rural hospitals
ALSO NOTED: Medicare changing hospital reimbursement; Bill would speed up Part D reimbursement; and much more...
> Brace yourself: it looks like Medicare is about to change the way it pays hospitals. Blog > On another Medicare note,... Read more...
CMS seeks rural hospitals for gainsharing program
CMS has begun recruiting rural hospitals for a demonstration project which will examine the impact of gainsharing projects on such hospitals. (Gainsharing refers to programs under which hospitals pay physicians a share of any savings generated by mutual quality and efficiency-improvement efforts.) Under the gainsharing program, the hospitals will be asked to provide their own measures of whether they've managed to improve quality and efficiency of care for Medicare beneficiaries. The …
... Read more...ALSO NOTED: Device makers protest Medicare cuts; King-Harbor patients may be dispersed; and much more...
> Medical imaging manufacturers are lobbying Congress to overturn Medicare cutbacks which reduce how much doctors are paid for running varied diagnostic tests. Article
> As they think through the possible closure of King-Harbor hospital, Los Angeles County officials are looking at whether nearby hospitals can absorb the added patient load. …
Hospital building boom spikes in Arizona
Hospitals are pouring big bucks into expansions across the U.S., but the trend is particularly marked in Arizona, whose hospital infrastructure has fallen behind as the state has grown. Right now, the state only has two inpatient beds per 1,000 residents, compared with an average of 2.8 inpatient beds per 1,000 nationwide. In response, the state's hospitals have set plans for $3.3 billion worth of building over the next five years. The construction process will add about 2,900 beds across …
... Read more...ALSO NOTED: New bill has feds cover catastrophic care; Rural Hawaii hospitals get more control; and much more...
> The Senate is considering a new bill which would make the federal government pay much of the cost of care for catastrophic cases. The idea is to keep overall health insurance premiums affordable for businesses. Article
> Hawaii's rural hospitals are getting a much-desired boost to their autonomy. …
... Read more...Medicare hospitals must offer emergency services
CMS is putting its foot down when it comes to emergency care. New guidance from CMS says that like it or not, the majority of hospitals who accept Medicare must provide emergency services. The only hospitals exempt from offering initial treatment and transfers are small, rural hospitals. Otherwise, even facilities such as specialty hospitals must fall into line, even if they don't have emergency departments. Before getting this feedback, some hospitals have relied on the crude expedient …
... Read more...Rural hospitals struggling to survive
When 8 percent of an industry's players close, it's never a good sign. And that's the kind of contraction rural hospitals went through between 1990 and 2000, with 208 facilities being shuttered. While some rural hospitals are getting by through sophisticated use of information technology and aggressive staff recruitment, many others are just running out of money. These hospitals are struggling, in part, because their patients are more likely to live below the federal poverty line than …
... Read more...With donations, Sutter bonds get final approval
After months of negotiations, northern California's Sutter Health has gotten final state approval for a $910 million bond issue, but only after the health system agreed to substantial donations to rural hospitals and clinics. Sutter will use $750 million for facility upgrades and new construction, including major expansion of its Sutter Roseville Medical Center and Sutter Amador Hospital. The remaining $160 million will go to refinancing long-term debt at more favorable interest rates. …
... Read more...Sutter gets approval for $1B bond issue
Despite facing vocal opposition, Sutter Health has gotten approval from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority (CHFFA) to proceed with its proposed $958 million bond issue. Sutter had hoped to proceed in late 2006, but the CHFFA postponed the decision, in part, perhaps, due to complaints by the Service Employees International United-United Healthcare West, which had …
... Read more...TN hospital tries new referral-boosting method
Hoping to beef up its existing referral network, Chattanooga, Tn.-based Erlanger Hospital has hired specialized service line managers tasked with capturing referrals from regional hospitals and physicians. Marketing to regional hospitals isn't unique--many of its competitors do the same--but devoting a group of service line managers to the task takes its referral marketing efforts to a new level.
Erlanger, an academic teaching center affiliated with the University of …
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