Changing News Archive - April, 2010

(Crain’s) – The University of Chicago has appointed private-equity executive Rodney Goldstein as chairman of its medical center, the school announced Friday.

A trustee of U of C’s medical center board since 1992 and now its vice-chairman, Mr. Goldstein will replace interim Chairman James Crown. Mr. Crown replaced Valerie Jarrett, who stepped down in early 2009 to serve as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON — The fight over the new health care law shifted Thursday to the states, as some governors claimed federal money to run a new insurance pool for people with serious medical problems, while officials in other states said they would not operate the program.

Friday is the deadline for states to tell the Obama administration whether they want to run the high-risk insurance pool for uninsured people with pre-existing conditions, or whether they will leave the task to Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services.

NEW YORK – St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan is poised to close for good at the end of April. But what will happen to its 3,500 employees when the hospital ceases to exist?

The Senate approved, 59-38, a legislative package that pushes back until June 1 a 21.2% Medicare physician pay cut. The legislation now goes to the House, which is expected to approve the bill as early as tonight or tomorrow.

The scheduled pay cut officially went into effect today, but it's unclear whether CMS contractors would process physician claims with the cut in mind. A handful of Republicans joined Democrats to approve the bill, which also extends out until May 1 federal assistance for the premiums paid under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, also known as COBRA, insurance program.

CHICAGO – Approximately three in four respondents to a survey of healthcare organizations said the recession has negatively impacted their balance sheets more than the 2001 recession.

Completed in February by the Chicago-based credit agency TransUnion, the survey represents 46 healthcare organizations and operations in all 50 states.

According to the survey, 96 percent said their healthcare organization is experiencing a rise in the uninsured/underinsured patient population. More than 41 percent of healthcare administrators said that increase  is the most important issue facing their organization.

ATLANTA — The insurance commissioner of Georgia has chosen not to comply with a federal request to create a state pool for high-risk insurance plans, opening a new front in the resistance by state Republican officials to the new federal health care law.

The commissioner, John W. Oxendine, who is a Republican candidate for governor, appears to be one of the first politicians in the country to take that stance. His decision will not affect the cost of insurance for any patients, but it means that the federal government, not the state, will oversee the distribution of certain federal health care funds in Georgia.

Henry Amoroso, 50, president and CEO of St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, the New York health system swamped in $700 million in debt, has resigned, effective immediately. Mark Toney, the system's chief restructuring officer, will continue as top executive for St. Vincent, a spokesman said.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued the following statement on new reports on health care quality and health care disparities faced by racial, ethnic or income groups. The new reports –  the 2009 National Healthcare Disparities Report and the National Healthcare Quality Report – were released today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

“Today’s reports demonstrate why passing health reform was so critical,” said Sebelius. “In 2009, healthcare associated infections increased and minorities were less likely to have insurance and less likely to get the treatments they needed. In a reformed system, more Americans will get the care they need, regardless of their race or ethnicity and the quality of care will improve. The numbers we saw today are troubling, but ultimately, reform will help turn these numbers around."

WASHINGTON – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued an intermediate sanction against the Aetna Insurance Company for what CMS officials said are violations in administering the Medicare drug benefit.

According to CMS officials, the sanction would become effective April 21 and would prevent Aetna from marketing to and enrolling new beneficiaries until it corrects the violations and "they are not likely to recur."

FRANKLIN, TN – A battle is brewing over Spheris. Three healthcare IT companies will submit bids at the April 13 auction for the assets of the nation’s second largest medical transcription provider, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 3.

Atlanta-based Transcend Services, Inc. has joined Nuance Communications, headquartered in Burlington, Mass., in filing bids by the April 8 deadline. They will go up against MedQuist, Inc., based in Mount Laurel, N.J., which has a deal in place to acquire Franklin, Tenn.-based Spheris’ U.S. and Canadian operations for roughly $75.3 million in cash.

NEW YORK – A new report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggests that the healthcare industry will be a promising place in which to work and invest over the next decade.

PwC's "HealthCast" report, which analyzed the influence of consumerism, genomics and the Internet on healthcare, concludes that healthcare jobs – including new positions such as healthcare navigators, health educators and care coordinators – will be in high demand. There should also be an increasing need for primary care physicians, nurses and physician's assistants, according to researchers.

"From a business/economic perspective, PwC is extremely bullish on prospects for dramatic improvements in healthcare,"  a PwC spokeswoman said. "The healthcare system is really getting 'wired up' and will provide major cost savings in the very near term."

Nearly two months after being acquired by Kroger supermarkets, The Little Clinic doc-in-the-box operation has closed 20 locations, including one in Franklin at Williamson Square. Little Clinic locations in Kroger stores in Indianapolis; Houston; Toledo, Ohio; Richmond, Va.; and Detroit also have closed, as have three storefronts in Columbus, Ohio, and one in Phoenix.

Meghan Glynn, a spokeswoman with Cincinnati-based Kroger, said the affected retail clinic locations hadn't done so well financially. "We want to strengthen the business model and then revisit expansion," she said.

SAN DIEGO – The University of California, San Diego has announced plans to build a state-of-the-art medical center on UC San Diego's east campus in La Jolla, Calif. The new Jacobs Medical Center project is expected to cost $664 million, with about $350 million coming from external financing, $131 million from philanthropy and the remainder from state bonds, reserves and capitalized leases.

The healthcare sector created 26,800 jobs in March and the overall economy created 162,000 new jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary data released this morning.

The national jobless rate remained steady at 9.7%.

When it comes to the physical security of hospital buildings and the well-being of workers, healthcare reform brings with it the likely risk of increased traffic into the nation's ERs.

ERs are among the top locations in medical centers for violence between patients and staff, generally because ERs act as funnels into the rest of the facility.