Lance Poulsen, former chief executive of National Century Financial Enterprises Inc., was convicted of defrauding investors of $2.9 billion before his healthcare financing company collapsed in 2002.
A federal jury found Poulsen guilty of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Poulsen cheated investors who bought National Century bonds to back the purchase of unpaid insurance bills from medical providers that needed cash, prosecutors said.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving forward with its permanent RAC initiative despite the controversy and contention surrounding the demonstration program. The program was previously conducted primarily in California, Florida, New York, Arizona, Massachusetts, and South Carolina.
With tightening credit markets, healthcare facilities will need to rely on philanthropy more than ever. Unfortunately, now is not the best time to hit up members in your community for large donations given the current economic crisis.
At the recent Top Leadership Teams in Healthcare Conference, Kelby Krabbenhoft, president and CEO of Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, SD, told me that healthcare executives are facing two obstacles when it comes to philanthropy. The first challenge is the decline in asset values and market values, which is where a lot of donors hold their wealth. The second challenge is dependent on the election. "If our country moves in this election away from more independent and individual opportunity and moves more toward government solution, philanthropy will take a major back seat because it will be taxed at higher rates," Krabbenhoft says.
But just because charitable gifts may be harder to come by doesn't mean healthcare executives should abandon their focus on philanthropy. You never know when or where the next charitable gift will come from. For instance, Annette Bloch, the widow of H&R Block co-founder Richard Bloch, announced earlier this month that she was giving a $20 million gift to the University of Kansas Hospital. Bloch was treated at the hospital for breast cancer earlier this year, and she was impressed by the wonderful compassion and quality of the staff, according to the Kansas City Star.
That is why it is important for senior leaders and board members to be out in the community establishing relationships with potential donors. Thomas C. Dolan, PhD, president and chief executive officer of the American College of Healthcare Executives, says that asking for modest gifts gets people in the habit of viewing the hospital or health system as a worthy organization for charitable giving. "Developing those relationships with individuals throughout the community is what you can do during an economic downturn," Dolan says.
Unfortunately, large gifts in healthcare are rare—even in the best financial times. "You have to have timing and a little bit of luck," says Krabbenhoft, who is no stranger to receiving large donations. His organization received a $400 million gift from businessman and entrepreneur T. Denny Sanford in February 2007. But there are ways that healthcare executives can make sure their organization is viewed as a worthy cause to potential benefactors.
Perhaps the most important thing that CEOs can do is show potential donors that they are trying to do great things. For instance, Bloch hopes that her gift would help the University of Kansas Hospital obtain a National Cancer Institute designation. And part of Sanford's gift is to fund pediatric medical research. "You have to go beyond the core business of the institution. You have to talk about a vision and an ultimate place where you want to take your organization," says Krabbenhoft. "In some ways that is the bait that is in the water and it is just a matter of how big the fish is that comes swimming by."
Carrie Vaughan is leadership editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at cvaughan@healthleadersmedia.com.
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University of Iowa Hospitals will cut spending by $25 million over the next eight months to balance its budget. A hospital administrator told the Iowa Board of Regents during a meeting in Ames this week that expenses are up 16.5% from last year and 2% over budget. The increased costs were, in part, the result of hiring more staff to work in expanded units, such as the neonatal ICU, and a rise in indigent patients, for whom the hospital doesn't get reimbursed from the state. In addition, Iowa Care, a program for low-income people without health insurance, saw an increase of 11.4% in enrollment from June 30 to Sept. 30.
At the dawn of the 21st century the U.S. had $5.7 trillion in total debt. As we approach the end of George W. Bush's presidency only eight years later, that sum has nearly doubled. If you think things are bad now, that's nothing compared with the fiscal disaster that is bearing down on America, says David M. Walker, former U.S. Comptroller General. It's no longer an event in the misty future, he says, and it officially began earlier this year when teacher Kathleen Casey-Kirschling of Maryland became the first baby-boom retiree to collect Social Security benefits. She will be followed by about 78 million more boomers over the next 17 years.
Franklin, TN-based Hospital operator Community Health Systems Inc. announced its third-quarter profit almost quadrupled, helped by a 23% increase in admissions due primarily to expansion of its hospital network last year. The company posted a net profit of $50.4 million, or 53 cents per share, compared with a profit of $10.5 million, or 11 cents per share, a year ago.
The University of Louisville's new outpatient center in downtown Louisville boasts a curving seven-story glass front, a three-story atrium and an upscale sandwich shop. Those and other features, such as a tall water sculpture, polished granite floors and a concierge to help guide patients, are in line with the center's missions of drawing privately insured patients and providing an attractive home for U of L doctors' medical practices.
One in five children living in Texas is without health insurance—the highest in the nation, according to a report released by Families USA. The study, "Left Behind: Texas's Uninsured Children," found that 1.4 million children, or 20.5% of the population aged 18 and under were without health insurance in the three years from 2005 to 2007. The number of uninsured children in the state grew by more than 33,000 between 2003 and 2007, according to the study.
Aetna has renewed a contract with South Seminole Behavioral Specialists, an Orlando Health physicians group for a period of three years. Aetna also recently renewed its hospital agreement with Orlando Health, a 1,780-bed system that includes Orlando Regional Medical Center, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies, Lucerne Hospital, Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, South Lake Hospital, South Seminole Hospital, and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando.
The cost of employer-provided healthcare benefits in Colorado jumped 13.7% this year, the biggest rise since 2004, according to a survey by the Lockton Benefit Group. Part of the health insurance rate hike is being passed on to employees, the report showed. Almost 39% of companies in the survey have policies with deductibles of $500 or more, compared with the national average of $300. "Each year, the cost-shifting gets worse and worse," said Bill Lindsey, president of the Lockton Group in Denver, referring to higher premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket payments being passed through to employees.
