Healthcare Roundup: Cardinal Health Spinoff, Hospitals Ditch Debt, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Cardinal Health to spin off clinical, medical-product units -- The healthcare-services company said it will form a new $4 billion spinoff firm from units that handle distribution of surgical and medical products. Cardinal will retain drug and medical-supply chain services under its own roof. [Source: Health Data Management]

HPA files for bankruptcy protection -- Hospital Partners of America, a Charlotte, N.C., hospital chain, filed for Chapter 11 and is looking for buyers for four hospitals in Texas and California. The company said operations shouldn't be affected at its hospitals, which are organized as independent legal entities. [Source: Modern Healthcare]

Hospitals may sell off more bad debt -- Financially strapped hospitals appear more likely to repackage and sell off uncollected care-related debt as the credit crisis and a worsening economy increase the odds that patients won't pay. In comments to an InsideARM story, readers note the parallel to the rise of the securitized mortgage market -- and we all know how that turned out. Similarly, a Modern Healthcare analysis suggests that hospitals and other healthcare providers will weather the financial crisis just fine. [Sources: InsideARM, Modern Healthcare]

Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield charity-care plan rejected -- The Washington, D.C., city government insists that the nonprofit CareFirst should pay a fixed percentage of its premium revenue toward health-coverage assistance programs in the District, a move the organization sees as a raid on its reserves. [Source: Baltimore Business Journal via FierceHealthcare]

DEA e-prescribing proposal draws industry objections -- The Drug Enforcement Agency offered a proposal that would allow electronic prescribing of narcotics and similar controlled substances, but pharmacist, hospital and other industry associations said the plan would be expensive and incompatible with existing e-prescribing systems. The DEA currently requires written prescriptions for controlled drugs. [Source: Modern Healthcare]

Boston ends Canadian prescription-drug program -- Four years after starting a program to provide inexpensive Canadian drugs to city residents, Boston is wrapping it up. The program never attracted more than a few dozen participants, largely because the Medicare drug benefit reduced the need for cheap drugs. [Source: Boston Globe]

UC Irvine medical center put under state supervision -- Citing a string of abuses identified by federal inspectors in its anesthesiology department, California's Department of Public Health has assumed oversight of the university hospital. Among the problems: Medical forms were filled out to show patients doing well before they even underwent procedures; poor maintenance on anesthesia machines; and inadequate nurse training. [Source: LAT via FierceHealthcare]