Hospitals

November 03, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced a commitment to insure a mortgage loan to LRGHealthcare in Laconia, New Hampshire. The not-for-profit corporation owns and operates Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia, Franklin Regional Hospital in Franklin, and a medical office building in Meredith. The $136.4 million loan is made possible through the Federal Housing Administration’s Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program.    » read more »

October 16, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today joined U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to introduce the Reducing Emergency Department Utilization through Coordination and Empowerment (REDUCE) Act (S. 1781), which would address Emergency Room (ER) overuse, improve quality of care, and save taxpayers' money. The legislation would establish pilot programs to better coordinate care for frequent ER users.    » read more »

September 29, 2009 -- A new RAND Corporation study outlines methods that might be used to test a novel payment system for medical care that would provide doctors, hospitals and other health providers a set fee for treating an ailment such as hip replacement surgery.

Proposals to pay health providers for so-called "episodes of care" have gained momentum during the ongoing debate about national health care reform as a strategy that could both curb medical spending and improve the quality of care.    » read more »

Focusing On Improving Child And Family Safety, Expanding Health Coverage And Promoting Hospital Accountability; Vetoes 18 Bills Representing $28 Million in Savings Over Next Two Years

September 17, 2009 -- New York Governor David A. Paterson today signed 60 bills that together will improve the safety of families and children; increase access to, and quality of, health care for New Yorkers; and increase accountability among government contractors. Additionally, he vetoed 18 bills that, if signed, would have cost State taxpayers $28 million dollars over the next two years.    » read more »

GE’s Revolutionary Cardiac Imaging Scanners Installed At Major Hospitals; GE Healthcare Breakthrough SPECT Technology Is Biggest Change In 40 Years

10 June 2009 -- WAUKESHA, Wis. -- GE Healthcare today announced the installation of four revolutionary cardiac imaging scanners that could help pave the way for quicker, clearer and lower-dose scans for cardiac patients around the world. The breakthrough technology represents the most significant upgrade to SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) in 40 years and can reduce exposure to radiation, enhance image quality and dramatically shorten scan times.    » read more »

New Jersey University Hospital to Pay Additional $2 Million to Resolve Fraud Claims That Facility Double Billed Medicaid

June 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) has agreed to pay the United States $2 million to resolve federal civil fraud allegations that its hospital defrauded Medicaid, the Justice Department announced today.

From 1993 to 2004, UMDNJ’s University Hospital submitted claims to Medicaid for outpatient physician services that were also being billed by doctors working in the hospital’s outpatient centers. By submitting duplicate claims for payment, University Hospital effectively doubled billed the government’s Medicaid program.    » read more »

Reforms Linked to Guaranteed 1.5 Percent Annual Savings in Health Care Costs and Health Coverage for All

New York, NY, May 20, 2009—Physicians can and should play a leading role in achieving health care reform by working towards comprehensive reform of the way health care is paid for and delivered, helping achieve a guaranteed 1.5 percent annual savings in health care costs that would pay for covering all Americans, according to a New England Journal of Medicine Perspective piece published online today.    » read more »

Funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which passed earlier this year

May 18, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI) announced today that Michigan will receive $4,795,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The funding will help finance public safety services in rural communities protect.

“This investment will help ensure that families living in rural communities have access to law enforcement, health care, and other essential services,” said Stabenow. “I am pleased that this recovery funding will help keep our rural communities safe, and will help create good-paying jobs at the same time.”    » read more »

May 12, 2009 -- WASHINGTON—As the Administration prepares to announce another drop in the lifespan of the Medicare trust fund, AARP’s Health Action Now campaign is insisting that comprehensive health reform include specific measures to cut wasteful spending and lower costs for individuals—all while improving the quality of care. The organization is focusing on reducing waste in Medicare, particularly by reducing costly hospital readmissions and cutting billions of dollars in fraud.

“For most Americans, the biggest roadblock to health care is cost,” said AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond. “By rooting out the waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare, we can improve the health of people in the program, improve access to quality care and save billions of dollars.”    » read more »

California, Florida Join List of Ten Worst States in Disciplining Doctors; Minnesota Is Overall Worst State While Alaska Is Best

April 20, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Public Citizen’s annual ranking of state medical boards shows that most states, including two of the largest, are not living up to their obligations to protect patients from doctors who are practicing substandard medicine, according to the report released today.    » read more »

04/13/2009 -- As part of his commitment to creating jobs in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced his Allied Health Initiative - a $32 million public-private partnership aimed at reducing California’s critical health care worker shortage by adding thousands of additional professionals to California’s hospitals and health care facilities over the next three years.    » read more »

Capital Health Project is the largest in History of HUD’s FHA

WASHINGTON, DC, April 8, 2009 -- In the largest single transaction of its 75 year history, the Federal Housing Administration today announced that it has finalized a deal to insure a $756 million mortgage for Capital Health of Trenton, New Jersey. The loan is made possible through the FHA's Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program. It will allow Capital Health to construct a new 223-bed hospital in Hopewell Township to replace the existing Mercer Medical Center.    » read more »

Federal Judge Rejects Detroit Hospital Executives' Demand That Class Action Suit Be Dismissed; Lawsuits Are Pending Against Hospitals in Albany, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, and San Antonio

March 26, 2009 -- DETROIT -- A landmark lawsuit filed by registered nurses in Detroit over efforts by hospitals in their area to conspire to hold down wages for nurses-even in the face of a chronic shortage of nurses willing to work in acute care hospitals-will move forward after a federal judge rejected attempts to have the case dismissed.

Judge Gerald Rosen rejected arguments from Mount Clemens General Hospital that the nurses' suit has no merit and ordered the case to go forward.    » read more »

March 20, 2009 -- Building on President Barack Obama’s efforts to ensure access to health care for millions of uninsured Americans, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today announced that states can access an additional $268 million authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help pay hospitals to treat their most vulnerable patients.

“Millions of people rely on the care provided by their community hospitals,” said Acting HHS Secretary Charles E. Johnson. “Through the help provided by the Recovery Act, we can make sure they continue to get the care they need in those hospitals.”    » read more »

March 09, 2009 -- (Oklahoma City) -- Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry today approved legislation that will help preserve the Oklahoma State University medical program and the OSU Medical Center in Tulsa. Both had been facing an uncertain future because of financial difficulties and other challenges.

House Bill 1127 by House Speaker Chris Benge and Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee appropriates $5 million to the OSU Medical Authority to keep the facility in operation. It is the first installment of five such annual appropriations.

The funding is part of an agreement hammered out last December by Gov. Henry, Speaker Benge, Pro Tem Coffee, OSU officials and Tulsa leaders.    » read more »