Five clinical service chiefs at Royal Oak, Mich.-based Beaumont Health System delivered a letter to the Beaumont board of directors asking the board to reconsider its proposed merger with Henry Ford Health System, sources told Crain's Detroit Business. Three board members voted to block a vote to reconsider the merger, sources said. The board then tabled a discussion on the issue for at least three weeks to conduct more due diligence on the extent of opposition from the Beaumont physicians, the sources said.
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LUDINGTON, Mich.—Memorial Medical Center in Ludington is the latest hospital with plans to become a member of Spectrum Health. Memorial Medical, an 80-bed hospital near the shore of Lake Michigan, signed a nonbinding letter of intent to join the not-for-profit system, based about 90 miles south in Grand Rapids. The decision comes after a vote last fall in which Memorial Medical Center's board of directors decided to investigate possible relationships with larger and more integrated healthcare systems. Memorial Medical Center looked at 27 options before narrowing the field to...
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LIVONIA, Mich.—Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan and Trinity Health-Michigan have signed a three-year reimbursement contract that gives Trinity's 12 hospitals in Michigan financial incentives for improving care with affiliated physicians. Blue Cross has similar contracts with Warren-based St. John Providence Health System and Royal Oak-based Beaumont Health System in Southeast Michigan, but the Trinity contract is the first one that applies statewide. “The current fee-for-service approach to paying hospitals is failing to improve care and lower its cost,”...
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COLUMBIA, Mo.—The University of Missouri Health System recently opened a $190 million expansion to University Hospital. The 310,500-square-foot addition includes a 100,000-square-foot replacement for its Ellis Fischel Cancer Center on two of the towers' eight floors. The building has 90 private patient rooms, six operating rooms, 25 pre-procedure rooms and 18 post-procedure rooms. The building also houses a 7,000-square-foot pharmacy. Plans call for six additional operating rooms for the future. Officials have applied for LEED Silver certification for the hospital, which includes...
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MINNEAPOLIS—Sanford Health, a South Dakota health system on an acquisition streak, called off merger talks with Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services after the deal met resistance from Minnesota officials. Sanford CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft said in a statement that the health system appears to be “unwelcome by some interested parties and key stakeholders of our proposed merger partner,” and without their support a merger proposal would be “inconceivable and unacceptable.” Krabbenhoft specifically said no deal would proceed without a “positive...
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A for-profit company that owns three hospitals in New Jersey unveiled a new identity as an integrated health system with plans to offer a Medicaid plan and sell insurance on the state exchange about to launch under the healthcare reform law. In recent years, the Jersey City, N.J.-based company, doing business as Hudson Holdco, acquired 170-bed Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center, 381-bed Christ Hospital in Jersey City and 204-bed Hoboken (N.J.) University Medical Center.
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The Cambridge Health Alliance and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston agreed to form a clinical and academic affiliation. Cambridge Health Alliance, operated by a public authority established by the state Legislature in 1996, is composed of Cambridge Hospital and hospital campuses in Somerville and Everett, as well as the Cambridge Public Health Department. The tighter integration comes ahead of the Cambridge Health Alliance's plans to join the Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization in 2014. The accountable care organization, formed with Harvard...
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Connecticut hospitals would win big under the CMS' latest update of its controversial rural-floor policy. The latest agency calculations project hospitals in the state will see a $75 million boost in fiscal 2014, compared with $16.7 million in the current fiscal year, because of a Medicare payment modifier based on rural and urban hospital categorizations in each state.
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Steward Health Care System is blaming Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island for tanking its bid to buy Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, R.I.The Boston-based system filed a lawsuit alleging the insurer used its dominance in Rhode Island to prevent Steward from entering the state. After spending years pursuing a deal to acquire the 133-bed community hospital and investing millions of dollars in the financially troubled facility, Steward walked away from the transaction in September.
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PITTSBURGH—UPMC, a not-for-profit health system with its tax-exempt status under attack, is fighting back with a lawsuit against its hometown and mayor. The health system's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania, alleges the city of Pittsburgh and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl violated UPMC's right to due process and equal protection when they filed suit in March to challenge UPMC's tax breaks. The health system also argued that it was illegally singled out and that the tax challenge infringed on its right to pursue business across state lines...
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Georgia's Phoebe Putney Health System, which has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court and back in its quest to buy a rival hospital for $200 million, lost a key legal battle last week when a federal judge imposed what he called an “extraordinary and drastic” restraining order on the union.
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As Congress drafted elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that would tie Medicare payments to quality metrics, the House of Representatives added a provision that would shield physicians from lawsuits tied to their failure to meet those marks. That was dropped from the version that became law, but Georgia has resurrected the idea with the help of the American Medical Association. On May 6, Gov. Nathan Deal signed legislation that prevents administrative payment guidelines from being introduced as the standard of care in malpractice suits.
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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.—Mountain States Health Alliance, which operates 12 hospitals in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia, will join Vanderbilt University Medical Center's network of affiliated hospitals. As part of the affiliation, the two organizations will collaborate on physician recruitment, clinical trials and medical research, share best practices in accountable care and evidence-based care models, and work directly with payers. “All of us want to remain independent,” said Clem Wilkes, Mountain State's board chairman. “It's a way that hospitals can...
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NAPLES, Fla.—Health Management Associates, an investor-owned hospital company based in Naples, and Florida Blue, Florida's Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee, will form an accountable care organization to serve patients in Brevard County, Fla. HMA's physicians, along with two of its hospitals—115-bed Wuesthoff Medical Center-Melbourne and 291-bed Wuesthoff Medical Center-Rockledge—will operate the ACO with Florida Blue. “This partnership with Florida Blue is designed to ensure that employers and individuals receive value through improved health and lower...
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HOUSTON—Catholic Health Initiatives will acquire six-hospital St. Luke's Episcopal Health System in Houston, pending regulatory approvals. The Texas Episcopal Diocese approved the definitive agreement, which includes a $1 billion investment from Englewood, Colo.-based CHI. CHI will also spend another $1 billion in establishing a foundation to help the community's underserved. The transaction is expected to be finalized in the summer, and the system would be renamed St. Luke's Health System. “The relationship with Catholic Health Initiatives ensures the Greater Houston area...
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BILLINGS, Mont.—Not-for-profit Billings Clinic and RegionalCare Hospital Partners, a for-profit hospital company based in Brentwood, Tenn., formed a joint venture that seeks to draw on the operational expertise and financial resources of both organizations. “We don't think it's complicated,” said Dr. Nicholas Wolter, CEO of 263-bed Billings Clinic. “Billings Clinic is going to remain not-for-profit.” Billings Clinic will retain its current governance structure, which he described as a medical foundation model with a 250-physician medical group at its core.
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LOS ANGELES—Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health agreed to pay $14.1 million to resolve allegations that it improperly compensated physicians who referred patients to the system's White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles. White Memorial also agreed to enter a five-year corporate integrity agreement with HHS' inspector general's office, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release. The hospital, the government alleged, transferred medical supplies and other goods to physicians for less than fair-market value and paid physicians inflated rates for teaching services in its...
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Two Montana hospitals sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System are paying federal authorities $4 million after an internal review turned up more than 100 potentially illegal arrangements for paying doctors. The two hospitals—206-bed St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings and 25-bed Holy Rosary Healthcare in Miles City—reported the potential problems directly to the U.S. attorney's office in Montana and negotiated settlements of alleged violations of the Stark law and False Claims Act.
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PALO ALTO, Calif.—Stanford Hospitals & Clinics embarked on the four-year construction of a state-of-the-art and seismically sound hospital. The hospital broke ground on a facility that will add 824,000 square feet to the existing hospital and expand inpatient capacity to 600 beds. The project is part of a $5 billion renewal project at the medical center, which also includes expansion of the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The organization is paying for the upgrades with hospital funds—including cash and about $600 million in bond debt—and philanthropy. A group of...
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OAKLAND, Calif.— The percentage of California employers that offer healthcare coverage to their employees has plummeted in the past decade. In 2012, 60% of California employers offered coverage to their employees, down from 71% in 2002, according to a survey by the California HealthCare Foundation. Coverage rates, though, varied significantly by company size. For example, 98% of California employers with at least 1,000 employees offered healthcare coverage last year, as did 97% of firms with 200 to 999 employees. On the other hand, only 49% of employers with between three and...
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