News From Around the Web
> An Oklahoma hospital and Ascension Health affiliate reportedly ordered doctors to cease prescribing birth control for contraception purposes, leaving just one unaffiliated OB-GYN who can prescribe birth control in a city with more than 18,500 women, according to the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise. Article
> Kaleida Health executives and surgeons from Western New York battled with Catholic Health officials over whether state health officials would allow a proposed ambulatory center in the Buffalo area, Buffalo Business First reported. Article
> Once a hospital reaches a certain occupancy level, about 92 percent, the quality of care it provides deteriorates, increasing the risk of mortality of critically ill patients, according to a German study set to appear in the international journal Management Science. Report (.pdf)
Health Finance News
> Hospitals erroneously bill Medicare millions of dollars a year because they incorrectly classify the patients they treat, according to a report issued late last week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General. Article
> The CEO of Madison Parish Hospital in Tallulah, La., is in prison for healthcare fraud, but the facility he ran may have to foot the bill for his misdeeds, the Monroe News-Star reported. Article
And Finally... Sacred ground. Article