February 2007

Hospital executives linked to anti-trust suit

Former chief executive officers of Legacy Health System and Providence Health System are among those accused of engaging in an “exclusive club” of health industry vendors and hospital chief executives, according to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who charged the group with violating anti-trust laws.

The arrangement may have artificially inflated the price of hospital services. At the same time, it boosted CEO salaries by tens of thousands of dollars for serving as consultants to hospital vendors, Blumenthal said.

The Healthcare Research and Development Institute agreed to settle the anti-trust allegations in January, though no criminal behavior was acknowledged. The institute agreed to pay a $150,000 fine and overhaul its operations. Among other things, the Florida-based limited liability corporation agreed to become a non-profit organization. The nearly two-year investigation is ongoing, said a Blumenthal spokeswoman.

OHP to cover bariatric surgery

The verdict is in: The Oregon Health Plan will cover bariatric surgery beginning Jan. 1, 2008.

Doctors and researchers have wrestled with this issue throughout the past year. After the Health Resources Commission said there was insufficient evidence that the weight-loss surgery was cost effective, the final word came down to the Health Services Commission, which factors in clinical effectiveness. The HSC decided in January to begin covering both gastric bypass and laproscopic banding surgery next year.

On the Record with Rep. Ron Maurer (R--Grants Pass)

Rep. Ron Maurer (R—Grants Pass) has been around the health care block. As a full-time military professional for close to 20 years, his assignments ranged from helicopter pilot for a medical evacuation unit to the department administrator of a teaching psychiatric center. Now, in civilian life, he co-owns a rural health clinic in Grants Pass with his wife, and sits on boards for both Asante Health System and Three Rivers Community Hospital Foundation.

The freshman lawmaker recently took a break from the cycle of committee meetings and hearings to chat with Acting Editor-in-Chief Tim Stumm about health care reform, rural health issues, and why he is voting against the governor’s Healthy Kids Program.

OHF: You were one of the lawmakers who attended Oregon Health Forum’s Health Care Reform Summit. In your weekly constituent newsletter after event, you said that although it highlighted the need for change, you believe that dramatic reform won’t happen any time soon. What did you mean by that?

RM: There are some historic perspectives that I don’t think any one really disputes. It took us 60 years to get to the system we have today. It’s going to take more than one legislative deconstruct of that system to get us to something that is more sustainable.

State dings Columbia with staffing violation

Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria was dinged $2,500 for understaffing nurses. The fine by the Health Care Licensing and Certification Section represents the first penalty leveled against a hospital for a nurse staffing violation since a state law was enacted in 2003. Two complaints against other hospitals were unsubstantiated.

When state investigators examined staffing records at Columbia Memorial for a single week in October, they found 15 instances when only one nurse staffed a unit. State law requires at least two. Investigators couldn’t prove that short staffing affected patient care, so the state office issued a relatively small fine, said Ron Prinslow, manager of the Health Care Licensing and Certification Section.

Community benefits could apply to all

The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems is authoring legislation that would standardize the way Oregon hospitals report community benefits because, said Kevin Earls, vice president of policy and advocacy, the state’s hospitals “have a good story to tell.”

Whether or not all hospitals will be spinning the same tale is still up for debate.

Traditionally, Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center has strayed from the course and not reported the same charity care numbers to the state that every other hospital has. Charity care figures are a significant piece of the hospital’s community benefits bill.

Also in this issue...

• Home health nurses ready for picket lines
  
• Advocates gear up for long term fight
  
• End of subsidy could birth new problem
  
• Battle continues over association plans
  

Want to read the entire stories? Click here to subscribe! Or call our office at (503) 226-7870 or email us at news@healthforum.org and we'd be happy to send you a complimentary copy of this month's issue.