hospital association news from FierceHealthcare
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MN hospitals won't charge for major errors
Minnesota hospitals have decided to get on the 'no pay' bandwagon. The facilities have announced that they'll stop billing both public and private insurers for 27 preventable adverse events,... Read more...
MN hospitals won't charge for major errors
Minnesota hospitals have decided to get on the 'no pay' bandwagon. The facilities have announced that they'll stop billing both public and private insurers for 27 preventable adverse events,... Read more...
Trend: Hospitals use picture boards to communicate
Hospitals are beginning to use picture boards with non-English speakers to help them make themselves understood. The boards are no substitute for trained translators, of course, but they can help... Read more...
Michigan nonprofit hospitals post prices
Starting in January, Michigan's nonprofit hospitals will become another provider group to join the transparency trend. Right now only one hospital system in the state, Spectrum Health of Grand... Read more...
L.A. groups plan for emergency pharma distribution
A set of pharma trade groups have set up a coalition that will help areas like New Orleans be better prepared to distribute medications in the event of an emergency. The effort involves setting up a... Read more...
Maryland hospitals face nurse, professional shortage
Like states across the U.S., Maryland is seeing a growing shortage of healthcare professionals, a Maryland Hospital Association study says. As elsewhere, with nurses retiring and baby boomers aging,... Read more...
Nevada rule requires hospitals to post quality info
The state of Nevada has passed a new law which requires hospitals to submit quality and cost information to state officials. The information, which will include average lengths of stay and average charges for the top 50 diagnoses, will be posted on a Web site by 2009. While the Nevada Hospital Association already shares data on its members' prices, it hasn't posted quality of care information. Nevada follows several other states which have …
... Read more...PA releases hospital-specific cardiac surgery costs
The state of Pennsylvania has released a new cardiac surgery performance report which for the first time includes hospital-specific payment data. According to the report, which was issued by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, the average payment for heart bypass procedures by commercial health plans was $30,247, and for valve-only procedures $41,651 during 2005. Medicare paid $29,175 for bypasses and $42, 433 for valve-only procedures. The state's hospital association …
... Read more...ALSO NOTED: House mulls comparative effectiveness agency; NY health plans get more Medicare money; and much more...
> Federal lawmakers are continuing to debate whether Congress should create a new public-private organization which would conduct comparative healthcare effectiveness research. Article
> A new report by New York's hospital association concludes that the state's health plans are doing much better than hospitals under Medicare. Article
> A House committee has …
... Read more...Wisconsin moving ahead with hospital tax plans
Nearly all of Wisconsin's hospitals--a full 95 percent--are not-for-profits that enjoy a state property tax exemption. Despite resistance from the hospitals, the state is continuing to look at recouping some of that revenue with a separate hospital-specific tax. State governor Jim Doyle (D) wants to impose an 0.8 percent tax on the state's 109 non-profit hospitals, which he says will generate $418 million in revenues for the state over the next two years. The proposal has been posted by a …
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