million in debt to help pay for its $1 billion capital spending plan. Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has revised the outlook to "positive from stable" for the Rush University Medical Center Obligated Group, a vehicle that allows the hospital to cooperate on financing needs and borrow money. The positive outlook will make Rush "more attractive to people who buy" the hospital's bonds, said the hospital's CFO. The medical center intends to issue debt in two rounds, with a $200 million issuance in fall 2008 and another $200 million in 18 to 24 months.
Healthcare reform in Massachusetts has increased the number newly insured patients in the state, and the demand for care has gone up as a result. The trend, along with a longstanding shortage of primary-care physicians, is creating a real crunch for community clinics, say advocates of healthcare reform as well as medical professionals. Critics have said healthcare reform should not have been attempted without first addressing the workforce shortages, but state officials and healthcare advocates are starting to address the problem of recruitment. The state Legislature has taken up a bill, for example, which includes a clause aimed at establishing a primary-care recruitment center in the state.
Chinese hospitals already overwhelmed with the injured from the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province now face homeless patients who won't leave. The quake has severely taxed China's medical resources, and many quake victims have been given free treatment. But some patients say hospitals are now pressuring them to leave or transfer elsewhere before they are fully treated, while hospital officials say healthy patients are taking up room needed for others.
