News From Around the Web
> Participants in the Health eHeart Study at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) will receive the AliveCor Heart Monitor, according to an AliveCor, Inc. announcement. The company will deploy 2,000 units before the end of the year. The study aims to enroll one million participants and monitor heart health for at least 10 years. "The goal of the study is to better understand which factors impact heart health long-term, and thereby develop better methods to predict, prevent and treat cardiovascular disease," the announcement states. Announcement
> The Associated Press reports that Rhode Island's medical licensing board has approved guidelines for what it calls the appropriate use of social media by physicians. The guidelines say "physicians are personally and professionally responsible for any content they post and that patient privacy must be protected." Article
Provider News
> A lawsuit filed this week accuses two Washington state hospitals of violating state law by neglecting charity care, the Yakima Herald-Republic reports. The lawsuit alleges that 63-bed Toppenish Community Hospital and 214-bed Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center discouraged patients from seeking charity care and shifted the burden to other hospitals in the area. The lawsuit cites large discrepancies between the number of charity cases at the two hospitals and others nearby. Article
> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has found herself at the center of the controversy surrounding the beleaguered rollout of the insurance exchanges. With some GOP members calling for her resignation, is her job safe? Sebelius won't be leaving HHS anytime soon, NBC News reported. With open enrollment in full swing, the administration needs someone in charge to explain the situation and update consumers on efforts to address problems with the exchange website. Article
Health Finance News
> Many of the early enrollees through the state-operated health insurance exchanges are applying for Medicaid coverage, Kaiser Health News reported. Such a trend could hit hospital bottom lines, as the Medicaid program tends to offer the lower reimbursements for inpatient care than any other payer. However, officials noted that they expect to count more commercial plan enrollees in the near future. But commercial plans sold through the exchanges have catches of their own, such as lower reimbursement rates than coverage sold outside of the exchange. Article
And Finally... A doggone crime. Article