Modern Healthcare articles from October 2007

Modern Healthcare archives from October 2007

Charges of a different kind; Providers say overzealous prosecutors are wrongly trying to transform poor medical judgment into criminal intent.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Gregg Blesch Bay Area transplant surgeon Hootan Roozrokh faces eight years in prison for allegedly trying to make a prospective organ donor die faster. Roozrokh was booked days after a grand jury in New Orleans declined to...

Moral obligations; Catholic officials differ over Vatican feeding-tube rules.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Melanie Evans The Vatican's recent declaration that vegetative patients have a moral right to feeding tubes exposed a rift among Catholic bishops and church-affiliated providers on the question of when such life support can be...

Emphasis on innovation; Our annual Outsourcing Survey shows continued growth among traditional services, but other categories see big jumps.(Special Feature)(Survey)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Jean DerGurahian When his hospital clients began to ask for more assistance with some of their ongoing problems, Steve O'Hara responded with innovative products-proving that one of the oldest services traditionally outsourced in...

Time to nominate trustees.(The Week in Healthcare)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Nominations are now being accepted for Modern Healthcare's 2008 Trustee of the Year competition. The awards, co-sponsored by executive search firm Witt/Kieffer, honor two outstanding trustees for their contributions to healthcare governance,...

No advantage; Little quality progress at managed-care plans: report.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Jennifer Lubell Medicare's controversial managed-care plans, known as Medicare Advantage, appear to be lagging behind other healthcare plans on quality measures, the National Committee for Quality Assurance reported last week. ...

Asides & insides.(Outliers)
October 1, 2007... The worm turns for research in MIT's award-winning chip Consider the lowly worm. As life-forms go, they're quite literally simple creatures that offer no promise of enlightened conversation or of inspiring creativity. But MIT researcher...

Emergency room kickbacks? HHS advisory opinion looks at docs' ER payments.(Late News)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Andis Robeznieks Hospital payments to physicians for providing emergency department on-call coverage, responding to emergency calls, or providing inpatient care for uninsured persons could potentially violate anti-kickback...

Hospitals get $7 billion relief.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Matthew DoBias The hospital lobby won a hard fought yet ultimately partial victory last week, helping to sway Congress to approve a bill that will add back billions of dollars in Medicare reimbursements that otherwise would have...

Briefly.(Late News)
October 1, 2007... Bush to veto House-Senate compromise bill on SCHIP President Bush will veto the House-Senate compromise bill to fund the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program as promised, said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. It is possible,...

Corrections & clarifications.
October 1, 2007... For Modern Healthcare's Up & Comers Yearbook supplement (Sept. 17), here is the correct information for David Carpenter, Class of 1989. Carpenter, 53. Then: President & CEO, Hadley Medical Center, Hays, Kan.; Now: President & CEO, North Kansas...

They're coming to America ... ... for care as some facilities recruit foreign patients.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Shawn Rhea Amid a burgeoning medical tourism market that is drawing U.S. patients overseas to seek care, at least one U.S. hospital is pushing to draw foreign patients here. Seattle's Swedish Medical Center has launched an...

Ten-hut: Back to basics; Boot camp approach ensures customer satisfaction.(Charles S. Lauer)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Charles S. Lauer The boot camp concept today seems to be gaining popularity. Many companies are patterning their sales training meetings along a boot camp mode similar to what the military conducts with its recruits whether it be...

Separate and unequal; Proposed mental-health parity law needs to work harder to ensure fairness.(Opinions Editorials)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Todd Sloane The fact that Congress -- and perhaps the president -- are closer than ever to a mental-health parity statute doesn't mean care shouldn't be taken with the final legislation. A bill working its way through the House is...

Plans enjoy short red light; But lifting marketing ban has advocates concerned.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Matthew DoBias A move by the CMS to lift a marketing ban on a controversial type of Medicare Advantage plan drew criticism by federal lawmakers and advocacy groups even as the nation's largest insurance lobby lauded the step. ...

Vehicle for change; GM, union propose trust to bring down health costs.(General Motors Corp.)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Rebecca Vesely General Motors Corp.'s tentative deal last week with the United Auto Workers to create a healthcare trust is being praised by healthcare providers as an avenue to better involve individuals in their healthcare...

Past their prime? Healthcare borrowers not immune from roiling credit market, but effects more subtle.(Strictly Finance)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Cinda Becker Those good times with unbelievably rosy financial outlooks that boosted the capital-spending confidence of even the weakest hospitals? They're gone. Blame the tangentially related subprime mortgage market for the...

CRIMINAL CHARGES; Recent instances in which healthcare providers wereaccused of breaking the law.(Brief article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2007... JULY 2006: Physician Pou and two nurses arrested in alleged Katrina mercy killings SEPTEMBER 2006: Vista Medical Center East - Jury in coroner's inquest rules Waukegan, Ill., emergency-room death a homicide after woman waits hours to be...

Other voices.(Senate to pass health policy)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... "The Senate (mental-health parity) bill seems weaker (than the House bill).... But the advantage of this proposal is that it has support from employers and insurance companies who were part of the legislative process. This should make them...

Universal coverage, guaranteed; My plan: An employer mandate and a new insurance plan that pays for itself.(Opinions Commentary)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Sen. Chris Dodd There are few issues as important as getting healthcare right. The U.S. is the richest nation in the world, yet too many hardworking families are facing skyrocketing healthcare costs. As a result, millions of...

How the waivers are worded.(Special Report)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Joseph Conn The Stark and anti-kickback waivers were spelled out in a pair of documents released Aug. 8, 2006, by the CMS and the HHS inspector general's office. According to these rules, there are two routes to interoperability...

Outliers; Asides & Insides.
October 8, 2007... Ariz. patient finds CT scanner not the best overnight stay Entering the healthcare system can sometimes seem like a trip down a dark hole, but for one Arizona woman, that metaphor turned all too real. Elvira Tellez of Tucson had the...

Restructuring at WellPoint.(The Week in Healthcare)(WellPoint Health Networks Inc.)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Rebecca Vesely Just four months into her tenure as WellPoint's president and chief executive officer, Angela Braly is already shaking things up at the top with an organizational restructuring and management reshuffling. The...

Seeing through X-ray pay.(The Week in Healthcare)(Report)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Gregg Blesch The watchdogs for HHS have unveiled their agenda for the fiscal year that started last week, leaving providers and their lawyers to sort out which items are new and then guess which ones are likely to generate imminent...

On the move...(News Makers)(Lee Domanico resigns from Legacy Health System)
October 8, 2007... HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS Lee Domanico resigned as president and CEO of Legacy Health System, Portland, Ore. Maggie Huffman, a spokeswoman for the five-hospital system, said Domanico's resignation was effective immediately. Domanico, 54, who...

How safe is that harbor? Conflicts in rules on IT certification, subsidies for tech-sharing with doctors raise questions over the seaworthiness of waivers.(Special Report)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Joseph Conn On the road to promoting physician adoption of healthcare information technology, HHS last year dropped a regulatory log in its own path. And, as if laying a corduroy road to perdition, the agency's actions-which...

Community Health drops IT pact with Perot it inherited from Triad.(Late News)(Community Health Systems Inc cancells contract with Perot Systems Corp)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Community Health Systems, Franklin, Tenn., said in a securities filing that it is canceling an information technology contract with Perot Systems Corp. that Triad Hospitals signed in January 2006. The decision, effective Dec. 31, is the latest...

ASC associations merging to create one trade group.(Late News)(The American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers merges with FASA)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... The American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers and FASA agreed to merge, the groups announced. The two largest ASC trade groups will become one organization effective Jan. 1, 2008-the same date a new payment system for ASCs will kick in...

A new `Marshall Plan'; Manufacturers, hospitals collaborate on efficiency.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Rebecca Vesely The nation's manufacturers, struggling with the high cost of healthcare, are taking matters into their own hands by working directly with hospitals on a possible collaboration to improve efficiencies and reduce...

Valuing former workers; Employers should embrace, not shun past employees.(Charles S. Lauer)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Charles S. Lauer Have you ever heard of the "Next!'' phenomenon? It goes like this: A person leaves his or her job, either to retire or go with a competitor. A few days later the position is filled (hence the "Next!'') and the...

Bush veto was the right move; Congress, special interests doomed expanded coverage for poor children.(Opinions Editorials)(State Childrens Health Insurance Program)
October 8, 2007... Byline: David Burda Don't look at the cartoon above this editorial. Don't read that tinted "Other Voices'' box to the upper right. And whatever you do, skip the "Quotables'' section in Outliers on p. 36 of this issue. They're all wrong....

Free of charge; Advertising, data sales subsidize EMR products.(Information Edge)(electronic medical-record)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Joseph Conn When you're out shopping for bargains, free is as good as it gets-except in healthcare information technology, where for many physicians, even free hasn't been good enough. Bucking that conventional wisdom, several...

Industry's outcry: Save SCHIP; Many sources decry veto as Leavitt talks compromise.(The Week in Healthcare)(State Childrens Health Insurance Program)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Jennifer Lubell The healthcare industry is putting pressure on the White House and Congress to work up a new compromise to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program after last week's veto of a bill that President...

Malpractice claims drop: report.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Jean DerGurahian The number of malpractice claims filed has decreased in recent years, a trend that likely will continue thanks to changes in what claims can be tried and how much juries are allowed to award plaintiffs, according...

HRET looks for a new leader.(The Week in Healthcare)(Health Research & Educational Trust)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Melanie Evans Mary Pittman, president of the Health Research & Educational Trust, has resigned to lead the Oakland, Calif.-based Public Health Institute. The jump will put Pittman in charge of an operation with $80 million in...

Microsoft moves into PHRs with launch of HealthVault.(Late News)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Microsoft Corp. launched a consumer-focused, secure personal health-record platform, Microsoft HealthVault, designed to reach families in their homes, physicians in their communities and providers worldwide. First reported in Modern...

Levy exiting SSM in St. Louis; Sanger named to succeed him.(Late News)(Ronald Levy resigns from SSM Health Care)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Ronald Levy, president and chief executive officer of SSM Health Care's seven-hospital St. Louis operations, resigned. Levy, who is also a regional president and system vice president for the 14-hospital Catholic system, cited professional and...

High returns; Market lifts investments of not-for-profits hospitals.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Cinda Becker Not-for-profit hospitals reaped high returns on their investments in '06 while the going was good, but they can thank the robust markets of the past several years-not their investing prowess. The sector reported an...

Three Catholic systems launch $200 million venture capital fund.(Late News)(Ascension Health)(Catholic Health Initiatives)(Catholic Health East)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Ascension Health, St. Louis, Catholic Health Initiatives, Denver, and Catholic Health East, Newtown Square, Pa., announced a $200 million venture capital fund, CHV II, which will invest in later-stage healthcare device, technology and service...

McKesson intends to buy oncology firm for $575 million.(Late News)(McKesson Corp plans to buy Oncology Therapeutics Network)(Brief article)
October 8, 2007... Prescription drug distributor McKesson Corp. said it plans to buy Oncology Therapeutics Network for $575 million in a deal driven by steadily rising demand for cancer medicine. The purchase would represent McKesson's second major acquisition...

Tempered enthusiasm; Drug-safety law needs more teeth, patient-safety advocates say.(The Week in Healthcare)(Food and Drug Administration)
October 8, 2007... Byline: Jean DerGurahian Patient-safety advocates greeted a new law giving the Food and Drug Administration broader drug-safety authority with underwhelming support, saying the law doesn't go nearly far enough in actually promoting safe,...

EXTENDED WARRANTIES; While the $311 million orthopedic kickback settlement is being hailed as progress, some feel the practice will continue.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Shawn Rhea The announcement of a $311 million settlement to end a long-running physician-kickback case may have garnered impressive headlines for federal prosecutors, but some critics of vendor-marketing practices are questioning...

DEVICEMAKERS SETTLE.
October 8, 2007... Under the terms of a federal settlement, four devicemakers will pay $311 million in penalties and will face deferred criminal charges. A fifth, Stryker, avoided financial penalties and formal criminal charges but must comply with other terms....

Other voices.(Opinions Editorials)
October 8, 2007... "Just about everything the president and his surrogates have said about the SCHIP bill is wrong. It does not cover illegal immigrants and upper-income children. It is not designed to get families to drop private insurance and, instead, get a...

Medicare Advantage reconsidered; Congressional subcommittees look into problems.(The Week in Healthcare)(Medicare Advantage program)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Matthew DoBias Federal lawmakers this week expect to take a second look at scaling back the Medicare Advantage program after provisions to rework the program were stripped out of a House bill-and shunned completely by the Senate-in...

Death rates decline: study; Source says pressure from payers may be working.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Jennifer Lubell New federal data showing a decline in hospital death rates indicate that providers are bowing to pressure from payers to improve their quality measures, according to a business healthcare quality expert. The...

How to educate a trustee; N.J. law only shows how far we have to go to adequately train board members.(Opinions Commentary)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Robert Kiely The mastery of knowledge required to serve successfully as a hospital trustee has increased dramatically over the past decade. Contrast the complex and rigorous process of educating potential trustees with recent New...

Still waiting to catch fire; Year-old Prometheus project to begin testing payment system next year.(Payers and Purchasers)(Prometheus)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Rebecca Vesely When announcing the launch of Prometheus Payment in September 2006, the new not-for-profit organization set a lofty goal of igniting payment reform in healthcare. Now more than a year later, Prometheus has yet to...

Clooney and hospital prying eyes; Experts wonder if incident will expose HIPAA weakness.(The Week in Healthcare)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Shawn Rhea Actor George Clooney may have been a good sport after learning 27 employees at North Bergen, N.J.'s Palisades Medical Center were suspended for snooping into his medical records, but at least one privacy advocate says...

Corrections & Clarifications.(Correction notice)
October 15, 2007... Healthcare facilities might be spending up to 23% of their information technology budgets on business processing and IT services by 2011. An Oct. 1 story, ("Emphasis on innovation,'' p. 28), indicated those figures were for overall budgets.

Tenet's North Ridge for sale; performance part of decision.(Late News)(Tenet Healthcare Corp.)(Brief article)
October 15, 2007... Tenet Healthcare Corp., Dallas, said its North Ridge Medical Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is for sale. The company prefers other growth opportunities to spending its capital on North Ridge, and believes that another local operator could more...

Don't LOL at virtual visits; Technology is allowing more doctors and patients to consult via e-mail, and insurance companies are reimbursing for it.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Andis Robeznieks The doctor doesn't have to see you now. Thanks to new technology, patients may not always need a face-to-face visit with their doctor to get the care they need. And thanks to a growing awareness of this...

Dog-eat-dog is not literal; No place for cruelty to animals, such as dogfighting.(Charles S. Lauer)(Personal account)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Charles S. Lauer One of the things that bothers me the most is the abuse of animals, be they pets or in the wild. For the purposes of this column, I am going to focus on dogs because I am most familiar with them. Seven dogs have...

A partisan divide deepens; SCHIP debate presages a bitter fight in 2009 on healthcare reform.(Opinions Editorials)(State Children's Health Insurance Program)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Todd Sloane The events of this year have only reinforced the harsh lessons of the past about the gargantuan task of reforming the U.S. healthcare system. As readers undoubtedly know, the evidence about the need for reform has never...

Satisfaction survey is in.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 15, 2007... Modern Healthcare's second annual Patient-Satisfaction Measurement Firms Survey is now available. To receive a copy of the survey, please contact Special Projects/Research Editor, Rebecca Mielcarski, at 312-397-5511 or rmielcarski@crain.com.

A 50-50 split? In ASC groups' merger, FASA could overshadow AAASC's footprint.(The Week in Healthcare)(Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association)(American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Jennifer Lubell The merger of the two largest ambulatory surgery center organizations in the U.S.-FASA and the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers-will probably lead to the AAASC shutting down operations and handing...

Partners: Time to plug in.(The Week in Healthcare)(Partners HealthCare System )
October 15, 2007... Byline: Jean DerGurahian While insurance companies are getting behind greater electronic communication among doctors and their patients by paying for such care, Partners HealthCare System is forcing the use of electronic health records on...

IRS likely to stay the course; Medicare, bad debt unlikely as community benefits.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Melanie Evans Bad debt and losses from Medicare likely won't make the cut when the Internal Revenue Service sets its new criteria for how not-for-profit hospitals disclose the subsidized care and services they provide in exchange...

A 48-hour strike in land of 49ers; CNA stages walkout over staffing, health benefits.(The Week in Healthcare)(California Nurses Association)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Melanie Evans One of healthcare's biggest nurses unions squared off against more than a dozen California hospitals last week, the latest example of labor's push to exercise its clout across the healthcare industry. The two-day...

Calif. makes collect call.(The Week in Healthcare)(Brief article)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Rebecca Vesely A bill clarifying medical debt collection practices while still upholding significant patient rights has been signed into law by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The legislation tweaks a law that went into...

Community Health to acquire two Spokane hospitals.(Late News)(Empire Health Services acquired by Community Health Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
October 15, 2007... For-profit chain Community Health Systems will acquire all operating assets of Empire Health Services, a Spokane, Wash., not-for-profit system that includes two acute-care hospitals. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The 287-bed...

HHS inspector general calls for better Part D protection.(Late News)(Brief article)
October 15, 2007... The CMS needs to step up its activities to protect the Medicare Part D program from fraud and abuse, according to a report from HHS' inspector general's office. In analyzing the safeguards the agency took during fiscal 2006, the inspector...

Sen. McCain pushes for user awareness in reform plan.(Late News)(Brief article)
October 15, 2007... Arizona senator and GOP presidential hopeful John McCain outlined a multipronged platform for healthcare reform, saying that American families and neither government nor special-interest groups would drive the change. Under McCain's plan,...

UAW gets benefits trust fund with GM; Chrysler deal pending.(Late News)(General Motors Corp.)(United Automobile Workers)(Chrysler Corp.)(Brief article)
October 15, 2007... United Auto Workers, or UAW, members ratified a four-year collective-bargaining agreement with General Motors Corp. that includes establishing an independent trust fund to pay retiree health benefits. Meanwhile, Chrysler reached a tentative...

Data security, job security; Attendees at annual AHIMA conference turn attention to legal, staffing issues.(Special Feature)(American Health Information Management Association)(Conference news)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Joseph Conn Education and staffing issues- now and in the future-were key topics of discussion during the American Health Information Management Association's annual convention last week in Philadelphia. An immediate concern...

Declining the invitation; Why some systems passed on venture capital offer.(The Week in Healthcare)(Ascension Health Ventures)(Catholic Health Association)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Jessica Zigmond Lack of capital, use of a conservative investment approach and a case of timing that's "not right'' all are possible reasons why several Catholic healthcare providers declined Ascension Health's invitation to join a...

On the move...(Kern Wildenthal to retire from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)(Carolyn Caldwell promoted at HCA Mideast Ltd.)(JoAnn Reed to retire from Medco Health Solutions Inc.)
October 15, 2007... ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTERS The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, said Kern Wildenthal will retire as president in September 2008. Wildenthal, 66, has served as the medical center's president since 1986. He will remain...

South.(Regional News)(Ardent Health Services)(St. Joseph HealthCare opens a new facility)
October 15, 2007... TULSA, Okla.-Ardent Health Services, Nashville, last month terminated the academic affiliation agreement between one of its Tulsa hospitals and the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Ardent and OSU have been battling...

West.(Regional News)(John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital opened a new emergency department)(Integrated Healthcare Holdings appointed Robert Jameson, William Thomas and)
October 15, 2007... PHOENIX-John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital on Oct. 10 opened a new $60 million emergency department and Level I trauma unit. The facility is part of the 266-bed not-for-profit private community hospital's $100 million in renovations, still...

Midwest.(Regional News)(Community Health Systems Inc. and Summa Health System into a deal)(McLaren Health Care Corp. acquired POH Medical Center)(Medina General Hospital becomes a member of University Hospitals)
October 15, 2007... MEDINA, Ohio-Medina General Hospital may become a member of Cleveland-based University Hospitals' network, according to a memorandum of understanding announced last month. The announcement did not describe the nature of the potential...

Northeast.(Regional News)(Fletcher Allen Health Care plans for online information services)(Rhode Island House Majority Leader Gerard Martineau will plead guilty )
October 15, 2007... BURLINGTON, Vt.-Fletcher Allen Health Care, an academic health center that includes a 434-bed tertiary-care hospital and more than 30 patient-care sites, said late last month it is seeking state approval to create a $57.2 million electronic...

Outliers; Asides & insides.
October 15, 2007... Wanna play politics, kid? D.C. welcomes you to the big leagues It's well-known inside the Beltway that politics is a contact sport. But even boxing has different weight divisions so that lightweights don't match up against bruisers twice...

Other voices.(Opinions Editorials)(Brief article)
October 15, 2007... "While (retail) RediClinics and MinuteClinics are rational responses to weaknesses in our healthcare delivery network, they merely scratch at its structural problems. The business model addresses few of the real ills in the U.S. healthcare...

The latest board games; Not-for-profit governance evolves-including a trend toward corporatization-all in the name of quality, transparency.(Special Report)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Cinda Becker Legislative and regulatory scrutiny from all sides in recent years has pressured not-for-profit hospitals-much like for-profit public corporations-to respond to criticism in the blink of an eye. But the governing...

Under the influence? Study finds medical schools taking industry cash.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 22, 2007... Byline: Shawn Rhea A new study showing medical institutions are as likely to sign up for financial relationships with industry as individual physicians and researchers will likely spur greater scrutiny of those arrangements, but a...

If at first they succeed ... ... Joint Commission adds more consulting services.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 22, 2007... Byline: J ean DerGurahian In an announcement all too familiar to accredited hospitals, the Joint Commission last week said it will launch a new consulting service to help providers comply with a new set of accreditation standards. This...

Another veto looms; HHS funding bill surpasses White House limits.(The Week in Healthcare)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... Byline: Matthew DoBias The Senate appears close to passing a broad domestic funding bill that includes increased money for several HHS programs, setting the stage for another probable veto from President Bush. The $152 billion...

This problem made in China; Recalls raise fears over imported medical products.(Supply Chain)
October 22, 2007... Byline: Shawn Rhea This past June, at the height of the Food and Drug Administration's recalls on products imported from China, University Health Care System in Augusta, Ga., received a sobering letter from one of its suppliers. It warned...

Maryland tapped as new CEO at Ascension's St. John Health.(Late News)(Ascension Health employee Patricia Maryland)(Brief article)
October 22, 2007... Patricia Maryland, recently tapped to oversee Ascension Health's Michigan operations, will succeed Elliot Joseph as president and chief executive officer of Ascension's Warren, Mich.-based St. John Health. Ascension named Joseph, 53, as a...

Medicare Advantage targeted; Lawmakers outraged by overpayments to plans.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 22, 2007... Byline: Matthew DoBias Federal lawmakers continue to take swings at Medicare Advantage plans, with members of Congress looking to cut funding to the program to increase support for other parts of Medicare. Last week, lawmakers rapped...

U.S. needs kids flu plan: report; Preparations don't consider children's needs, groups say.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 22, 2007... Byline: Jessica Zigmond Like kids left to care for themselves without supervision, U.S. healthcare providers lack sufficient guidance on how to treat the nation's nearly 74 million children during a possible pandemic flu outbreak, a new...

LETTERS.(Opinions Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 22, 2007... Some behavior is criminal You did not show good judgment in publishing Gregg Blesch's cover story on caregivers' actions being treated unfairly as criminal ("Charges of a different kind,'' Oct. 1, p. 6). Of all the cases discussed in the...

Stent sales slide; Hospitals using fewer drug-eluting devices.(The Week in Healthcare)
October 22, 2007... Byline: Shawn Rhea Market trends and other evidence indicate that U.S. hospitals are experiencing a decrease in revenue generated by cardiovascular stenting procedures. Announcements last week that stentmakers Boston Scientific Corp....

The solution is freedom; My plan for U.S. healthcare: Let the informed patient make the decisions.(Opinions Commentary)
October 22, 2007... Byline: Rep. Duncan Hunter I believe our healthcare system and its challenges need to be addressed in a new way that empowers our strongest asset in controlling the spiraling cost of healthcare: the U.S. consumer. As you know,...

Where's Dr. Ross when you need him? Clooney's character could sort out these looming e-visit, privacy, board questions.(Opinions Editorials)
October 22, 2007... Byline: Neil Mclaughlin Notes on Modern Healthcare's Oct. 15 issue: Progress is a funny thing, especially in the healthcare industry. Reporter Andis Robeznieks examined the slow adoption of patient e-mail "visits'' with their...