Registered nurses who became unionized in August 2007 have ratified a contract with Scranton, PA-based Community Medical Center. Under the contract, licensed registered nurses at the hospital will make $21 to $29 an hour under the contract, which can range from $43,680 to $60,320 a year. Nurses will pay a slightly reduced percentage of their healthcare premiums as well.
Nashville-based Vanderbilt University has filed a request for a $7.39 million, 8,179-square-foot stand-alone radiation therapy center with equipment to deliver radiation treatment for cancer patients. HCA's TriStar Health System has also filed plans for a $7.5 million radiation therapy department with similar equipment at its proposed Spring Hill, TN, Hospital, asking that its application be reviewed simultaneously with Vanderbilt's. The Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency will now decide whether both, one of the two, or neither is needed in the community that straddles Williamson and Maury counties.
Moody's Investors Service says Advocate Health Care, the Chicago area's largest medical care provider, has amassed $1.6 billion thanks to improving operations and investment returns. The cash will help as the nonprofit operator of eight hospitals looks to expand through acquisitions and construction in fast-growing Chicago suburbs where the number of insured patients is rising.
The would-be buyer for St. Francis Hospital & Health Center in Blue Island, IL, needs another week before it can announce an agreement to takeover the hospital's assets. St. Francis parent SSM Health Care said that it signed a "tentative agreement" with MSMC Investors LLC, a buyer working with a start-up hospital company known as Transition Healthcare Co. But in a memo sent to hospital employees and board members, SSM said the delay in announcing a more definitive agreement is not cause for worry.
In some key areas, both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are inching away from their traditional corners in regards to healthcare toward the middle of the ring, a change that's a necessary step toward getting something done, says Wall Street Journal columnist David Wessel.
Seeking to rein in medical costs, a Michigan commission in moved to prevent hospitals in the state from each spending $100 million or more to provide a new form of radiation treatment for cancer. The commission sets standards for major hospital construction, and said it would allow only one center to be built in the state for the treatment. It also ordered the state's largest hospitals-four of which had already proposed their own centers-to collaborate on that one project.
High-deductible insurance plans paired with health-savings accounts are a centerpiece of Republican presidential candidate John McCain's platform. But new scrutiny of the plans, and the experience of people who have begun using them, are highlighting a number of challenges HSAs face in truly winning over consumers. Many employers and workers are satisfied with the new plans, citing cost savings. Premiums on the high-deductible policies can be much lower than for traditional plans. And a recent study by consulting firm Watson Wyatt found that average health-insurance costs rose 3.6% in the past two years for employers who offered high-deductible plans, compared with a rise of 7% for employers without such plans.
More than 6 million people are enrolled in health insurance plans that allow them to open health savings accounts, nearly double estimates from just two years ago. But a separate report from the Government Accountability Office said taxpayers with health savings accounts had an adjusted gross income averaging about $139,000 in 2005, versus $57,000 for all other filers. The tax figures mean the wealthy are using the accounts as a tax shelter rather than as a means to help them afford health insurance, said legislators.
Senator John McCain has promised to not raise taxes, but his campaign acknowledged that the health plan he outlined this week would have the effect of increasing tax payments for some workers.The campaign cannot yet project how many taxpayers might see their taxes go up, but a McCain adviser said that for some, McCain's healthcare tax credits would not be large enough to compensate for his proposal to eliminate the tax breaks afforded to workers with employer-provided health benefits.
Lasik alternatives have virtually no advertising and attract far fewer patients. Tragic testimony before the Food and Drug Administration reinforced warnings that Lasik does come with risks--lost vision, painful dry eye, glare and other night-vision problems. Aggressive marketing makes patients falsely believe clear sight is guaranteed, complained Jayne Weiss, MD, of Detroit's Kresge Eye Institute.
