Archived California Healthcare News

CMS: Hospital Medicare Charges Vary Widely Across Nation, California

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released this week an enormous database of the prices hospitals across the nation charge for 100 of the most frequent procedures and treatments, exposing enormous price gaps between institutions in California and elsewhere.

The Midwest provides a mixed bag in term of which states provide safety net healthcare coverage for children from low-income households suffering from diabetes, according to a new study by the University of Michigan. For example, Minnesota and Illinois – considered two of the more progressive states in the country in terms of healthcare coverage, do not provide any coverage at all under the Children with with Special Health Care Needs Program, which is funded under the Title V portion of the Social Security Act.

Minnesota Blues Delays Payment Cuts To Rural Hospitals

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota have delayed the implementation of a plan that would cut payments to dozens of rural hospitals by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

CareFusion Announces $41 Million Settlement With Feds

San Diego-based medical device distributor CareFusion has announced it will pay the federal government $41 million to settle allegations of improper marketing of its antiseptic surgical wipes to hospitals and medical professionals.

So far, only one state has such a law. California\'s state legislature passed a minimum nurse staffing law in 1999. Since then, similar nurse staffing laws have failed in every other state where they were proposed. But the nursing unions backing the bills have grown increasingly powerful in statehouses across the country. Hospital administrators are vehemently opposed. They argue the bills would strip them of their ability to make basic staffing decisions and be a financial burden. Many nurses and nursing unions say legislation is needed to prevent cost-conscious hospitals from endangering patients by putting too large of a workload on too few nurses.

Trinity Health-Michigan and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan have entered into a collaboration intended to move the former\'s hospitals away from accepting fee-for-service payments for care. Under the three-year agreement, Trinity\'s 12 hospitals will receive payments based on population health-related outcomes. The entities will also collaborate on a “shared” performance management system and work processes that integrate best practices into as many facets of care delivery as possible.

The mortality rate for coronary artery bypass graft surgeries in California is up slightly in 2010 versus 2009, but remains far lower than a decade ago, according to data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The average mortality rate from the CABG among the 121 reporting hospitals was 2% in 2010, up slightly from 1.9% in 2009, but down from 2.2% in 2008.

UCLA Examines Pediatric Subspecialty Shortage

A new study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has determined that there is a severe shortage of medical specialists for the state's 1 million children with serious illnesses.

The two top executives of Sacred Heart Hospital in Chicago and four physicians affiliated with the facility were charged by federal authorities last week to pay and receive kickbacks for referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients. Agents with the FBI and the Office of the Inspector General also seized about $2 million in Medicare payments from various bank accounts attached to the 119-bed hospital, which is located on the Windy City\'s West Side.