Pennsylvania to review definition of hospital charity care | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Responding to issues raised in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's recent series, Counting Charity Care, a spokesman for Gov. Tom Wolf said this week that the state will review its definition of charity care in an important state bulletin that nearly every hospital in the state abides by.
Swedish Medical Center looks to close retail pharmacies | KOMO TV
Patients have yet to be notified, but Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, plans to close the retail pharmacies at all of its locations. For weeks, workers at Swedish hospitals have been wearing stickers declaring the pharmacies as “essential to the community.” Those pharmacies are slated for closure before the end of the year.
Ex-Optum fraud investigator refiles federal lawsuit over her firing | (Albuquerque) New Mexican
A former investigator with Optum Health New Mexico has filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the company fired her for reporting to law enforcement officials that nine behavioral health providers had defrauded New Mexico's Medicaid program with Optum's knowledge.
Key moves by Covered California helped keep Obamacare premiums down | (San Jose, Calif.) Mercury News
The nation's ever-controversial health care law suffered a black eye last week after the federal government announced that next year's premiums for those who depend on the Affordable Care Act would increase by an average of 22%. But the blow won't be as painful for most of the 1.4 million Californians who get their health coverage through Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange: The average 2017 premium increase will be 13.2% after two years of modest increases.
FDA approves St. Jude device for those who have suffered stroke | Reuters
It's designed to cut the risk of a second stroke in patients whose previous stroke was believed to have been caused by a blood clot passing through a small hole in the heart to the brain. It offers a non-surgical method for doctors to close the hole in the heart.
Flu drains billions from U.S. businesses | CNBC
A study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that last year alone, the flu was responsible for $5.8 billion in health care and lost productivity costs. About 80 percent of those losses were linked to people who did not get a flu shot.
Athenahealth restructuring leads to layoffs | Boston Business Journal
Watertown, Mass.-based Athenahealth is axing more than 140 employees in two of its offices, laying off about 3 percent of the company's workforce. The firings, which affect the healthcare IT company's San Francisco and Atlanta offices, are part of a larger restructuring
Specialty societies say EHR vendors are blocking their registry work | Politico
Electronic health record companies are obstructing efforts by specialty societies to gather data that are crucial to the Obama administration's goal of improving health care quality, leaders of the physician groups say.
