Healthcare Roundup: CBO Scores Senate Bill, SEC Probes HCA, Global Cap on Trial in Mass., and More

CBO Scores Senate Finance Committee bill - The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the reform bill that the Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote on next week would reduce the federal deficit by more than $80 billion over 10 years. The $829 billion measure would expand coverage to 29 million more people, but would leave 25 million uninsured, a third of them undocumented aliens. The legislation would raise the percentage of insured citizens under 65 to 94 percent from the current 83 percent. That's not enough for the hospital and insurance industries, which complain that the deals they struck with the White House were contingent on near-universal coverage. [Sources: Wall Street Journal, New York Times]

HCA Stuck in Deep Doo-Doo - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened an investigation into whether the Hospital Corp. of America (HCA) violated securities law by manipulating books and records. The probe centers on the London operations of HCA, which operates more than 160 hospitals in the U.S. and the U.K. British authorities are also investigating the company. In 2003, HCA paid $1.7 billion to settle federal fraud charges stemming from the mid-1990s. Meanwhile, HCA's planned IPO is up in the air. [Sources: Washington Post, Tennessean]

Medicare Advantage Plans Dropped - In an early acknowledgement that Medicare Advantage faces rough sledding under healthcare reform, Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia has told members in three counties that it will be dropping a PPO for seniors, effective Dec. 31. Earlier this year, the company jettisoned two other Medicare Advantage plans. [Source: Philadelphia Inquirer] Global Capitation Attacked in Mass. - Massachusetts hospitals and doctors assailed the plan of a state commission to phase out fee-for-service reimbursement and require all insurers to pay global capitation to large provider organizations. The providers criticized the plan to control health costs as unrealistic and potentially dangerous to patient care. Public hearings on the proposal began this week. [Source: Boston Globe]

Rate of Rescue is Better Measure Than Complications - Rates of post-surgical complications may not be the best measure of a hospital's quality, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine. A better measure, the study says, is how often patients are rescued after they suffer complications. The data indicate that lower-mortality hospitals deal with complications better than those that have higher mortality rates. [Source: UPI.com]

Crime Pays in Medicare - Criminals in Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles, and other cities are turning to Medicare fraud, which pays better and carries lighter sentences than drug trafficking does. Typically, the criminals become licensed Medicare suppliers and falsely bill Medicare for medical equipment and drugs that people never receive. They often use Medicare numbers of homeless people or elderly people whom they intimidate. A number of murders have been tied to this racket. [Source: AP]