contract dispute news from FierceHealthcare

Sharp HealthCare, a seven-hospital chain based in San Diego, is facing charges that it has violated state regulations hundreds of times. The system's nurses have filed a 140-page quality-of-care complaint with the California Department of Health Services which lists 900 alleged transgressions "seriously compromising" patient care, according to United Nurses Association of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. The nurses say the hospitals face unsanitary conditions, short …

A mushrooming contract dispute between Detroit Medical Center physicians and affiliated teaching hospital Wayne State University could threaten WSU's accreditation, potentially depriving the city's uninsured of their main source of indigent care. At present, the jointly-administered teaching program hosts about 900 residents and 700 faculty physicians. These physicians provide about 40 percent of the primary care in Detroit and most of the care for the area's uninsured, according to the …

> According to newly-released research, healthcare providers are setting aside $129 billion annually to cover bad debt, or more than twice their net annual revenues. Release

> Patients continue to wait as UnitedHealthcare and HealthAlliance continue to duke it out over a contract dispute. Report

> Wrong-site surgeries may be 20 …

In its ongoing battle with hospital chain HCA, UnitedHealthcare filed a federal lawsuit against HCA subsidiary HealthOne, alleging antitrust violations, attempted monopolization and interference with contracts. But HealthOne is standing up to UnitedHealthcare, claiming that it has done nothing wrong and that the the insurer is simply using the lawsuit as a tactic in the ongoing …

> In Florida, UnitedHealthcare and HCA are still discussing how to work out their differences. The massive contract dispute between the two healthcare industry giants has left thousands of patients in Colorado and Florida in limbo. Report

> The House has passed a bill to fund a new VA hospital in Colorado. …

> UnitedHealthcare and Froedtert & Community Health are trying to iron out an ongoing contract dispute. Report

> Authorities have arrested three Brooklyn, NY men--two brothers and an employee--for defrauding Medicaid of millions of dollars. One brother was a doctor, the other a pharmacy owner and the third man a pharmacy employee. The three allegedly billed Medicaid for …

UnitedHealthcare can't seem to get along with anyone these days. The insurer has warned some patients that it might not be able to negotiate a contract with Tennessee-based Sumner Regional Medical Center before the September 30th deadline. And there's a twist: Sumner Regional employees have UnitedHealthcare coverage, which means if the contract isn't renegotiated, hospital employees will have to receive non-emergency care at another in-network facility. This is only the latest in a series …

A massive contract dispute between two of the healthcare industry's giants--HCA and UnitedHealthcare--has left thousands of patients in Colorado and Florida in limbo. United Healthcare says HCA is charging the insurer too much for its services; HCA disagrees, saying it just wants a fair level of reimbursement. Talks between the two sides broke down earlier this week just as the contracts expired and now 500,000 patients in those states must find a way to deal with the change while HCA and …

> Union members at John Muir Center in Concord, Calif., began their planned two-day strike yesterday. Last week the SEIU leaked a an internal John Muir Physician Network memo that instructed doctors not to "refer patients for a screening colonoscopy if their life expectancy is less than five years." …

After a stressful seven-month battle that included bitter public statements and a couple of lawsuits, plus a month-long contract gap that left patients scrambling for providers, Piedmont Healthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia have finally come to a new three-year agreement. Specific details are confidential. In a joint press release, both parties magnanimously invite those enrollees who …