The Loudoun County (VA) Planning Commission has narrowly recommended approval of HCA Virginia's plan to build a 164-bed hospital in Broadlands. The final decision rests with the Board of Supervisors. In a 5 to 4 vote, the commission recommended that HCA be permitted to construct a 24-hour acute-care hospital, the Broadlands Regional Medical Center. Supervisors will weigh HCA's application for a zoning special exception at a Jan. 14 meeting.
Local and federal officials have announced plans for a 70-acre medical campus in the heart of New Orleans to replace two hospitals damaged during Hurricane Katrina. But the plan has drawn strong criticism from preservationists and neighborhood activists because it will lead to the destruction of dozens of old houses and buildings in the Mid-City National Register Historic District. They had urged the Veterans Affairs Department and the state to consider alternative locations.
Manchester Memorial Hospital has became the sixth hospital in Connecticut to agree to settle allegations of overcharging the federal government for some cancer treatments. The hospital will pay $712,166 to settle claims stemming from overbilling the Medicare program for intravenous treatments from 2000-04. Medicare allowed payment for one unit of infusion therapy and chemotherapy for each patient visit but the hospital often billed the program for two to nine units.
Nearly half of the New Jersey's hospitals posted overall losses at the end of 2007, according to new audited financial data released by the New Jersey Hospital Association. The report shows that New Jersey's hospitals were struggling well before the country's recent economic downturn. According to the study, the average total margin plunged to 0.9% last year from 3.1% in 2006. The 2007 figure was the lowest since 2002.
The San Francisco Health Commission is calling on Mayor Gavin Newsom to back away from demanding $26.7 million in health cuts, saying it would mean decimating the city's safety net for the poor, homeless, mentally ill, and drug-addicted. Newsom has ordered all city departments to submit midyear cuts to eliminate a deficit that could reach $125 million. The Public Health Department has been told to cut the most because it is the city's biggest agency.
Top Connecticut officials gathered in a meeting that clarified that Gov. M. Jodi Rell's controversial Charter Oak healthcare plan is no longer linked to the popular HUSKY plan for children. The state social services department and Democratic legislators have clashed for months over Rell's Charter Oak plan. Despite a previous statement to the contrary, Social Services Commissioner Michael Starkowski made it clear that doctors can now enroll in HUSKY without being required to also enroll in Charter Oak, which only covers those 19 to 64. They can choose to join either program or both.
Two Williamson County, TN-based dialysis companies are merging in hopes of becoming more competitive in an industry facing changes in how Medicare pays to provide care for people with kidney disease.
The parent of Brentwood, TN-based Renal Advantage Inc. said it agreed to buy National Renal Alliance LLC of Franklin, TN, in a deal that it said would add about $100 million in annual revenues.
After the deal closes, Renal Advantage's parent RA Group Holdings Inc. will serve 10,500 patients in 136 dialysis centers in 18 states.
Diabetic supply maker Bayer Healthcare has agreed to pay $97.5 million to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks to several diabetic suppliers and caused them to submit false Medicare claims, the U.S. Justice Department said. Bayer agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement—which allows companies to continue in the federal Medicare program while requiring steps to safeguard against fraudulent behavior—as part of the settlement. The settlement resolves allegations that Bayer paid 11 diabetic suppliers to convert their patients to Bayer products from competitors' products. It pertains to Medicare claims submitted by the companies from 1998 to 2007.
The housing market's collapse is forcing a growing number of Americans with large medical bills to choose between paying the mortgage and paying the doctor. People have long resorted to borrowing against their homes to pay for medical care in times of unexpected illness or after an accident. But with home values plummeting and interest rates on adjustable mortgages ratcheting higher, some indebted patients are at risk of losing their homes in order to pay for big-ticket medical expenses. Other patients are forgoing healthcare in order to keep from losing their homes.
