- The House of Representatives last week reallocated part of the federal budget to keep Veterans Affairs hospitals open. The House included the provision in a late amendment to a highway-funding bill. The amendment shifts $3.5 billion that VA Secretary Robert McDonald said would prevent VA hospitals and clinics from shutting down. He added that static budgets are not covering the agency's changing needs. McDonald said as much as $500 million is being spent to treat VA patients with hepatitis C, with a single pill for the liver-wasting viral infection costing up to $1,000.
House budget adds money to keep VA hospitals open, and other briefs
- The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis released its advance estimate for second-quarter gross domestic product last week and showed that healthcare spending climbed 4.9%, compared with the second quarter a year ago. The overall economy grew at a 2.3% rate in the quarter. It was the second straight quarter of fairly rapid growth in healthcare spending, despite an overall sluggish economy. The sector grew 5.7% in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2014.
- Patricia Hemingway Hall, president and CEO of Health Care Service Corp., will retire at year-end. She has led HCSC, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurer for five states, since 2008, and has been with the company for 23 years. Hemingway Hall, 62, is considered one of the most powerful people in the healthcare industry because of the size and influence of Chicago-based HCSC. It is the largest not-for-profit health insurer in the country, selling Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois and Texas, as well as Montana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Hemingway Hall, a former nurse, previously was the CEO of the Texas Blues brand. HCSC named Paula Steiner as president, effective immediately, and as the next CEO starting Jan. 1.
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