In their pitch for a merger of the UConn Health Center and Hartford Hospital, University of Connecticut officials said their plan could represent a détente in the area's long-running hospital wars. But leaders of St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford and Bristol Hospital say the proposal, which includes the state-funded construction of a $475 million hospital, amounts to state taxpayers' giving two of their competitors a new hospital and a major edge at a time when other hospitals are struggling to balance the books.
University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer stepped into the fray over a controversial proposal to redirect patients from the university hospital's emergency room, announcing steps to come up with "a better plan." In an internal memo, Zimmer said a committee led by the newly appointed chairman of the department of medicine would "review, refine and modify" proposals initiated by the medical center's chief executive and dean of the medical school.
Prince William Health System is close to securing a partnership with a larger nonprofit healthcare provider, less than a year after Northern Virginia's largest hospital chain abandoned its plans to merge with the Manassas hospital. Inova Health System walked away from the deal in June, citing a legal challenge from the Federal Trade Commission to block the merger. But the need to expand and modernize its facilities still exists, because the hospital has to keep pace with the fast-growing western Prince William County population it serves, Prince William Health System leaders said.
Florida legislators are expected to receive a research paper that concludes the state could save $700 million a year in healthcare costs by making sure Floridians had a place to go for primary care. More basic screenings and preventive care would keep many people out of expensive trips to the emergency room, wrote four researchers from The George Washington University. The Florida Association of Community Health Centers plans to use the study to make a case that the Legislature should double funding for public clinics next year—from $15.3 million to $31 million.
The establishment of the Office of Recovery Act Coordination last week means the $137 billion stimulus money is a step closer to healthcare professions, but don't get excited yet.
Except for stimulus money to help care for the needy, healthcare funding is on hold while officials develop a process to dole out funds.
Creating The Office of Recovery Act Coordination, which will oversee how the portion of Department of Health and Human Services money is spent, is the first step in the process.
"HHS is committed to moving quickly and carefully to distribute Recovery Act funds in an open and transparent manner," said HHS Spokeswoman Jenny Backus in announcing the new office.
President Barack Obama said that the new office must "make sure that every dollar is well spent. We've got to go above and beyond what I think is the typical ways of doing business in order to make sure that the American people get the help that they need and that our economy gets the boost that it needs," Obama told leaders during the White House Conference on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Implementation.
Money going to Medicaid, clinics
While the feds have not spent most of the $59 billion slated for healthcare, HHS has given $3 billion of stimulus funds to states to support safety net programs, such as community health centers and Medicaid.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration funds more than 7,000 community-based clinics in the U.S. that provides healthcare to poor citizens. Last year, the health centers, which offer medical, pharmacy, mental health, substance abuse, and oral health treatment, treated more than 16 million people, including about 40% who did not have health insurance.
Obama released $155 million in grants that will support 126 community health centers. Over the next two years, feds will provide $2 billion in stimulus money to help community health centers renovate and repair facilities, invest in health IT, and provide healthcare services.
States are also lining up for Medicaid money. As a budget buster for states, the federal-state healthcare program for the poor eats an increasingly larger chunk out of budgets. In Florida last week, Gov. Charlie Crist said his state planned to file paperwork to increase the federal share of the state-federal program from 55.4% to 67.6%. The move would infuse $817 million into the state to help pay for Medicaid.
Health IT
Fifty-nine billion dollars from the stimulus package is headed to healthcare, including $19 billion for healthcare information technology. About $17 billion of that sum is slated for incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid for providers who adopt electronic health records.
Standards for the health IT portion of the stimulus bill are not expected until the end of this year. In the standards, the feds will have to define "certified" electronic health record (EHR) products and how physician practices can meet the legislation's "meaningful use" requirement. Practices that meet that requirement are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid incentives.
For instance, practices that use EHRs in a "meaningful" way by the end of 2010 and accept Medicare patients would receive $44,000 over the five years of the stimulus EHR incentives, which are slated to end in 2016. Doctors with Medicaid patients would receive an added bonus.
In announcing the new agency, the federal government also created a Web page that allows Americans to track how the stimulus dollars are spent in each state.
Hospital officials and advocates for the uninsured have argued in favor of a bill that would impose a fee on Colorado hospitals to generate a total of $1.2 billion for expanded healthcare programs. But Republicans on the House Health and Human Services Committee questioned whether the new programs were sustainable and asked whether insured patients would ultimately bear higher costs. After a nearly seven-hour hearing, the committee approved the bill on a 5-4 vote. It now goes to the state House Appropriations Committee.
Building a new state hospital alongside a planned U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in New Orleans won't produce the initial level of savings once touted by the Louisiana State University System, according to the school's top health officer. Fred Cerise, MD, said the primary reason is that a lack of clear financing has put LSU behind its original schedule, while federal money is lined up for the Veterans Affairs hospital slated to open in 2012, negating plans for sharing some equipment and facilities.
Towson, MD-based St. Joseph Medical Center, where three top executives went on leave two weeks ago amid a federal investigation, has brought in an outside "restructuring team" to manage the hospital and ensure that it is not violating federal healthcare laws. Officials at the 354-bed hospital did not elaborate on the restructuring team's role. But Beth O'Brien, who is leading the team, said in the memo that "the overarching goal is to create a compliance program at St. Joseph that parallels the same high standards as our clinical quality."
With health costs rising for many patients across the nation, experts say a growing number are turning to billing advocates for help. In some cases, advocates say, patients merely need help negotiating the complicated system of health insurance coverage, doctor practices, and hospital procedures. But in others, they say, patients are being charged high prices that can and should be questioned.
Louisiana law enforcement authorities hope a new, statewide prescription drug monitoring program will curtail the practice of doctor shopping by drug addicts hoping to score narcotics. They also hope to ultimately reduce the number of people who die of accidental prescription drug overdoses. Under the program, prescriptions are entered into a database that can be accessed by prescribers, dispensers and, in some cases, law enforcement agencies.
