Two men have died after contracting Legionnaires' disease at St. Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ. They were two of six people who developed the bacteria while patients at the hospital. Officials there say this has been linked to the hospital?s water supply, which is now being treated with chlorine.
A lawsuit brought by a former Metronic Inc. lawyer alleges the big medical-device maker gave surgeons a variety of incentives to use its products, including regular entertainment at a Memphis strip club, trips to Alaska, and patent royalties on inventions they played no part in. The unit's business relationships with doctors who use its spinal-repair implants are being investigated by Sen. Charles Grassley and have been the focus of lawsuits by other former employees.
Seniors are more likely to ask their pharmacist for generic medications when they are paying, but choose the more expensive originals when the government is covering the costs, according to a new study. Seniors who switch between low-cost generic drugs and the original products based on who's footing the bill are likely driving up the cost of the government's Medicare drug plan.
The proposed merger between Pennsylvania's two largest Blue Cross plans will further limit competition across the state, writes Tom Knox, former CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania and candidate for governor. The best way to lower the rising cost of health-insurance premiums for Pennsylvanians is through increased competition--not less, he adds.
Retail health clinics are attracting patients who are not routine users of the current healthcare system, according to a new study. The study comes as the number of retail health clinics in the U.S. has surpassed 1,000, backed by some of the nation's largest retail pharmacy chains.
New York's 11 public hospitals are at the forefront of a national movement to standardize color coding of hospital wristbands to designate patient conditions. The goal is to prevent potentially dangerous mistakes, like giving the wrong food to an allergic child, but the nation's leading hospital-accreditation agency, the Joint Commission, has expressed caution about the new system, citing concerns about branding patients by their end-of-life choices, or inadvertently broadcasting those choices to family and friends who have not been consulted.
Two studies released Wednesday provide further evidence of the toll that healthcare is increasingly placing on working families, even for those with health insurance. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that employees were continuing to spend more in medical costs, including their share of yearly insurance premiums. And a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change found nearly one of every five families had problems paying medical bills last year.
Several medical associations, such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and 13 state attorneys general voiced their opposition to a proposed federal rule that would provide stronger job protections for doctors and other healthcare workers who refuse to participate in abortions because of religious objections. Opponents of the proposal fear the proposal would stretch the definition of abortion and would open the door for hospitals and physicians to deny access to contraception.
Although reports vary, Alabama's obesity rate ranks second worst the country at 30.1%. As a result, obese state employees who are covered by health insurance will soon have to start paying higher premiums if they do not enroll in weight-loss programs. There is already a similar program in the state for smokers.
I'm not someone who is interested in the stock market. I don't know the difference between bear and bull markets and the closest I have come to watching the stock exchange is that scene from "Trading Places."
Like many Americans, I have a 401(k), but my company handles that and I'm in it for the long haul so market fluctuations don't bother me. Then, I read over the past week about potential problems with money markets.
I'm now paying attention.
This singular view on the world of finances is understandable. We often wait until something affects us dramatically and immediately before paying attention.
Those in the health insurance field probably experienced similar feelings over the past week. They watched the financial trouble and asked first "How does it affect my family?" and second "How does this affect my job?"
I was curious about how the financial crisis will impact health insurance companies so I spoke to managed care financial expert Joe Paduda about the state of the industry. Paduda is principal of Health Strategy Associates, a healthcare consulting company in Madison, CT, and writes the Managed Care Matters blog.
Health insurance employees will be glad to hear that Paduda doesn't think the stock market problems will impact managed care plans. Health plan stocks were already rocked earlier this year so any decline should be less than the overall market, he says.
Despite this article about Aetna, health plans won't be hurt much directly by the financial market's collapse either, because they usually invest conservatively. In fact, Aetna's exposure to the recent problems is a mere 2% of its portfolio, says Paduda.
Unlike insurers in other industries who pay claims for workers compensation, property, and pollution, health plans can usually predict their claims for the following year, so they tend to invest conservatively.
Think of it this way: How does a company that provides homeowners' insurance know if Florida is going to get hit by three major hurricanes or none in a given year? Health insurers, on the other hand, can estimate how much they will pay in claims. Having that predicable information, health insurers can invest accordingly.
Managed care companies may avoid much of the financial calamity, but the market collapse will impact health plans in another way. Last Thursday, Fitch Ratings proposed new ratings criteria to analyze financial leverage of health insurers. Rather than using debt-to-capital ratio, Fitch will look at specifics like cash flow and earnings as a way to measure the financial viability of health insurance companies. Fitch will publish any changes to the methodology after receiving industry feedback. The company is seeking comments about the proposal until Oct. 15.
If the plan goes into effect, Paduda says Fitch would take a "more granular look at the profits driven by the health insurers, and they want to be a lot more specific and a lot more detailed about understanding what the cash flow looks like because that cash flow has to pay future claims." He expects other rating companies will follow suit.
Paduda says Fitch's move is the first major shift in health insurer ratings in more than 25 years. He doesn't think the changes will vastly affect the individual health insurer ratings, but some companies may see a slight uptick or downtick. The greater issue for health plans will be that they now have to focus more on cash flow and worry less about debt-to-capital ratio.
Paduda says Fitch's move is a good call, and the new system will determine if the insurers are financially viable. "What this whole credit debacle has shown is that we were not analyzing [and] accessing the right thing."
Market fluctuations are having a disastrous effect on other industries, but Paduda says health insurers will be impacted more by healthcare reform and Medicare physician reimbursement.
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