October 19, 2009 HARRISBURG, Pa.—Pennsylvania's overdue budget included smaller cuts to hospital revenue than proposed, but redirected existing taxes and fees into the state's $27.8 billion general fund from healthcare funds and added a Medicaid managed-care tax. The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania said the 2009-10 budget, signed by Gov. Ed Rendell earlier this month, scaled back $280 million in proposed cuts to state and federal hospital revenue for trauma and burn centers, academic medical centers, critical-access hospitals, medical education, community access and... ... FULL STORY
September 21, 2009 ALBANY, N.Y.—New York Gov. David Paterson last week signed into law a bill that forces hospitals to publicly report nurse-patient staffing data along with information on patient outcomes. Officials with the New York State Nurses Association said the data could someday lay the groundwork for a nurse-patient-ratio staffing law similar to the one in California, which mandates hospitals maintain specific ratios of direct caregivers and patients. New York nurses' union spokeswoman Nancy Webber said the state already has a law on the books requiring hospitals to provide... ... FULL STORY
August 31, 2009 NEW YORK—Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University agreed to extend an affiliation in place since 1968 by 10 years. Under the agreement, 1,094-bed Montefiore will be responsible for the oversight of residency programs while Albert Einstein will have oversight of National Institutes of Health-funded clinical and translational research, said Brian Currie, vice president and medical director for research at Montefiore and assistant dean for clinical research at the medical college. “We're playing to each others'... ... FULL STORY
May 18, 2009 TUNKHANNOCK, Pa.—Tyler Memorial Hospital and the Northeast region of Mercy Health Partners, Scranton, Pa., said last month that they have agreed on a memorandum of understanding in order to investigate a deal between them. The not-for-profits expect to spend 90 to 120 days in due diligence before deciding whether to collaborate and in what form. Mercy, which is part of Cincinnati-based Catholic Healthcare Partners, operates 230-bed Mercy Hospital of Scranton and 68-bed Mercy Special Care Hospital, Nanticoke, Pa. Scranton is about 25 miles away from 58-bed Tyler Memorial. Denise Gieski,... ... FULL STORY
March 02, 2009 ALBANY, N.Y.—A new comparative analysis of 19 states shows that New York’s Medicaid program spends the most on long-term healthcare, but delivers only average or slightly above average quality. The study was conducted by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, a nonpartisan Albany-based think tank, for the New York State Health Department with funding from the New York State Health Foundation. According to the report, New York and Maine had the highest rates of Medicaid spending in 2003—5.3%—which was calculated as a percentage of the gross state product. The spending... ... 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 this month, said Nicole Pensiero, a spokeswoman for the hospital’s parent, Voorhees, N.J.-based Kennedy Health System. The approximately 22,700-square-foot expansion includes 39 post-surgical beds, 10 intensive-care-unit beds, 17 semiprivate rooms and three additional rooms for isolation and bariatric... ... FULL STORY
January 12, 2009 MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—Orange Regional Medical Center completed the steel construction on a seven-story hospital scheduled to open in spring 2011. Once complete, Orange Regional will consolidate its two-campus 343-bed hospital into the newly built $317 million facility in Wallkill, N.Y. In December 2007, the not-for-profit sold and leased back its campuses. The project won support from New York’s Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century—which set the state’s plan for upgrading hospitals and cutting excess capacity—and received $48.6 million in aid for debt relief and... ... FULL STORY
December 22, 2008 ALIQUIPPA, Pa.—Commonwealth Medical Center closed, according to a hospital spokeswoman. The Pennsylvania Health Department revoked Commonwealth’s license after the hospital alerted officials it planned to close effective Dec. 12, the agency said in a news release. ... FULL STORY
December 01, 2008 FARMINGTON, Conn.—The University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, unveiled plans to partner with Hartford Healthcare to create a two-campus teaching hospital. Michael Hogan, the university’s president, said the partners hope to complete the deal in January 2009. Hartford Healthcare, which owns 552-bed Hartford (Conn.) Hospital, was one of five hospitals that stepped forward in August with bids to affiliate with the academic health center and its 153-bed John Dempsey Hospital. Hartford submitted a joint deal with the 330-bed Hospital of Central Connecticut, New Britain. The... ... FULL STORY
