ALSO NOTED: Kaiser to offer HSAs in Calif.; HCA, United Healthcare debate contract; and much more...

> In Missouri, State Representative Dr. Rob Schaaf is calling for more competition in St. Joseph, a town with only one hospital: Heartland Regional Medical Center. He claims that HRMC's monopoly has artificially inflated medical costs, but hospital administrators say the facility makes only a small profit. Article [1]

> California Pacific Medical Center workers say that the hospital has violated an agreement that ended a two-month strike last year. At a City Hall meeting, employees said the hospital has interfered with the recruitment of new members and "retaliated against labor organizers." Report [2]

> In Colorado, United Healthcare and HCA are struggling to iron out a contract dispute before their current contract runs out on September 1. Thirty thousand Colorado residents have received letters from United Healthcare warning them that HCA hospitals will be considered out-of-network if the two sides can't come to an agreements. HCA co-owns seven hospitals and ten surgical centers that serve a combined one million area residents. Article [3]

> MedCath is selling its 50 percent share of Tuscon Heart Hospital to Carondelet Health Network for $40.7 million. Report [4]

> Kaiser Permanente will begin offering health savings accounts (HSAs) in California to be used in conjunction with its high-deductible health plans. The HSAs will be available January 1, 2007. Release [5]

And Finally... A teenager who has refused chemo treatment for cancer is back in court as a judge decides whether his parents must make him resume the therapy. Article [6]