Modern Healthcare articles from July 2006

Modern Healthcare archives from July 2006

The real work's still to come; Massachusetts' access plan hinges on controlling costs, improving quality.(Commentary)(health care)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Ronald Hollander Massachusetts is basking in accolades-and more than a few skeptical critiques-from around the nation over the passage of broad-based healthcare reform designed to provide coverage for virtually all uninsured...

Carilion's worthy gamble; Clinic model carries promise of focus on quality and cost-efficiency.(Editorial)(Carilion Health System)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed Across the nation, physicians and hospitals continue their fractious ways. Hospital administrators are being forced out by unhappy doctors. Entire departments worth of physicians are...

JCAHO rival has setback; TUV must reapply for CMS deeming authority.(The Week In Healthcare)(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)(TUV Healthcare Specialists)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Joseph Conn A Cincinnati consulting firm, TUV Healthcare Specialists, was rejected in its bid to become the first organization since 1965 to be given CMS authority to accredit hospitals, but TUV said it will try again. The...

Reassessing CON laws; Scrushy verdict raises questions on process' integrity.(The Week In Healthcare)(certificate of need)(case of Richard Scrushy, HealthSouth Corp.)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Jessica Zigmond An Alabama jury's guilty verdict in HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy's most recent trial revives questions about the legitimacy of the certificate-of-need process, which many states use to determine if...

Payment bump may not help; Proposed 4.7% cut is still a concern for physicians.(Physician Affairs)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell The American Medical Association is skeptical that the CMS' proposal to increase payments for evaluation and management services under the physician fee schedule would benefit doctors on a cumulative scale. The...

Hospitals join legal fray; Class actions seek to recover outlier payments.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor The federal government isn't the only one seeking compensation from hospitals and systems accused of taking more than their fair share of outlier payments. Other hospitals are filing class-action complaints seeking the...

Tenet continues divesting; Nine hospitals in Fla., La., Pa. also put on the block.(The Week In Healthcare)(Tenet Healthcare Corp.)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Vince Galloro For the third time in a little more than three years, Tenet Healthcare Corp. announced plans to divest a group of poor-performing hospitals. Completing this third divestiture plan will shrink the Dallas-based company...

Other Voices.(Opinions)
July 10, 2006... "Vietnam turned Department of Veterans Affairs medical teams into experts on post-traumatic stress disorder. No one knows yet how many veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars will suffer service-related disabilities. So far, there have been...

Look 'em in the eye; Face-to-face meetings can hold the key to success.(Lauer's Letter)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director The Internet is a wonderful thing. It has made our daily lives a little easier. In business, it is now an essential tool for everyone. What would we do without our...

Carpenter's new role: CEO.(The Week In Healthcare)(Bill Carpenter joins LifePoint Hospitals Inc.)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Vince Galloro Bill Carpenter was never a hospital chief executive officer, but he says he has learned enough about hospital operations in his roles as lawyer to healthcare companies and general counsel and chief development officer...

Doc income falling since '95 due to declining fees: study.(Physician Affairs)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Michael Romano Average net income for doctors dropped 7% after adjusting for inflation from 1995 to 2003, according to a new survey by the Center for Studying Health System Change. Officials blamed flat or declining fees from...

Board, quality linked: study.(survey reports)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker A hospital's board appears to play far more than an ornamental role in both the clinical and financial operations of a hospital. The hands-on engagement of the board in the oversight of quality practices appears to...

Outlier probe may widen; Consultancies may be next to come under scrutiny.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor Two recent False Claims Act settlements by Tenet Healthcare Corp. and St. Barnabas Health Care System-for a combined total of $1.2 billion-may signal a flurry of more hospital settlements to come. And the...

High quality, low mortality? Top-notch care not necessarily a lifesaver: study.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Andis Robeznieks Some of the benchmarks used by the CMS and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to track hospital quality may have little impact on actual mortality rates, a new study suggests. ...

PERSONAL AND (MAYBE) CONFIDENTIAL; Questions over privacy, formats and definitions remain, but personal health records are on the way.(Special Report)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Joseph Conn Personal health records are probably the hottest thing in healthcare information technology right now, with the potential of becoming a key information-sharing vehicle for hundreds of millions of Americans in the next...

PROOF OR CONSEQUENCES; Law to curb illegal immigrants' Medicaid coverage may sting U.S. citizens seeking medical treatment without documentation.
July 10, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell Among Cooper Green Hospital's largely elderly and homeless patient population in Birmingham, Ala., a driver's license or birth certificate might be hard to come by, said Sandral Hullett, chief executive officer and...

Encore going private; Orthopedic devicemaker being bought by investors.(The Week In Healthcare)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone A transaction that would make publicly traded orthopedic devicemaker Encore Medical Corp. a private company could help it capitalize on a burgeoning market. In late June, Austin, Texas-based Encore signed a...

Wis. tackles healthcare costs; Badger State eyes reinsurance, improved access.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 10, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evans Two Wisconsin initiatives unveiled separately in recent weeks seek to rein in the state's high healthcare costs among employers and providers while improving access for the uninsured. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle used...

Healthcare lags in paying for congressional travel.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)(Thomas, Bill California representative and chairman)
July 10, 2006... Ethics scandals in Congress have sent many to scour the public reports of lawmaker's subsidized travel. So where is U.S. healthcare sending our nation's lawmakers-or, more accurately, lawmakers' staffers? The American Hospital Association...

Late News; Calif. prison healthcare slammed.
July 10, 2006... A federal receiver appointed to repair California's $1.4 billion prison healthcare system called conditions disgraceful and dominated by "a culture of incompetence and nonperformance." "Almost every necessary element of a working medical-care...

Corrections & Clarifications.(Corrections)(Correction notice)
July 10, 2006... The article "Removing the taint" (June 26, p. 8) incorrectly stated the year in which the 75% rule for inpatient rehabilitation facilities would be implemented fully; it should have said 2008.

By The Numbers.(The Week In Healthcare)(Dennis O'Leary physician of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations )(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Dennis O'Leary, a physician, will be stepping down as president of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations at the end of 2007. Modern Healthcare asked online readers what kind of experience his successor should have.

Bridging the gap; Practice administrator job evolves.(Physician Affairs)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Jay Greene The job of medical-group-practice administrator has changed greatly as the healthcare industry has moved into the age of increasingly complex technology, information and regulation. While hundreds of office managers...

Data trackers --2006; The groups providing salary survey information.(Special Feature)
July 17, 2006... American Medical Group Association The Alexandria, Va.-based trade group's Medical Group Compensation and Financial Survey was conducted in December 2005 in partnership with the accounting and consulting firm RSM McGladrey. The survey...

Groups go to bat for kids.(healthcare and social activist groups services for health care)(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Matthew DoBias More than 35 healthcare and social activist groups last week joined together to form the Campaign for Children's Health Care, which aims to boost public awareness about the 9 million children without health insurance...

Part D outdoes expectations; But providers may face more cuts in reimbursement.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Matthew DoBias The new Medicare prescription drug plan and the rapidly mending Medicaid program received good news last week. During a midsession budget checkup, federal actuaries showed that both programs outperformed government...

Letting the good times roll; Happiness to be found among friends and in seeking to make a difference.(Lauer's Letter)(Lou Gagliotto refuse collector's opinion)(General Electric executive Jack Welch)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director It's hard to define happiness. Most people, if pressed, probably would say it means being content, with a loving spouse, two kids, a good job and a nice home in a safe...

Quality guru moves on.(resignation of Richard Shannon from Allegheny General Hospital )(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker Richard Shannon, a pioneer in the national movement to reduce hospital-acquired infections, is leaving his post as chairman of medicine at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh on Oct. 1 for the University of...

Home-care demands rise; Medicaid key to helping seniors remain in abodes.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evans The nation's aging, determined baby boomers likely won't move into nursing homes without a fight. So just how many caregivers will the U.S. need to ensure vulnerable seniors can stay at home as long as possible? ...

N.J. Blues will offer rewards.(The Week In Healthcare)(Leapfrog hospital rewards program)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Andis Robeznieks Financial and nonfinancial recognition'' will be used to reward high-performing and improving hospitals starting second quarter 2007 under a Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey program launched July 13...

Appeal goes healthcare's way.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor Failing to legitimately value assets could get tax-exempt organizations involved in transactions in big trouble, according to last week's decision in a healthcare tax case by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New...

Petasnick set to chair AHA.(Late News)(American Hospital Association)(William Petasnick appointed as chairman of AHA)(Kevin Lofton president and CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives)(George Lynn president of AtlantiCare)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evans When William Petasnick succeeds Kevin Lofton as chairman-elect of the American Hospital Association in January, he will begin a year-long initiation that includes frequent travel and a 12-month stint heading the...

Doctor who was sued by hospital says he was framed in gun case.(Outliers: Asides & Insides)(physician Michael Fitzgibbons- case)(integrated healthcare holdings merge, case against Fitzgibbons)
July 17, 2006... Less than a month after successfully fending off a lawsuit by the owners of Western Medical Center-Santa Ana (Calif.), outspoken physician Michael Fitzgibbons could soon wind up back in court, this time defending himself against the unlikely...

Flexibility and humility; When it comes to healthcare reform, all conclusions may be premature.(Editorial)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Todd Sloane, Assistant Managing Editor/Op-Ed Someone once asked if I ever had second thoughts about my past editorials. I thought it was an odd question, given that anyone who writes for a living for very long has an archive of...

On the move...(promotions and appointments)
July 17, 2006... HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS Kevin Lofton has resigned as chairman of the board of Centura Health, Englewood, Colo., to be replaced by Michael Fordyce, chief administrative officer at 56-hospital Catholic Health Initiatives, Denver. Lofton is the...

Scully settlement draws ire; Small fine called no deterrent in conflict case.(The Week In Healthcare)(Tom Scully was administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services )
July 17, 2006... Byline: Mark Taylor Did former CMS Administrator Tom Scully get off lightly in last week's ethics violation settlement with the U.S. attorney's office in Washington because the law's penalties are too lenient, the alleged misconduct is too...

HCA hires VA's Perlin.(Hospital Corporation of America)(Department of Veterans Affairs (US))(Jonathan Perlin appointed)(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Vince Galloro HCA, the largest private hospital chain in the nation, raided the largest healthcare system in the nation, the Veteran Affairs Department, for its new quality chief. HCA hired Jonathan Perlin, undersecretary of...

Opening up the process.(The Week In Healthcare)(Texoma Medical Center merges with Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker T exoma Medical Center in Denison, Texas, is exploring "strategic partnership alternatives'' in a very public way. Last month, the 205-bed hospital that lies near the Texas-Oklahoma border issued a news release...

BIGGER PAYDAY FOR SOME DOCS; Our annual survey shows increases, especially in primary care, but rising inflation blunts pay raises in most medical specialties.(Special Feature)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Michael Romano Finally, there's a glimmer of good news for long-suffering primary-care physicians who traditionally have ranked among the lowest-paid members of the medical profession. While they continue to occupy the southern end...

Another healthy year; Blues plans see 15% rise in net income for 2005.(Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Laura B. Benko As consumers and employers shouldered near-double-digit insurance premium hikes last year, the nation's Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans continued to boost their bottom lines and build up their cache of financial...

ARMING FOR AN EMERGENCY; Hospitals may be more ready for a pandemic now than a year ago, but experts say some preparations are just lip service.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell In the event of a major influenza pandemic, New York City doesn't want to be caught off-guard. Aware of its own vulnerabilities as a potential hub for pandemics and bioterrorism, the city has started its own...

Part D callers get wrong 411.(The Week In Healthcare)(Medicare drug plans)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell Call centers run by private Medicare drug plans offer prompt responses to beneficiaries, but the information they provide isn't always accurate or complete. That's what the Government Accountability Office found...

The cost of bad behavior in OR; Docs', nurses' actions linked to adverse events: study.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 17, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone Disruptive behavior can lead to adverse outcomes in the operating room, and nurses are just as likely as surgeons to be the culprits, according to a study published in this month's Journal of the American College of...

Corrections & Clarifications.(Corrections)(Correction notice)
July 17, 2006... In a story about federal probes of alleged abuses of outlier payments (July 3/10, p. 8), Philip Besler, president and CEO of Besler Consulting, was quoted as saying: "Everyone was giving advice that outlier charges could be increased and that...

Accused doc gets defense fund.(Late News)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Jessica Zigmond Colleagues and patients of physician Anna Pou quickly rallied behind her after she was arrested for second-degree murder by establishing a defense fund to cover what could amount to costly legal fees. Daniel...

GAO: Most pay controls OK.(The Week In Healthcare)(Government Accountability Office report)(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evans Many large not-for-profit health systems have basic controls to prevent abuse of executive pay and benefits, though oversight of perks is far less consistent, according to a new federal study. The findings came in...

AHA's Nielsen to head IT firm.(The Week In Healthcare)(American Hospital Association)(information technology)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Michael Romano Donald Nielsen, one of the top officials of the Chicago-based American Hospital Association for the past eight years, is moving to the private sector as president of First DataBank, a leading provider of integrated,...

Schwarzenegger's reforms seen as influenced by cash.(charges against Arnold Schwarzenegger)
July 31, 2006... When California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger assembled more than 100 business, labor and medical leaders for his Summit on Health Care Affordability last week, his staunchest critics were quick to point out how he sidestepped one key driver...

Strife in `consensus' group; Manufacturers exit coalition on aiding uninsured.(The Week In Healthcare)(National Association of Manufacturers)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evans One of two large employer groups has resigned from an effort to seek consensus among healthcare, union, government and business groups to jointly endorse policies that would rapidly expand insurance coverage. The...

The value of old friends; Take the time to reconnect with those who helped make you who you are.(Lauer's Letter)(Editorial)(Personal account)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Charles S. Lauer, Vice President-Publishing/Editorial Director Every once in a while, I get the urge to contact someone I haven't spoken to for a number of years. When you have been around awhile and know a lot of people, it is...

What to do in an emergency; Experts want to make regional specialty care a reality.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell Congress should amend antitrust laws if necessary to permit and encourage the regionalization of specialty care in emergency rooms, healthcare provider representatives testified at a congressional hearing last week....

Transparent motives; UPMC blazes trail for not-for-profits in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.(Strictly Finance)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker Less than two years ago, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center resisted a local newspaper's attempt to obtain a list of its 61 trustees. The request had been prompted by the disclosure-three months after the...

Controversy, salaries rise; Ranking of CEO pay at publicly traded companies shows that as pay rises, so does federal interest in compensation policies.(Renal Care Group)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Vince Galloro, Laura B. Benko, and Jessica Zigmond The rabid interest in the pay and perks of chief executive officers shows no signs of abating, and healthcare is smack dab in the middle of the intensifying controversy. At...

Financial speak; The bottom line is we're upgrading our pecuniary coverage.(Editorial)(Editorial)
July 31, 2006... Byline: David Burda, Editor As a business publication, virtually every story that runs in Modern Healthcare-from cover stories to briefs-is about money. Will (insert new regulation or legislation here) generate more revenue for our readers...

ADDED INCENTIVE; Pay packages increasingly linked to executive performance.(Special Feature)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Melanie Evans Compensation levels for senior executives-as well as governing boards' willingness to make that compensation dependent on the executives' performance-increased in 2006, again, according to Modern Healthcare's annual...

HRDI seeks settlement; Networking group is under antitrust scrutiny.(Healthcare Research and Development Institute)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Joseph Mantone The Healthcare Research and Development Institute has approached Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal about a possible settlement of his office's ongoing antitrust investigation of the Pensacola,...

Big payment changes ahead? Industry anxiously awaits CMS' inpatient PPS ruling.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Jennifer Lubell Sweeping changes may be afoot for Medicare hospital payments next year-the question is how and when they will be implemented. The CMS on Aug. 1 is scheduled to issue what is proving to be a controversial final...

Paid for performance; Chief medical officers get healthy salary bump in '05.(Physician Affairs)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Jay Greene Total compensation jumped an average of almost 13% in 2005 for chief medical officers at hospitals and nearly 19% for CMOs at medical groups, according to a new survey by the Physician Executive Management Center, a...

HCA's private ambitions; What twists could the industry expect this time?(Hospital Corporation of America)(Company overview)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker Uh-oh, here they go again. Last week's announcement that HCA, the nation's largest investor-owned hospital chain, was going to cycle back into the shell of private ownership put the entire hospital industry on...

Wayland Square SurgiCare settles charity-care case.(Physician Affairs)(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... A Providence, R.I., surgery center will pay $200,000 in cash and donated equipment to settle state charges that it fell significantly short of the charity-care level required under its certificate of need. Wayland Square Surgicare was required...

Proceed with caution; Ore. system learns hard lesson on construction, credit.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Cinda Becker Even in this era of frenzied hospital construction, if you build it, they may not come-at least not as quickly as you want them to-a lesson that was learned the hard way by Legacy Health System. A miscalculation in...

House passes IT bill; Deadline set for ICD-10 implementation.(The Week In Healthcare)
July 31, 2006... Byline: Joseph Conn The healthcare information technology bill passed last week by the House included provisions benefiting hospitals and physicians, though privacy advocates viewed the legislation as a loss. Healthcare providers...

Medical students prefer universal coverage: study.(Physician Affairs)(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... About seven out of 10 first-year medical students favored universal healthcare for the U.S., and about 60% of students in their fourth year of graduate education endorsed a similar course of action, according to a report in the August issue of...

By The Numbers.(The Week In Healthcare)(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... Obesity-related surgery costs soar when complications occur, according to a new study published by HHS?f Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The complication rate among nonelderly, obesity surgery patients with private insurance was...