In 2001, Caritas Peace Center, one of the nation’s largest private psychiatric hospitals, and its sister hospital, Caritas Medical Center, cemented a consolidation that had begun in 1994 by joining under one Medicare provider number.
Early in May when a milewide tornado ripped through Greensburg, Kan., killing nine people, 25-bed Kiowa County Memorial Hospital crumbled along with the town of about 1,500 people.
The Catholic Health Association unveiled its draft healthcare reform principles last week, joining a crowded field of players vying to influence public policy as the 2008 presidential race heats up.
Four hospital associations are urging Congress to provide some regulatory stability for long-term acute-care hospitals with the hope that the U.S. House of Representatives will soon introduce a new bill. Both the House and the Senate introduced...
In 2001, Caritas Peace Center, one of the nation’s largest private psychiatric hospitals, and its sister hospital, Caritas Medical Center, cemented a consolidation that had begun in 1994 by joining under one Medicare provider number.
The Catholic Health Association unveiled its draft healthcare reform principles last week, joining a crowded field of players vying to influence public policy as the 2008 presidential race heats up.
Turmoil at the nation’s venerable Smithsonian Institution in light of allegedly unchecked transgressions by its former secretary will no doubt spill over into the governance practices of not-for-profit hospitals, two healthcare governance experts...
A move by federal officials and the health insurance industry’s largest lobbying group to essentially self-regulate how some of its wealthiest members run their Medicare Advantage plans has come under attack. Critics charge that the groups want to...
HHS’ inspector general’s office last week gave a yellow light to a proposed deal in which a not-for-profit hospital wanted to buy a piece of an ambulatory surgery center from some of the physicians who started it.
The Florida-based Federation of Physicians & Dentists has agreed to stop coordinating negotiations anywhere in the country, settling a 2005 lawsuit alleging the organization illegally drove up fees on behalf of 120 Cincinnati-area OB/GYNs, according...
Penalizing hospitals isn’t the answer to decreasing the number of avoidable hospital readmissions, industry representatives said last week in response to an influential advisory group’s report.
Twenty-five Ohio hospitals won a legal battle with the federal government this month over $79 million plus interest in Medicare disproportionate-share hospital payments they argued the CMS was low-balling.
Barry Straube, the CMS’ chief medical officer, will not be joining a Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association physician advisory board as previously stated by the national Blues group.
Closing a $426 million deal to eliminate a competitor is reason to celebrate, but a spokesman for Psychiatric Solutions told investors last week that the acquisition party for the Franklin, Tenn.-based behavioral health provider is not over just...
The Government Accountability Office again has criticized HHS for failing to have an integrated approach to developing a national privacy policy for healthcare information technology, echoing a report released in January.
When the Illinois Hospital Association launched its for-profit, statewide group purchasing organization in May 2006, 20 of the association’s 208 member hospitals signed on to buy supplies and services through the startup.
Early in May when a milewide tornado ripped through Greensburg, Kan., killing nine people, 25-bed Kiowa County Memorial Hospital crumbled along with the town of about 1,500 people.
HOUSTON—NNN Healthcare/Office REIT has acquired the real estate associated with two long-term-care hospitals in Texas: 115-bed Triumph Hospital Northwest in Houston and 118 bed Triumph Hospital Southwest in Sugar Land.
ORLANDO, Fla.—State officials reversed course in mid-June and cleared construction of a $267 million children’s hospital in Orlando after twice rejecting the bid from Nemours Foundation.
KOKOMO, Ind.—Howard Regional Health System has opened a new 28,000-square-foot emergency department. The 149-bed hospital, operated by Howard County, planned the space to better accommodate the `persistent use of the emergency room for...
BURLINGTON, Mass.—The Massachusetts Hospital Association board of trustees has appointed Robert Norton, 57, chairman. Norton, who is president and chief executive officer of 417-bed North Shore Medical Center in Salem, has served as MHA vice...
AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas Senate last month approved a constitutional amendment that would allow the state to borrow $3 billion over the next decade to fund research aimed at eradicating cancer. If approved by voters in November, the plan would...
Transparency has some new impetus, as can be gleaned from a commentary in this issue by Healthcare Financial Management Association chief Richard Clarke (p. 58), the expansion of the Hospital Compare program, the recent actions of the Internal...
In response to the Outliers item about the request for names of former patients buried on the grounds of the Hastings Regional Center (June 11, p. 36): I can see how, at first glance, those requests make sense. However, releasing names would...
I know many of the people who read my columns are doers, not spectators. They love action, are passionate, love their work and don’t sit around waiting for things to happen to them. I know these things by the missives I receive from the many people...
Edward Mirzabegian, 59, has been named CEO of Antelope Valley Hospital, a not-for-profit facility in Lancaster, Calif. Mirzabegian replaces Les Wong, 62, who in agreement with the board of directors tendered his resignation on June 15,...
Year one of Carilion Clinic’s bid to convert to a physician-led facility has been marked by ongoing opposition from area doctors and an urgent push to launch Virginia’s fifth medical school.
The recent growth in Medicare expenditures for physician services has more to do with the increases in the volume and intensity of services provided than changes to Medicare’s payment rates, the Congressional Budget Office reported in a background...
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems have formed an alliance in order to better focus a strategy to address physician health information technology needs and...
A new coalition of employers and physician groups plans to advance the concept of the patient-centered “medical home” as a way to reform the Medicare physician payment system. Members of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative presented...
Just six U.S. medical schools earned an A from the American Medical Student Association in the group’s 2007 PharmFree Scorecard, which ranks schools according to their pharmaceutical influence policies. The AMSA launched the PharmFree campaign in...
High theater met the hallowed halls of the nation’s capital last week, as filmmaker/provocateur Michael Moore stood side-by-side with members of Congress to denigrate the U.S. healthcare system. Oh, and to pitch his new movie, “Sicko,” which he was...
