WellCare Health Plans Inc. resolved an informal Securities and Exchange Commission probe of its accounting with an agreement to pay about $10 million plus interest. "We are pleased that this matter has been resolved," said General Counsel Thomas F. O'Neil III. Last summer, the WellCare board determined the company should restate financial statements to correct errors related compliance with refund requirements in certain contracts. Earlier this month, WellCare agreed to pay $80 million to settle Medicaid-fraud probes by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida and the Florida Attorney General's Office.
The Senate committee in charge of financing the upcoming healthcare overhaul is considering changes that could place new financial burdens on Massachusetts institutions and employees, including limiting the tax exclusion for employer-provided health coverage. Because Massachusetts residents typically earn more money and have better insurance than most Americans, limitations on that tax exclusion could disproportionately hurt them.
The Interim Louisiana State University Public Hospital "lacks a broad vision and remains in a post-Katrina reactionary mode," according to a report that also found numerous management inefficiencies that add up to $66 million a year. The report found that per-patient costs are far above national standards, the nursing staff is top-heavy with administrators, operating rooms are under-used, and purchasing services are poorly managed. The conclusions are contained in a 161-page assessment by Alvarez & Marsal, the consulting firm that was brought on board in to oversee the hospital's day-to-day operations and search for efficiencies.
North Memorial Health Care in Robbinsdale, MN, is cutting 100 positions, or about 2% of its hospital's workforce. A combination of reduced hours and layoffs will affect 170 employees. This is the second round of cuts in six months at North Memorial. In December, it eliminated 380 jobs, or 7% of its workforce. North Memorial has absorbed $17.5 million in bad debt, charity care, and discounts for the uninsured so far this year.
Confirming data from Medicare studies, a report hows that private healthcare costs in Miami are the highest of 14 major cities in the country. A Miami-area family of four with an employer-based preferred provider organization plan averaged $20,282 in healthcare costs in 2008, almost 21% higher than the national average, according to Milliman, a national consulting report.
A developer wants to make Nashville host to the world's first giant year-around trade show for medical gadgets and healthcare technology. Dallas-based Market Center Management Co. says it wants to build a 1.5 million-square-foot Nashville Medical Trade Center somewhere near downtown Nashville, with a smaller first phase opening as early as summer 2010. The developers haven't lined up a building yet or developed specific plans.
Researchers say a little promotional gift like a pen or a coffee mug inscribed with a drug's name really make a difference in a doctor’s prescription patterns. A study reports that students from a medical school where such gifts are allowed had a more favorable attitude toward a cholesterol drug than did students from a school where they are banned.
In many new hospitals and pavilions, single-patient rooms are now viewed as an important element of high-quality healthcare. The benefits of the single room emerged through evidence-based hospital design. More than 1,500 studies have examined ways that design can reduce medical errors, infections and falls—and relieve patient stress. Besides privacy, research shows that single rooms reduce infections and patient stress, and improve sleep. In 2006, the American Institute of Architects called for single rooms in all new hospital construction.
An analysis of state-provided data has found racial disparities in healthcare among the three million in the New York public insurance programs. The insurance programs—Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus and Medicaid managed care—do not cover a random sample of New Yorkers, since the participants tend to skew poorer socioeconomically. Elisabeth R. Benjamin, one of the authors of the study, said that as other studies have shown, the differences could not be explained mostly by socioeconomic status.
An increasing number of doctors are using smartphones to look up drug-to-drug interactions, to view X-rays and MRI scans, and even to stream music from the Internet during surgery. Nationally, about 64% of doctors are now using smartphones, according to a recent report by the market research company Manhattan Research.
