business journal news from FierceHealthcare

A group of Western U.S. provider groups have come together to create a PPO spanning eight states. The PPO, VentureNet Healthcare, is a partnership between the Arizona Foundation for Medical Care,... Read more...

A Wisconsin legislator is planning to introduce a state bill next month which would require providers and health plans to give patients charge information. Under the terms of the bill, backed by Sen.... Read more...

Medical device maker Medtronic has been sued over alleged malfunctions in the leads for its defibrillators, which plaintiffs say gave them unnecessary shocks. Plaintiffs Leonard Stavish and Kelly... Read more...

Many doctors complain bitterly about the new crop of sites allowing consumers to rate their services. However, few have managed to reign in the flood of sometimes nasty commentary flowing onto sites... Read more...

The Carlyle Group is taking national skilled nursing and assisted living facility operator Manor Care private in a $6.3 billion deal that pays stockholders $67 per share. The chain operates 278 skilled nursing facilities and 65 assisted living centers across the United States. The equity firm is paying out roughly $4.9 billion in cash, and will also assume $1.4 billion in debt.

The Manor Care deal follows the …

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Beefing up its Medicaid managed care offerings, Aetna has acquired Phoenix, AZ-based Medicaid management firm Schaller Anderson for $535 million. Schaller Anderson serves more than 1.3 million beneficiaries and manages more than $3 billion in benefits. It has about 1,800 employees in nine states. The company was started by Joseph Anderson and Dr. Don Schaller, who founded the company more than 20 years ago after helping to create Arizona's Medicaid program. The buy follows a previous deal …

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Minneapolis, MN-based Allina Hospitals & Clinics and Fairview Health Services have settled a 2004 class action suit alleging that the two systems overcharged uninsured patients. Under the terms of the settlement, Allina and Fairview have agreed to discount the outstanding balances of uninsured patients who were seen between early February 1999 and August 2005 by 25 percent. If the patient has paid in more than 75 percent, the systems will give the patient a voucher for credit against …

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A new study by health insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has found that at least in their territory, healthcare visits amount young adults aged 20 to 30 are going up markedly. To conduct the study, BCBS looked at internal claims data dating from 2001 through 2005, covering 150,000 of its members in that age group.

What they found was that the volume of medical visits for this age group grew meaningfully over the five year span. The most dramatic increase was for …

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Hospital officials in Georgia are debating how best to revamp the state's certificate of need (CON) appeals process. Hospitals often spend millions in legal expenses on CON battles and many feel that the money could be better spent elsewhere--like on patient services. "Those [legal] expenditures haven't helped one person get well," Rep. Austin Scott told the Atlanta Business Journal. Critics of the program say it has also created healthcare monopolies in the state. The eight-member …

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Ambulatory care has skyrocketed in recent years; some estimates claim that 60 to 70 percent of all surgical procedures in the US are done on an outpatient basis. Earlier this month, CMS said it would expand the list of procedures approved for patients to receive at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). On the downside, CMS also said that it would pay ASCs reimbursement rates similar to those of hospitals. The Business Journal of Milwaukee observes that CMS's proposed changes could …

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