NBC News

After private-equity firms acquire hospitals, the facilities’ assets and resources diminish significantly, leaving the facilities less equipped to care for patients, according to a new study by physician researchers at the University of California at San Francisco, Harvard Medical School and the City University of New York’s Hunter College.

After private equity takes over hospitals, they are less able to care for patients, say top medical researchers

Decatur, IN

The gap between hospitals with strong and weak margins is growing, according to Kaufman Hall, and the top hospitals are vigilant about evaluating their physician strategies. "Data from the National Hospital Flash Report show that not all hospitals are generating losses; higher performing organizations are carefully reviewing their employed physician portfolios with a focus on profitable service lines and are more effective at deploying advanced practice providers," stated the research firm in the second quarter Physician Flash Report, released Aug. 5.

What top financially performing hospitals do differently with physicians

UnitedHealthcare will launch a national program Oct. 1 for physicians to override traditional prior authorization requirements. The gold card program, which applies to commercial, individual exchange and Medicare Advantage plans, allows certain physician practices to not submit prior authorization requests for “certain medical, behavioral and mental health services,” according to a fact sheet released by the company.

UnitedHealth institutes gold card program to address prior authorization concerns

A large part of patient care in the modern corporate setting is working within your restrictions. Most corporate health care settings will limit how wide your scope can be, and this often determines how you treat patients. As a family physician working within a huge corporate setting, this oftentimes leads to alternate outcomes, such as referring a patient to another office where a procedure can be done safely or having to be docile towards insurance requirements and administrators. In America, insurance plans dominate the treatment of the primary care patient, so the selection of medications and treatment will often be up to the insurance provider rather than the medical provider. The insurance the client picks will change their life trajectory.

How corporate health care is failing physicians and patients alike

Demand for physician specialists is growing, according to AMN Healthcare's 2024 "Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives," report. The 2024 report is based on a sample of 2,138 physicians and advanced practice providers contacted between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024. Here are three notes on the...

Physician specialist demand skyrocketing

New York Post

Diagnosed with a pulse

Nobody feels good. Forget happy. Shove even “satisfied.” You can hardly find anyone who feels good.

She can’t walk, he can’t pee, this one doesn’t know what’s wrong but is sure something is.

Some out-of-work actor demonstrates what he can no longer do with certain of his parts which is what he used to be able to do with part of those parts.

Days of yore, womenfolk schlepped West in a wagon train — and still fed the husband a veal cutlet — or whatever morsel he wanted to snack on.

Today it’s specialists. One only does left hands. Another just...

Nobody feels healthy anymore — and hospitals sure aren’t helping

The Associated Press

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 6, 2024-- ActivePure Medical, a division of AP Sciences Group, LLC, a global provider of cutting-edge, continuous air and surface decontamination technology for healthcare, today announced results from a pioneering study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. The study demonstrates the significant impact of ActivePure Technology in its Induct Guardian Series air decontamination system, showing a 96-99% reduction in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and a 70% decrease in total healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) across two hospitals. 1 This medical-grade, proprietary environmental decontamination technology aims to complement existing infection control measures in hospital settings by providing continuous automated protection. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240806807512/en/ Induct Guardian (Photo: Business Wire)

ActivePure Medical Announces First-Ever Study Demonstrating 96-99% Reduction in MRSA and 70% Decrease in Total Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) in Two Hospitals

New York State

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writer

Dicle Belul

Democratic U.S. Congressman Pat Ryan of New York has proposed the Improving Access to Emergency Medical Services for Seniors Act, aiming to introduce at-home care services under Medicare coverage. The bill advocates for a "treatment-in-place model" to provide minor health issue treatment at home, eliminating the need for Medicare patients to be transported to hospitals for reimbursement. This change attempts to alleviate the financial burden on taxpayers and recognizes the essential role of emergency medical service providers.

Expanding Medicare: Enhancing Care for Seniors

The FDA has approved the first nasal spray to treat anaphylaxis. The epinephrine nasal spray, called neffy, is for emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in adult and pediatric patients weighing approximately 66 pounds or more, according to an Aug. 9 news release from the agency. The approval is...

FDA approves 1st anaphylaxis nasal spray

Camden, NJ

Contributors represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. They have also demonstrated their experience writing hard news for other outlets. Contributors are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

contributor

Cornelius, NC

Morristown Minute

CAMDEN, N.J. – Lisa Smith, 61, of Cornelius, North Carolina, has admitted to her role in a fraudulent scheme involving over $3.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today that Smith pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Karen M. Williams in Camden federal court on July 17, 2024, to a charge of bank fraud conspiracy.

Woman Pleads Guilty to $3.5M COVID Relief Scam

Arizona State

Phoenix, AZ

The Independent

A wealthy power couple from Arizona found themselves in handcuffs just months after getting married, for their role in a $900 million Medicare fraud scheme, according to the Department of Justice. Alexandra “Lexie” Gehrke, 38, and Jeffrey King, 49, were preparing to depart for their honeymoon at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport last month when federal prosecutors arrested them on charges of conspiracy, health care fraud, receiving kickbacks and money laundering in connection to a years-long scheme.The government claims Gehrke and King targeted “elderly Medicare patients, many of whom were terminally ill in hospice care” to get “medically unnecessary”...

Medical entrepreneur and her DJ husband arrested over $900m healthcare fraud scheme

UnitedHealthcare will launch a national gold-card program Oct. 1 for providers that consistently adhere to evidence-based guidelines to bypass prior authorizations for some medical services. Five things for spine and orthopedic surgeons to know:. 1. Under the new program, gold card practices will simply complete an advanced notification for the...

UnitedHealthcare to begin national gold-card program: 5 notes for spine surgeons

Walgreens shared in an Aug. 7 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it could sell off its entire stake in primary care clinic chain VillageMD. "The company is currently evaluating a variety of options with respect to VillageMD in light of ongoing investments by the company in VillageMD’s businesses and VillageMD’s substantial ongoing and expected future cash requirement," the filing said. "These options could include a sale of all or part of the VillageMD businesses, possible restructuring options and other strategic opportunities."

Walgreens eyes offloading all of VillageMD

Large health systems publicly reported billions in profits for the first half of 2024 and Kaufman Hall data shows a strong uptick in year over year hospital margins. Average operating margins reached nearly 5% in January, up from 2.7% in the previous month, and have hovered between 4.4% and 4.1% since then.

The truth about hospital profitability

Massachusetts State

When Dallas-based Steward Health Care shared plans to close two of its Massachusetts hospitals and lay off 1,243 employees, its CEO, Ralph de la Torre, MD, was in France at Versailles for the equestrian 2024 Olympic events, according to the Boston Globe. The Aug. 7 opinion piece, authored by former...

Eyes stay on Steward CEO amid France trip

HealthPartners, a prominent healthcare provider, has announced plans to withdraw from the Medicare Advantage plan offered by UnitedHealthcare starting in 2025. This decision will affect approximately 30,000 patients and marks a considerable shift in the relationship between the two healthcare giants. A potential coverage gap is anticipated for the affected...

HealthPartners to exit UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare plan in 2025

HIT Consultant 

– The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the final rule for Medicare payments and policies for inpatient hospitals and long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) for fiscal year (FY) 2025. – The FY 2025 IPPS and LTCH PPS rule focuses on improving health outcomes, addressing social determinants of...

CMS Finalizes Medicare Payment Rule for Hospitals, Focuses on Equity, Safety, and Innovation

Newark, NJ

Scott Schissel, MD, PhD, is joining RWJBarnabas Health as chief medical officer of Newark (N.J.) Beth Israel Medical Center, according to an Aug. 7 news release sent to Becker's. He joins the West Orange, N.J.-based health system from Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital in Boston, where he served as CMO,...

Brigham and Women's Faulkner exec heads to RWJBarnabas Health

Georgia State

Some of the spaces that formerly housed Walmart Health are getting a new tenant. CenterWell, the health care services business of Humana Inc., said it plans to lease clinical space and open senior-focused primary care centers at 23 Walmart Supercenter stores in Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Texas. The centers will be located next to the Walmart stores in clinical office spaces that was formerly occupied by Walmart Health.

Humana to open primary care centers for seniors at Walmart locations in four states

Denver, CO

David Heitz

More dangerous substances are entering the Denver drug supply, Harm Reduction Action Center warned in a newsletter this week. “The Iron Law of Prohibition posits that as law enforcement becomes more intense, the potency of prohibited substances increases,” HRAC Executive Director Lisa Raville wrote in the newsletter. That is exactly what is happening, she said.

Dangerous substances entering Denver drug supply

NewsBreak

Addressing Physician and APP Healthcare staffing shortages

Addressing Physician and Advance Practice Providers staffing shortages is a necessity for healthcare organizations, yet many hospitals and health systems remain unsure about the most effective...

Addressing Physician and APP Healthcare staffing shortages

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