David May July 27, 2009 It was a brief news item just a couple of weeks ago, reporting projections for the annual increase in the cost of HMO premiums in 2010. It looks like another year and another likely double-digit increase for those health plans, this time 12%. ... FULL STORY
Shawn Rhea July 27, 2009 When stories about medical tourism began making news roughly a decade ago, most of the coverage focused on wealthy patients who sought cosmetic procedures and experimental treatments outside of the U.S. But as healthcare costs and the number of Americans without medical insurance have skyrocketed,... ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 A New Jersey official ruled that Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey can go ahead and offer companies with fewer than 50 employees a health plan that limits benefits at out-of-network ambulatory surgery centers up to $2,000 a year. An organization representing ASCs, orthopedic surgeons... ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson, Md., part of 60-hospital Catholic Health Initiatives, struck a tentative deal with federal prosecutors to settle a yearlong investigation into the provider’s financial relationship with the physicians group MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates. Hospital... ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 Three major insurers filed protests with the Government Accountability Office after Tricare awarded new lucrative military healthcare benefits contracts to competitors. Humana, Health Net and UnitedHealth Group filed protests with the GAO over the managed-care contract awards, announced on July 13. ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 Connecticut’s Legislature overrode Gov. Jodi Rell’s veto of a bill that charges a newly created board with devising a public health plan to expand health insurance coverage. Rell argued the legislation would cost at least $1 billion and “represents a comprehensive takeover of... ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 John Bluford III, president and CEO of two-hospital Truman Medical Centers, Kansas City, Mo., will become the chairman-elect of the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees in January 2010. Bluford, 60, would then become board chairman in 2011. AHA trustees elected him as its next future... ... FULL STORY
July 26, 2009 St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson, Md., part of 60-hospital Catholic Health Initiatives, struck a tentative deal with federal prosecutors to settle a yearlong investigation into the provider's financial relationship with the physicians group MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates. Hospital officials... ... FULL STORY
Melanie Evans July 27, 2009 One experiment to revamp how hospitals and doctors are paid has won converts at the Carilion Clinic, where executives are negotiating with insurers to boost quality and curb costs for a share of the savings. ... FULL STORY
Matthew DoBias July 27, 2009 Public optimism belied private tumult last week as an all-consuming effort to reshape the healthcare system was rocked by infighting, outside pressure and a looming deadline that all but ensures Congress and the White House will spend the rest of the year trying to make good on this singular... ... FULL STORY
Joseph Conn July 27, 2009 The Veterans Affairs Department has put on hold 45 information technology projects, most of them involving software applications for healthcare, while it subjects the projects to internal review and the strictures of a new project-management scheme. ... FULL STORY
Andis Robeznieks July 27, 2009 The American Medical Association is facing fierce and vocal opposition from several medical societies over its endorsement of the Affordable Health Choices Act, while others are taking more nuanced approaches. ... FULL STORY
Jennifer Lubell July 27, 2009 Some are wondering if the American Medical Association is selling out patients and physicians alike in endorsing comprehensive healthcare legislation that contains provisions to crack down on physician-owned hospitals. ... FULL STORY
Rebecca Vesely July 27, 2009 For only the second time in the past five years, a California hospital has lost its CMS contract for what the government says are serious and repeated deficiencies. The action triggers the loss of about $150 million in Medicare and Medicaid funding for Anaheim General Hospital. ... FULL STORY
Melanie Evans July 27, 2009 Medical Capital Holdings, Tustin, Calif., landed briefly under control of a receiver last week before a federal judge reversed his order in a lawsuit charging the healthcare receivables finance and investment company with fraud. ... FULL STORY
Jean DerGurahian July 27, 2009 The growth in the cost of healthcare impacts the economic performance of U.S. industries that typically shoulder employer-sponsored insurance, according to a RAND Corp. study. ... FULL STORY
Vince Galloro July 27, 2009 Healthcare services executives could be excused for wondering if their counterparts in pharmaceuticals are unaware that there’s a recession. ... FULL STORY
Shawn Rhea July 27, 2009 It was hardly a new message when presenters at the 2009 Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management conference made it clear that controlling physician preference purchasing has become an even more urgent goal for supply-chain managers, given dismal operating margins and healthcare... ... FULL STORY
Gregg Blesch and Andis Robeznieks July 27, 2009 Two rural Texas nurses face criminal charges for anonymously sending a letter to the state medical board reporting their concerns about a physician’s prescribing practices. ... FULL STORY
By Joseph Conn July 27, 2009 The healthcare industry can save billions of dollars a year without government oversight or financial inducement just by doing what other industries already do to cut costs, according to a report by the Healthcare Administrative Simplification Coalition. ... FULL STORY
Jennifer Lubell July 27, 2009 Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Miss., is feeling the impact of a state psychiatric hospital's decision to downsize its bed count. Mississippi State Hospital, located about 90 miles away in Whitfield, “has been discharging more patients from the state system. This has led to more... ... FULL STORY
Shawn Rhea July 27, 2009 When stories about medical tourism began making news roughly a decade ago, most of the coverage focused on wealthy patients who sought cosmetic procedures and experimental treatments outside of the U.S. But as healthcare costs and the number of Americans without medical insurance have skyrocketed,... ... FULL STORY
David May July 27, 2009 It was a brief news item just a couple of weeks ago, reporting projections for the annual increase in the cost of HMO premiums in 2010. It looks like another year and another likely double-digit increase for those health plans, this time 12%. ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 As a longtime nurse, quality professional and with oversight responsibilities for implementation of the Joint Commission goals on reducing healthcare-acquired infections, what were you thinking? ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 A list of healthcare's most frequently billed Medicare DRGs, ranked by 2008 Medicare patient discharges. Source: Thomson Reuters. Published July 27, 2009. ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 A face has been put to a legendary name found ubiquitously in medical textbooks. No, it's not Hippocrates, but Phineas Gage, the foreman of a railroad construction crew who had the misfortune of having a 3-foot, 7-inch, 13¼-pound iron rod shot through his head after an accidental explosion on Sept. ... FULL STORY
July 27, 2009 To get their points across, authors of healthcare-journal reports use surveys, data analysis and footnotes—lots and lots of footnotes. Language can be tortured and twisted in order to explain why a 3% swing on one issue may be meaningful, while 5% is “statistically insignificant”... ... FULL STORY
