When Atlanta-based Grady Memorial Hospital announced that it was laying off 140 employees, CEO Michael Young said the hospital needed to save money. But a drop in government funding and an increase in uninsured patients were just two reasons for the layoffs. The layoffs were Young’s first major move in remaking the so-called "Grady culture," which critics say tolerates inefficiency and hampers patient care. "It's an old and unsuccessful way to run a hospital," Young told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Two former employees filed a federal lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, alleging it failed to pay them for training and for work they did during meal breaks over at least a three-year period.The lawsuit seeks class-action status and could cover as many as 4,000 people who worked for the hospital system. On April 1, the same law firm representing the Mercy employees filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of hourly workers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and West Penn Allegheny Health System, saying the health systems did not pay them for the hours they've worked.
The Massachusetts bill for providing healthcare to employees and their families who work for large companies increased 24.6% to $793.7 million in the last fiscal year, according to a report. The report showed that while the state's 2006 health initiative extended coverage to thousands of Massachusetts residents, many employers continue to rely on state subsidy programs to provide health benefits to workers.
The nation spends billions of dollars a year on patients' return visits to the hospital—many of which are readmissions that could be prevented with better follow-up care, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. As many as a fifth of all Medicare patients are readmitted within a month of being discharged and a third are rehospitalized within 90 days, according to the study. Half the patients who returned to the hospital within 30 days of undergoing treatment other than surgery apparently did not see a doctor before they went back.
Richard L. Scott is a rich, conservative investor willing to spend freely on a political cause. He is starring in his own rotation of advertisements against the broad outlines of President Obama's healthcare plans. He has also dispatched camera crews to other countries to document the perils of socialized medicine. Scott visited with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and his new group, Conservatives for Patients' Rights, has hired a leading conservative public relations firm to help with the effort.
Seeking to help two publicly owned hospitals reduce millions of dollars in annual operating losses, the Jefferson Parish (LA) Council formed a committee to study ways the hospitals can work together to cut costs. The committee will issue a recommendation by May 20 on the feasibility of forming a parishwide hospital service district to oversee cost-saving agreements between East Jefferson General Hospital and West Jefferson Medical Center. The two hospitals would remain independent and retain their existing hospital service district boards, Council Chairman Tom Capella said.
A Marion, IN, Superior Court ruling has stopped Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's attempt to terminate its contracts early with St. Francis Hospital, allowing 2.5 million Indiana residents to continue to pay in-network costs for treatment at St. Francis and its affiliates. Anthem had sought to end its contract with St. Francis on May 1, but the ruling by Judge Patrick L. McCarty means people with Anthem health insurance can continue to get treatment at St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers at the in-network rate, at least until the current agreement expires Sept. 1.
Wisconsin will craft new strategies to sign children up for the state's BadgerCare Plus healthcare program and keep them enrolled under a $1 million grant it received from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Wisconsin was one of eight states chosen to receive a grant. Officials at the state Department of Health Services will work with the Foundation to find the reasons why children lose eligibility and create ways of helping children and families stay enrolled.
House Democrats pressed a budget plan to make it easier to pass healthcare legislation backed by President Barack Obama, but their GOP rivals in the Senate preserved their ability to block upcoming legislation on global warming. As debate continued on nonbinding Democratic budget plans largely mimicking President Barack Obama's $3.6 trillion budget proposal, Republicans in the House offered an alternative that would eventually end the Medicare program as it is now known.
Minnesota-based Fairview Health Services plans to freeze 2009 wages for all employees in hopes of saving $24.5 million. The latest cost reductions by Minneapolis area's second-biggest hospital and clinic chain come after layoffs, reduced pension contributions, and new limits on banked vacation were not enough to match the shortfall in revenues as the economy deteriorated. Fairview now hopes to save $15.6 million by eliminating 2009 pay increases for non-union workers.
