Capital Finance
As the legislature in Texas grapples with its budget, the Children's Hospital Association of Texas (CHAT), which represents seven, nonprofit hospitals, is warning lawmakers that cuts to Medicaid could have disastrous consequences for the children of the state.
High-quality hospitals deliver lower-cost care to trauma patients, according to a study published in the Annals of Surgery. The study found high-quality hospitals have death rates that are 34 percent lower, while spending nearly 22 percent less on trauma patient care than average-quality hospitals.
Maintaining positive operating margins and being transparent about clinical quality outcomes are key factors that help hospitals provide superior clinical quality, CEOs at HealthGrades 50 Best Hospitals for 2011 reported.
New efforts are needed to develop and refine quality-of-care and other performance measures that can assure new payment models will improve medical care without harming patients, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has fined Cignet Health of Prince George's County, Md., $4.3 million, in what officials say is the first civil money penalty (CMP) issued for a covered entity's violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
Amedisys, Inc., a nationwide home health and hospice company, saw a drop of nearly 42 percent in net income in its fourth quarter, the company reported Tuesday.
The TriZetto Group, Inc., announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to acquire privately held Gateway EDI, a St. Louis-based healthcare revenue cycle management (RCM) company. Officials said the combination of the companies' platforms will benefit both payers and providers by delivering integrated end-to-end real-time payment information.
Along with announcing increases in revenue, Medtronic, Inc., a medical technology company based in Minneapolis, said Tuesday that it will be restructuring its business and reducing its workforce by 4 to 5 percent.
The single stand-alone hospital may be a "concept of the past" according to an expert on hospital mergers and acquisitions who spoke at the HIMSS11 conference in Orlando, Fla., on Monday.
Roosevelt Hairston, Jr., the executive vice president and general counsel for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has been fired, according to a statement made last week by hospital officials.