Gregg Blesch February 02, 2009 New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo runs what he calls a Health Care Industry Taskforce, which his Web site says exists to deliver “innovative, high-intensity, high-impact and high-speed advocacy” and “model, industrywide reforms.” SEE Web Exclusive: ... FULL STORY
Neil Mclaughlin February 02, 2009 As the nation spirals into economic calamity, it’s hard to find any rays of hope or cheer. But healthcare industry executives and employees can take some comfort in the fact that their situation could be worse—much worse. ... FULL STORY
Joseph Conn February 02, 2009 Much of the attention of the healthcare industry over the past several weeks has been focused on Washington and the various proposals before Congress to boost the faltering economy, including spending billions of dollars subsidizing health information technology. ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston was named the recipient of the National Quality Forum’s 2009 National Quality Healthcare Award. The 16th annual award recognizes a healthcare organization that successfully uses performance measures to drive quality improvement in patient care. Dan... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Gen-Probe, a diagnostic-test manufacturer based in San Diego, announced plans to acquire the U.K.-based molecular diagnostic company Tepnel Life Sciences for $132 million, according to a news release. The cash offer has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors, but is still subject to... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Federal agents arrested Robert Bourseau on charges that he participated in a scheme to recruit homeless people as patients to defraud Medicare and Medicaid when he was co-owner and chief financial officer at 150-bed City of Angels Medical Center in Los Angeles. Bourseau, 74, was taken into custody... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald charged two Chicago-area physicians in separate cases of healthcare fraud, one of whom allegedly collected more than $13 million from Medicare and private insurers for treatment he never provided. In court documents filed Jan. 28 in U.S. District Court in Chicago,... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Dale Wolf resigned as president and chief executive officer of Coventry Health Care, effective Jan. 30. Executive Chairman Allen Wise was named to take over as CEO at the managed-care company. Wise, 66, was CEO from 1996 to 2004, when Wolf, 55, was promoted to the job from chief financial officer. ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Fitch Ratings reiterated its negative outlook for not-for-profit hospitals as the nation’s recession deepens and the credit crunch drags on. The agency lowered its outlook from stable in early December 2008. Rising unemployment, poorly performing investments, and costly and limited capital continue... ... FULL STORY
Gregg Blesch February 02, 2009 New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo runs what he calls a Health Care Industry Taskforce, which his Web site says exists to deliver “innovative, high-intensity, high-impact and high-speed advocacy” and “model, industrywide reforms.” SEE Web Exclusive: ... FULL STORY
Gregg Blesch February 02, 2009 Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston disposed of a two-year antitrust inquiry in a settlement with the Texas attorney general, but much of the same territory will be disputed all over again in a private lawsuit headed for trial as soon as March. ... FULL STORY
Gregg Blesch February 02, 2009 This year, the CMS promises to take a harder look at the random sample of records it reviews to estimate how many flawed claims Medicare pays for durable medical equipment, or DME, spurred by a report indicating its numbers have been as deficient as many of those questionable bills. ... FULL STORY
Joseph Conn February 02, 2009 Much of the attention of the healthcare industry over the past several weeks has been focused on Washington and the various proposals before Congress to boost the faltering economy, including spending billions of dollars subsidizing health information technology. ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 BOARDMAN, Ohio—Akron Children’s Hospital opened a 32-bed children’s hospital called Beeghly Campus in Boardman on Dec. 8, 2008. In late 2007 the 253-bed Akron hospital and Humility of Mary Health Partners, a region of Catholic Healthcare Partners, paid equal shares of $26 million to acquire... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 TURNERSVILLE, N.J.—Kennedy Memorial Hospitals-University Medical Center, Cherry Hill, N.J., unveiled a $13.4 million surgical department expansion at its Washington Township campus in Turnersville. The 155-bed campus of the 482-bed hospital is expected to open the new surgical unit early... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 RICHMOND, Texas—OakBend Medical Center said that the CMS decided to award it a full Medicare inpatient update for fiscal 2009 after initially denying the funds because of problems with its quality data. OakBend, like more than 60 other hospitals, was told by the CMS that it would not receive... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 OAKLAND, Calif.—As many as half of California hospital buildings at risk of earthquake damage or collapse won’t meet state construction mandates because of changing economic conditions and other factors, according to a new policy brief from the California HealthCare Foundation. Under a 1994... ... FULL STORY
Neil Mclaughlin February 02, 2009 As the nation spirals into economic calamity, it’s hard to find any rays of hope or cheer. But healthcare industry executives and employees can take some comfort in the fact that their situation could be worse—much worse. ... FULL STORY
Leigh Hamby February 02, 2009 The economy is having an unprecedented effect on healthcare. Understandably, money-strapped patients would rather buy food and other necessities instead of nonimmediate healthcare services. Faced with declining patient volume and revenue, hospitals and healthcare systems around the country are... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Professor Richard Scheffler makes the point that the economics of healthcare makes recruiting into primary medicine training difficult (“Recruiting the docs we need”). To make things gloomier, there’s no way to solve the problem because there’s no one permitted to pay family physicians and general... ... FULL STORY
Joseph Swedish February 02, 2009 As Congress and the new administration prepare to include health information technology and other reform elements in economic recovery legislation, it is more important than ever that leaders and clinicians increase their role in the dialogue. It is the “real world tested” experiences of health IT... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 A list of the nation's top vendors of acute-care EHR systems, based on total number of installations at acute-care hospitals from January 2008 to January 2009. Source: HIMSS Analytics Database. Published Feb. 2, 2009.This list includes the following data points: ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 West Penn Allegheny Health System, Pittsburgh, named Dawn Gideon to the newly created role of executive vice president and chief of hospital operations. Gideon joined the struggling system in April 2008 as president and CEO of its West Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh, and West Penn Hospital-Forbes... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Simon Stevens will lead UnitedHealth Group’s healthcare reform agenda and global health interests as executive vice president, the Minnetonka, Minn.-based insurer announced. Larry Renfro will replace Stevens as CEO of Ovations—UnitedHealth Group’s seniors health business that includes... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Richard Besser, a pediatrician who has worked on the epidemiology of food-borne diseases, was named acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and acting administrator at the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry. Besser, 49, immediately follows William... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 As the economy slows and consumers snap wallets shut, retailers nationwide are feeling the pinch. But one major sector of the economy is warming up to retail as a way to recruit new customers during down times: health insurers. ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 While most middle-school-age children are considering where they’ll go to high school or college, some students in San Antonio are already thinking about their careers. That’s because this fall, San Antonio will open City Center Health Careers—a charter school for grades six through 12—in an effort... ... FULL STORY
February 02, 2009 Outliers can only speculate, but it appears someone forgot to tell the staff of a Denver-based medical-travel company that using taxpayer dollars to send business overseas may not go over well during a recession. ... FULL STORY
