High court issues emergency injunction in birth control mandate case, and other briefs

Modern Healthcare

  • The U.S. Supreme Court late July 3 granted a Chicago-area private college a rare emergency injunction in an ongoing contraception-mandate case, drawing a stern rebuke from Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The court's majority gave not-for-profit Wheaton (Ill.) College permission not to sign a form indicating that it objects to the HHS rule mandating all insurers to provide coverage for contraceptive services for women. Sotomayor was joined in a 16-page dissent to the two-page order by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Elena Kagan, who said the court was essentially micromanaging the HHS and rewriting its regulations for unknown and unjustifiable reasons.

  • Ambulatory- and long-term-care employment growth helped add 21,000 jobs in healthcare in June, figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Thursday show. Hospital hiring was largely flat in a month that saw robust jobs growth overall. Last month's employment gains increased overall healthcare hiring by 0.1%. During the year that ended last month, healthcare added 225,100 jobs, representing growth of 1.6%. The U.S. economy, meanwhile, added 288,000 jobs last month and unemployment dropped to 6.1%, its lowest level since September 2008, the bureau reported.

  • Prime Healthcare Services has closed on its $48.8 million acquisition of Garden City (Mich.) Hospital, its first facility in Michigan. The deal marks another step east for the Ontario, Calif.-based for-profit hospital operator. Several hospitals in New Jersey are on the brink of joining Prime as well. “There was always the intention of expanding nationally,” Prime spokesman Edward Barrera said. “It's just where the best opportunities come.” Five hospitals in New Jersey—three within St. Clare's Health System in Denville, St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark and St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic—are expected to become part of Prime by year-end.
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