AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas Health Services Authority and the Health Information Trust Alliance are partnering to develop and implement a program that will improve the security of health information for Texas residents. The two organizations will run the Texas Covered Entity Privacy and Security Certification Program, which incorporates state and federal privacy and security regulations. Entities in Texas, the first state to have such a program, will be able to get a certification recommendation from HITrust by undergoing an assessment of their compliance with 2011 revisions to the...
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DALLAS—The biggest not-for-profit healthcare player in Texas is now Baylor Scott & White Health, a system formed last week when Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare consummated a long-planned merger. The organization has 43 hospitals, including joint ventures, and combined revenue of $5.9 billion, based on unaudited 2013 figures. The system spans 24 counties from the northern suburbs of Dallas to Brenham, about 80 miles northwest of Houston. The deal—which took 10 months to complete after the letter of intent was...
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BATON ROUGE, La.—Management of two LSU hospitals in north Louisiana is being turned over to a not-for-profit research foundation that has never run a patient-care facility, raising concerns about whether it has the experience and the financing needed to oversee the public hospitals. The privatization of the university-run hospitals in Shreveport and Monroe is in contrast to the approach Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration took in south Louisiana, where nearly all of LSU's facilities are being overseen by companies that run other private hospitals in the area. The Biomedical...
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KINGSPORT, Tenn.—With the help of six employers in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia, Wellmont Health System in Kingsport introduced a free community health initiative known as Wellmont LiveWell. Eastman Chemical Co., Food City, Alpha Natural Resources, Domtar Corp., Electro-Mechanical Corp., and Strongwell are the partners working with Wellmont to provide the online portal focused on a commitment to wellness and healthy living. The website, launched on July 10, allows participants to take a personal health assessment, access a health library and calendar of local health...
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INVERNESS, Fla.—The Citrus County Hospital Board narrowed the bidding for its struggling Citrus Memorial Health System to three for-profit suitors. The board received five proposals from four bidders looking to take over the hospital, which is saddled with $80 million in debt and $30 million in underfunded pension liabilities. Initially, four bidders were vying for the 198-bed hospital: HCA, Nashville; RegionalCare Hospital Partners, Brentwood, Tenn.; Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital; and Health Management Associates, Naples, Fla., which submitted two proposals. The board eliminated...
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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla.—Health Management Associates is on its way to forging its third deal this year after it was selected to begin negotiations with Bert Fish Medical Center. The public Southeast Volusia Hospital District chose Naples, Fla.-based HMA over Daytona Beach-based Halifax Health. The deal comes after Florida added more oversight of public hospital sales and leases, and also required them to undertake self-evaluations of whether a takeover might be in their best interest. It's also the epilogue of the bungled deal between Bert...
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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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Nearly a year after a Kentucky hospital sued the state over its expanded Medicaid managed-care program, Gov. Steve Beshear has unveiled an “aggressive plan” to resolve payment disputes between payers and providers.Beshear outlined the plan April 5 after vetoing House Bill 5, which was designed to help healthcare providers receive prompt payments from the state's three Medicaid managed-care contractors. The bill would have required the state Department of Insurance to investigate payment complaints—something it already does in the private insurance market.
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BATON ROUGE, La.—Plans to privatize most of Louisiana State University's public hospitals means borrowing for repairs and construction of the health facilities will be taxable. That borrowing will cost the state more. The Louisiana State Bond Commission learned that bonds issued for LSU hospitals and clinics slated to be managed by private hospital operators don't meet the requirements for tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. Nearly $56 million in taxable borrowing was approved last week for LSU healthcare facility construction projects, done through bond sales to...
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A medical school partnership between Ochsner Health System and an Australian university has graduated its first nine students.The program, called the University of Queensland School of Medicine Clinical School at Ochsner, has students spend the first two years of medical school at the University of Queensland in Brisbane and the final two years of clinical rotations at Oschsner in New Orleans. One of the goals is to help alleviate the shortage of physicians in the U.S. and Louisiana, said Dr. William Pinsky, executive vice president and chief academic officer at Ochsner.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Florida hospital officials are lobbying lawmakers to expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 1 million residents under the federal healthcare law. A rally last week in Tallahassee came a day after a Senate panel voted against traditional Medicaid expansion and instead proposed a voucher system where patients would obtain private insurance through Florida Healthy Kids. Patients may have to pay premiums and co-payments. State funds could be used to subsidize that. A House panel has also vetoed expansion. Hospital executives said they're less concerned about the...
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Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who swiftly rejected Medicaid expansion under health reform after last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed states to do so, called for the state to expand the safety net program for three years, or as long as federal tax dollars cover all the costs.The Republican governor—one of a number to recently announce they would embrace federal financing for the Medicaid expansion—said the state would use the time to evaluate its options and assess how the increased enrollment affects healthcare costs, access and quality.
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IRVING, Texas—Christus Health, a Catholic not-for-profit health system, announced that it plans to enter into a joint venture with Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, a Chilean university owned by the Catholic Church. The memorandum of understanding signed by the two provides for the ownership, operation and expansion of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile's health network as 17-hospital Christus supplies a local executive team, including CEO, chief operating officer and chief financial officer. “We believe that the partnership we create in Chile and our...
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NORMAN, Okla.—The Federal Trade Commission bestowed a rare approval on a proposed arrangement between a large group of Oklahoma doctors and a local hospital, even though people involved with the new network admit that they plan to raise some prices. In a 21-page advisory opinion, FTC Assistant Director Markus Meier wrote that the integrated network's potential benefits to patients, providers and payers seemed to outweigh its risks. The conclusion came despite the fact that proponents of the new arrangement cannot yet quantify the economic benefits. That's because the publicly...
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ATLANTA—SunLink Health Systems is planning to delist its shares and sell underperforming facilities. All four of its hospitals are currently underperforming and it has hired advisers to evaluate the sale of at least two of them, the system said in a news release. SunLink's hospitals are 31-bed Callaway Community Hospital, Fulton, Mo.; 49-bed Chestatee Regional Hospital, Dahlonega, Ga.; 150-bed North Georgia Medical Center, Ellijay; and 61-bed Trace Regional Hospital, Houston, Miss. The company said it would use the proceeds of the sales to fund its working capital needs, noting...
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Residents of the Mississippi Delta region are more likely to die from a number of conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and federal officials are trying to improve efforts to reduce those disparities by taking a more focused approach.
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