Owners of nine separate Miami-based healthcare corporations have been sentenced to prison terms, according to federal prosecutors with the Southern District of Florida. The defendants had filed fraudulent Medicare claims amounting to more than $56 million in unnecessary durable medical equipment and infusion therapy.
The Charity Hospital System has raised an alarm that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's state government hiring freeze is impairing its effort to fill vacancies for more than 100 registered nurses and 200 other jobs in New Orleans to rebuild the public healthcare system. With patients waiting 120 days on average for primary care appointments and a patient load that has increased 24 percent in the past six months, Charity is pursuing an expansion plan that could come to a grinding halt if the hiring process is stymied, hospital officials said.
Black South Carolina lawmakers joined forces with healthcare advocates on the State House steps to push presidential candidates to make healthcare available for more Americans. Leaders of the South Carolina chapter of Americans for Health Care want candidates to offer ideas to extend insurance to those lacking it and improving preventive care without passing along much of the cost.
Doctors who abuse alcohol or drugs should no longer be allowed to enroll in a confidential, state-monitored rehabilitation program, according to the president of the Medical Board of California. The California Medical Assn. and other physicians' groups have urged that substance-abusing doctors continue to be allowed to enroll in such a program. In 2007, the medical board voted to end such a program, designed to divert drug- and alcohol-abusing doctors from public disciplinary action to a confidential arrangement. The program is scheduled to end July 1.
Grady Memorial Hospital seeks to stabilize its spiraling finances by cutting nearly 500 jobs over six years, according to its Baseline Strategic Financial Plan. The document says Grady would accommodate the losses through greater efficiencies, but does not identify them. Hospital representatives say the job losses could largely be accomplished through attrition and are not tied to plans for layoffs or buyouts.
Representatives from Lake Forest (IL) Hospital have officially withdrawn their proposal to merge with the parent of Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. In a memo to Lake Forest Hospital employees, administrators said the hospital will continue expansion plans in Lake County that include spending $70 million to add an outpatient surgery center at the Grayslake Outpatient & Acute Care Center.
The Institute of Medicine is lobbying Congress to establish a single national resource of health information to make it clear what is known about the effectiveness of a drug or treatment, and what is not. The group said spending on ineffective treatments only adds to the nation's growing healthcare bill. The proposal recommends that Congress direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish and fund a program that evaluates clinical services and conducts systematic reviews of research studies.
Democrats backing universal healthcare have long favored a single-payer system, with government replacing insurance companies and providing insurance for everyone. More recently, most have advocated a more modest system that provides universal coverage by building on the employer-based system. The ghost of a single-payer system, however, looms large.
Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards does not discount the possibility that his healthcare proposal could evolve into a federalized system like those in Canada and many European countries. His proposal would allow Americans to buy new government insurance packages modeled on Medicare. But Edwards emphasizes that the choice would be made not in Washington, but by consumers in an open marketplace where private insurance competes with government plans.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's health coverage plan has debuted before a legislative committee to mixed reviews. Some business leaders, healthcare companies and providers have praised the plan, calling it a big step toward reforming a system under which 400,000 New Mexicans remain uninsured. Critics, however, say that the plan goes too far-- or not far enough.
