Three metro Atlanta hospitals have filed written appeals opposing an open heart surgery center approved for Lawrenceville, GA-based Gwinnett Medical Center. Gwinnett Medical Center cleared a major hurdle June 5 by gaining approval from the state Department of Community Health to start the open heart surgery center. However, the recent hospital opposition to the $32.9 million project places the project in limbo. Gwinnett Medical Center President and CEO Phil Wolfe issued a written statement saying he is "deeply disappointed" by the opposition.
Demand for care at Philadelphia's Fox Chase Cancer Center is up, and officials say the facility must grow soon. Its plans, estimated to cost $2 billion over 25 years, are mired in a years-long tussle with neighbors, so Fox Chase recently announced building a second campus in Delaware. Opposition is already surfacing there as a Delaware hospital with a big cancer program questions the use of state money to lure an outsider into its territory. While Fox Chase's ambitions stall, other hospitals are scrambling to attract the growing numbers of cancer patients in Philadelphia's highly competitive market.
State regulators will allow Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to increase rates for some individual health insurance policies, but it's unclear what the final rate increase will be for the fewer than 20,000 customers under age 65 covered by the policies. The Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation said it rejected the company's request for a 24.3% rate increase, but Blue Cross said an increase of 23% would be allowable under the ruling.
A planned $700 million to $850 expansion at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics will result in an increase in patient costs, but officials said they don't yet know how much. The expansion will include a new children's care center and a critical care tower, and will ensure that most of the hospital's rooms are single-patient. In May, the Iowa state Board of Regents authorized the hospital to begin planning the expansion. At the meeting, a proposal to increase patient costs by 6% was approved to reflect increases in the cost of utilities, supplies and drugs.
Although insurers set lifetime limits to keep rates low on some policies, holders are learning that individual caps quickly max out as healthcare costs soar. Several patient advocacy groups are prodding insurers to raise the caps, and Congress also is considering two bills that would do that. Insurers say most health coverage already offers either a comfortable maximum of several million dollars or unlimited coverage. They add that more government regulation could lead to higher coverage costs, and low lifetime caps help them offer a greater variety of coverages.
Barack Obama has proposed up to a 50% tax credit for small businesses providing health insurance to their employees. While the precise cost and details of the program were not available, a statement said the "credit would be fully available to small firms, and would be phased out for medium-sized firms. It would also be phased out for small firms with high-income employees."
The White House has renewed a vow to veto legislation that would avert imminent fee cuts to doctors who treat Medicare patients. The threat came even as Democratic leaders confidently predicted that enough Republicans would side with them to ensure that the bill will become law. If President Bush does not reconsider a veto, "rest assured that we will make very sure that this bill becomes law through a veto override," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act would cover the fee cut by taking money from private healthcare insurers.
San Francisco's universal healthcare program has taken a step forward, as private hospitals have agreed to begin treating participants rather than leaving their care entirely up to the city's public health system. The people who have enrolled in Healthy San Francisco since it began have been treated at 27 community clinics for their primary care needs and at San Francisco General Hospital for inpatient services. Executives of the hospitals said they agreed to participate in the program because it's morally correct, will curb expensive emergency-room visits and will boost the charity care they provide in exchange for big tax breaks.
In regards to their proposed merger to create Pennsylvania's largest insurer, executives at Independence Blue Cross and Highmark Inc. insist they won't play hardball when it comes to negotiating with doctors and hospitals over payments for their services, despite their market clout. But the head of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, who testified at Insurance Department hearings on the merger, is skeptical. Society president Peter Lund thinks the two companies will have too much negotiating power statewide if they merge.
Aurora Health Care is in talks to buy Comprehensive Cardiovascular Care Group, the largest cardiology group in the Milwaukee area. The potential deal with Comprehensive Cardiovascular Care Group, which employs about 40 cardiologists, would follow two other acquisitions by Aurora this year. The healthcare system bought Radiology Associates of Milwaukee, with 28 radiologists; and also purchased Advanced Healthcare, which employed about 250 doctors.
