Healthcare Roundup: Express Scripts Extorted, Senate Healthcare Reform, AARP Suspends UnitedHealth Plans, and More
Express Scripts data loss linked to extortion -- The pharmacy benefits manager said it received an anonymous letter threatening to disclose the personal and prescription records of millions of people unless the company paid an undisclosed sum. Express turned over the information to the FBI and alerted 75 people whose records accompanied the extortion attempt. [Sources: NYT, WSJ]
Key senators moving ahead with healthcare-reform bills -- Conventional wisdom may hold that President-elect Barack Obama will have to delay his healthcare plan because the U.S. can't afford it, but the Senate is moving ahead with plans that could soon see daylight. Sen. Max Baucus, chair of the Finance Committee, plans to release a comprehensive reform plan this week, and a parallel effort is moving through Sen. Edward Kennedy's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. [Sources: The New Republic, Politico, CQ Healthbeat/kaisernetworks.org]
AARP suspends sale of UnitedHealth plans -- The American Association of Retired People on Friday suspended sales of so-called "limited benefit" plans backed by UnitedHealth Group after Congress questioned the fact that they may expose seniors to tens of thousands of dollars in costs. The plans cover fixed dollar amounts for various procedures instead of a percentage of costs. [Source: USA Today]
Obama considers quick overturn of stem-cell, abortion decisions -- President-elect Obama is drawing up a list of executive decisions that would overturn several key Bush administration health-related policies. High on the list are a ban on federal support for embryonic stem-cell research and the so-called global gag rule that limited U.S. support for family-planning groups that provide or counsel about abortion. [Source: NYT]
Hospitals see decline in paid admissions -- Even patients with good health insurance appear to be putting off non-urgent surgery and other often lucrative medical care at hospitals, most likely thanks to the sinking economy. Knee replacements, hernia repairs and weight-loss surgery are among the most common deferred procedures. One Florida hospital system cited the trend when it closed one of its eight facilities, and several hospitals have cut their workforces in anticipation of further drops. A September Citi Investment Research analysis found that overall admissions were down 2-3 percent against a year earlier. [Source: NYT]
Bad debt, reimbursement down at hospitals... but hiring is up? -- A pair of Modern Healthcare items give a schizophrenic snapshot of hospitals' financial state. The American Hospital Association reports that bad debt and delayed payments by Medicare and Medicaid rose significantly... in 2007, the latest data AHA has available. (Really?) Of course, you'd expect 2008 to be even worse. Meanwhile, however, federal labor statistics show that hospitals and physicians' practices were still adding workers in October. [Sources: Modern Healthcare 1, 2]
California stimulus plan may benefit hospital construction -- Measures proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would streamline the permit and review process for non-structural hospital construction of less than $2 million, potentially accelerating as much as $160 million worth of projects by more than nine months. [Source: Modern Healthcare]
NY's Parkway Hospital to close -- The Forest Hills, N.Y., hospital will be shuttered as part of the state's healthcare restructuring plan mandated by a body known as the Berger Commission. The for-profit hospital's parent may convert it into an outpatient medical facility or acquire a second hospital to convert it into a chain. [Source: Modern Healthcare]
Lower middle-class wages can't cover healthcare costs -- Princeton healthcare economist Uwe Reinhardt argues in the NYT that rising insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs will soon overwhelm the ability of lower middle-class families to pay. The result: An evolving two-tiered healthcare system that offers little more than bare-bones and low-tech medicine for less well-off families, unless wealthier taxpayers can be induced to subidize care for "the most hard-working members of the lower income classes," Reinhardt writes. [Source: NYT via WSJ Health Blog]