Modern Healthcare back issues from August 1998:
SURPRISE INSPECTION: AHERF'S FINANCIAL WOES PROMPT VISIT BY JCAHO
Aug 03, 1998; ... When disaster strikes, everybody in the hospital business knows the Joint Commission won't be far behind. And now, in a major and previously unannounced policy change, "disaster" includes problems with not just patient care but also finances.Exhibit A is Hahnemann University ...
FTC WINS A ROUND IN MO. ANTITRUST CASE
Aug 03, 1998; ... The Federal Trade Commission broke its losing streak in hospital merger cases last week, winning a preliminary injunction to halt the union of the only two private, acute-care hospitals in Poplar Bluff, Mo.It's the first major hospital merger case the FTC has won since 1991, when ...
Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.
Aug 03, 1998 ... Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. signed a letter of intent Friday to sell two facilities to Nashville-based NetCare Health Systems. The hospitals are 132-bed Davis Medical Center, Statesville, N.C., and 122-bed Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in Ronceverte, W.Va. Both facilities were part of ...
The Federal Trade Commission won its court battle
Aug 03, 1998 ... In its second major healthcare antitrust victory in two days, the Federal Trade Commission won its court battle to block drug distributors Cardinal Health and McKesson Corp. from buying Bergen Brunswig Corp. and AmeriSource Health Corp., respectively. In a decision issued late Friday in ...
The American Medical Association
Aug 03, 1998 ... The American Medical Association agreed to pay a $9.9 million settlement to Sunbeam Corp. for canceling their exclusive five-year trademark licensing agreement last year. The Delray Beach, Fla.-based appliance manufacturer gets $2 million for out-of-pocket expenses, including legal fees, and ...
COURT BACKS REVOCATION OF FIRM'S TAX EXEMPTION
Aug 03, 1998; ... The Internal Revenue Service won a seven-year battle last week when the U.S. Tax Court upheld the agency's decision to revoke the tax exemption of a not-for-profit corporation that once operated a psychiatric hospital.Anclote Psychiatric Center, the not-for-profit shell that once ...
GAO: HCFA FAILED TO SANCTION CALIF. NURSING HOMES
Aug 03, 1998; ... Since July 1995, nearly 10% of all nursing homes in California were found by state and federal investigators to have serious quality deficiencies for two straight years, but only a quarter of those were ever sanctioned by HCFA, according to a report released last week.The General ...
MEDCATH, ALLINA DISCUSS HEART HOSPITAL
Aug 03, 1998; ... MedCath, the Charlotte, N.C.-based chain of boutique heart hospitals, is considering a move into the Minneapolis market.The for-profit hospital company is in early discussions with not-for-profit Allina Health System and with cardiologists at the Minneapolis Heart Institute. ...
STUMBLING BLOCK: COLUMBIA SALE TO NOT-FOR-PROFITS LOSES A HOSPITAL
Aug 03, 1998; ... Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. last week dropped plans to sell its lease of a county-owned hospital in North Carolina for $36 million.The 60-bed Brunswick Hospital in Supply, N.C., was to be part of Columbia's 22-hospital deal with a consortium of not-for-profit buyers. The other 21 ...
N.Y. HOSPITALS BEGIN SETTLEMENT TALKS
Aug 03, 1998; ... Two hospitals in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., have commenced settlement talks with the New York attorney general, who alleged their joint operating agreement is little more than a price-fixing sham.A settlement might involve the hospitals agreeing to restructure their joint operating ...
Columbia pays $2.5 million to settle FTC charges
Aug 03, 1998 ... Columbia pays $2.5 million to settle FTC charges. Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated a 1995 order by the agency to divest hospitals in Florida and Utah. The FTC's complaint alleged that Nashville-based ...
RESTRUCTURINGS HIT COLUMBIA, TENET EARNINGS
Aug 03, 1998; ... Ongoing restructurings have resulted in less than favorable earnings reports from the country's two largest for-profit hospital chains.With 309 hospitals, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., the nation's largest healthcare chain, last week reported an 81% decrease in net income for the ...
A ONE-HOSPITAL TOWN: ASHEVILLE, N.C., FACILITY TO SELL OUT TO ITS LARGE PARTNER
Aug 03, 1998; ... This town isn't big enough for the two of them-not even after the hospitals formed a joint operating agreement to streamline services and cut costs.So 264-bed St. Joseph's Hospital in Asheville, N.C., is selling out to its partner, 436-bed Memorial Mission Medical Center, for $90 ...
TENET SEALS OMAHA VENTURE
Aug 03, 1998; ... After more than six months of negotiations, Omaha, Neb.-based Alegent Health has completed a joint venture with Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s Creighton Saint Joseph Regional Healthcare System.The alliance between Alegent and Creighton Saint Joseph gives them control over 65% of the ...
CALIF. DISTRICT GETS ALTERNATIVE
Aug 03, 1998; ... Palomar Pomerado Health System in San Diego has received a last-minute affiliation bid from Sharp HealthCare, even as it was holding public hearings on a proposed deal with ScrippsHealth.San Diego-based Sharp's proposal includes an upfront payment of $20 million from Palomar ...
GROWING LIKE WILD: HOSPITALS ENTER BOOMING ASSISTED-LIVING BUSINESS
Aug 03, 1998; ... As assisted-living communities blossom across the U.S. like so many wildflowers, many hospitals are viewing these senior residences as buds on their continuum of care.Although some hospitals are venturing solo into assisted living, many others are partnering with players in the ...
FINANCE: GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS BJC EARNS COVETED RATING, BUT OUTLOOK DOWNGRADED
Aug 03, 1998; ... The bond rating agency giveth, and the bond rating agency taketh away.BJC Health System, a St. Louis powerhouse, received a coveted Aa2 rating from Moody's Investors Service on $225 million in bonds expected to be issued this week.In the same new issue report, published ...
MEDITRUST REVIEWING ITS 'PAIRED SHARE' STRUCTURE
Aug 03, 1998 ... Meditrust, the country's fifth-largest real estate investment trust, says it's exploring alternatives to its "paired share" structure. The move responds to legislation signed by President Clinton to overhaul the Internal Revenue Service. Among other things, the bill limits the benefits of ...
SURPRISE INSPECTION: AHERF'S FINANCIAL WOES PROMPT VISIT BY JCAHO.(Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
Aug 03, 1998; ... When disaster strikes, everybody in the hospital business knows the Joint Commission won't be far behind. And now, in a major and previously unannounced policy change, "disaster" includes problems with not just patient care but also finances.Exhibit A is Hahnemann University ...
FTC WINS A ROUND IN MO. ANTITRUST CASE.
Aug 03, 1998; ... The Federal Trade Commission broke its losing streak in hospital merger cases last week, winning a preliminary injunction to halt the union of the only two private, acute-care hospitals in Poplar Bluff, Mo.It's the first major hospital merger case the FTC has won since 1991, when ...
COURT BACKS REVOCATION OF FIRM'S TAX EXEMPTION.
Aug 03, 1998; ... The Internal Revenue Service won a seven-year battle last week when the U.S. Tax Court upheld the agency's decision to revoke the tax exemption of a not-for-profit corporation that once operated a psychiatric hospital.Anclote Psychiatric Center, the not-for-profit shell that once ...
STUMBLING BLOCK: COLUMBIA SALE TO NOT-FOR-PROFITS LOSES A HOSPITAL.
Aug 03, 1998; ... Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. last week dropped plans to sell its lease of a county-owned hospital in North Carolina for $36 million.The 60-bed Brunswick Hospital in Supply, N.C., was to be part of Columbia's 22-hospital deal with a consortium of not-for-profit buyers. The other 21 ...
A SHOT AT IMMUNITY: BILL ALLOWS INDEPENDENT DOCS TO NEGOTIATE COLLECTIVELY.
Aug 03, 1998; ... In physicians' latest stab at relief from antitrust laws, newly proposed federal legislation would give antitrust immunity to independent practitioners who negotiate collectively with health plans as if the doctors were unionized.The bill, introduced with little fanfare last month ...
A ONE-HOSPITAL TOWN: ASHEVILLE, N.C., FACILITY TO SELL OUT TO ITS LARGE PARTNER.
Aug 03, 1998; ... This town isn't big enough for the two of them-not even after the hospitals formed a joint operating agreement to streamline services and cut costs.So 264-bed St. Joseph's Hospital in Asheville, N.C., is selling out to its partner, 436-bed Memorial Mission Medical Center, for $90 ...
THE BUCK STOPS HERE: BANKRUPTCY FILING BY PITTSBURGH'S AHERF RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT ITS BOARD'S ROLE.(Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation)
Aug 03, 1998; ... As Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation muddles through its high-profile bankruptcy reorganization, the spotlight of public scrutiny has turned on the trustees who were supposed to act as guardians of the prestigious not-for-profit system.A host of attorneys, ...
COMMENTARY: RISK WITHOUT REWARD HEALTH PLAN LIABILITY WOULD INCREASE LAWSUITS AND COSTS, WOULDN'T HELP PATIENTS.(Column)
Aug 03, 1998; ... Flinging open the courthouse doors is about the worst possible way to ensure quality healthcare.In fact, a presidential commission on healthcare quality warned earlier this year that "perhaps the most significant deterrent to the identification and reduction of errors (in ...
GROWING LIKE WILD: HOSPITALS ENTER BOOMING ASSISTED-LIVING BUSINESS.
Aug 03, 1998; ... As assisted-living communities blossom across the U.S. like so many wildflowers, many hospitals are viewing these senior residences as buds on their continuum of care.Although some hospitals are venturing solo into assisted living, many others are partnering with players in the ...
SYSTEMS: A NEW KIND OF OWNERSHIP THEORIST SUGGESTS NEW 'COMMUNITY SERVICE' TAX STATUS.(community service corporations)
Aug 03, 1998; ... Think of healthcare like football, specifically the Green Bay Packers.The Packers are owned by 110,000 fans from around Wisconsin and the nation-not to mention Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands-who hold stock in the championship football club.Ownership by the fans has ...
INFORMATION SYSTEMS: HIMSS TO PACK THEM IN: EXHIBITORS CLAMORING FOR SPACE AT NEXT CONVENTION.(Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society)
Aug 03, 1998; ... The drawing power of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's annual midwinter convention is well documented by growing attendance and competition for exhibit space. Attendance has more than tripled in four years, and indoor exhibit space has expanded to the equivalent of ...
FINANCE: GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS BJC EARNS COVETED RATING, BUT OUTLOOK DOWNGRADED.
Aug 03, 1998; ... The bond rating agency giveth, and the bond rating agency taketh away.BJC Health System, a St. Louis powerhouse, received a coveted Aa2 rating from Moody's Investors Service on $225 million in bonds expected to be issued this week.In the same new issue report, published ...
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
Aug 10, 1998; ... Aug. 10, 1998How many times have you heard the lament, "I'm only one person. What can I do?" Every time I hear that I cringe. Every one of us has the ability to change the course of events if we only focus our attention on what it is we want to do and then commit to doing it well ....
BJC CHIEF TO STEP DOWN: BROWN WILL RESIGN TO FOCUS ON AHA CHAIRMAN POST
Aug 10, 1998; ... In a surprise change of mind, Fred Brown, president and chief executive officer of BJC Health System in St. Louis, will step down effective Dec. 31 to devote more time to his duties as incoming chairman of the American Hospital Association.Just months after telling MODERN ...
UNITED LOSS THREATENS HUMANA MERGER
Aug 10, 1998; ... Taking a massive earnings hit to reflect restructuring charges, United HealthCare Corp. posted a stunning second-quarter loss of $565 million late last week that could jeopardize its planned merger with Humana."Humana has to make a decision as to whether they want to persevere," ...
HASAN RETIRING AS FOUNDATION CHIEF
Aug 10, 1998; ... Malik Hasan, M.D., is retiring as Foundation Health Systems' chief executive, in what could be a harbinger of dramatic changes at the managed-care giant.The notion of the hard-charging Hasan voluntarily stepping down from the company he helped create was met with some skepticism by ...
CHARLESTON DEAL COMPLETED
Aug 10, 1998; ... Their previous attempt to join forces fizzled two years ago, but three of the six private, acute-care hospitals in Charleston, S.C., have finally come together under one management company.Charleston-based CareAlliance Health Services, the management company, is overseeing 147-bed ...
U.S.: COLUMBIA 'BUYS SILENCE'
Aug 10, 1998; ... Four Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. executives pleaded not guilty to fraud charges in a new indictment last week, while federal prosecutors accused the company of buying the executives' silence.Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Haley alleged in documents filed in U.S. District Court ...
The House GOP patient-protection bill
Aug 10, 1998 ... The House GOP patient-protection bill includes a weak emergency-care provision that would require health plans to cover emergency treatment for only an initial screening, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians. The group, as well as U.S. Rep. Benjamin ...
HCFA has approved Arkansas' and Nebraska's plans
Aug 10, 1998 ... HCFA has approved Arkansas' and Nebraska's plans to expand children's health insurance coverage under the federal Children's Health Insurance Program. Arkansas may receive as much as $47 ...
West Palm Beach, Fla.-based PhyMatrix Corp.
Aug 10, 1998 ... West Palm Beach, Fla.-based PhyMatrix Corp. said its board is scheduled to meet next week to review the possible sale of its physician practice management business and its ancillary service businesses, including diagnostic imaging, home ...
The creditors of Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health
Aug 10, 1998 ... The creditors of Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation hospitals agreed to let the chain obtain a two-year $50 million loan to continue operations while negotiating the sale of eight Philadelphia-area ...
HOME HEALTH 'GUIDELINES' INCLUDE MANDATES
Aug 10, 1998; ... HHS' inspector general's office last week announced "guidelines" designed to help home health agencies comply with federal fraud-and-abuse laws, but many of the provisions are going to be mandatory.In a related development, Inspector General June Gibbs Brown said she would try to ...
REQUEST DENIED? INTEGRATED HEALTH UNLIKELY TO WIN HOME HEALTH WAIVER
Aug 10, 1998; ... Government officials are indicating they probably won't give Integrated Health Services an unusual exemption from the Medicare home health interim payment system.Integrated's chairman is Robert Elkins, M.D, a politically connected businessman who has lavished money on both ...
DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY AGREES TO SETTLEMENT
Aug 10, 1998; ... St. Louis-based Daughters of Charity National Health System will pay $586,000 to settle allegations that four of its hospitals submitted false Medicare cost reports.The hospitals were accused of "knowingly" failing to report discounts they had received for purchasing X-ray film and ...
GOSMAN STEPS DOWN: EXIT AT MEDITRUST COMES AMID REIT'S STOCK PLUNGE
Aug 10, 1998; ... As Meditrust Cos. stock prices plunged, Abraham Gosman resigned last week as the company's chairman and chief executive officer.Though his departure was voluntary, the move seems to be a reaction not just to the share price loss but to a change in federal tax law that eliminated ...
STATE-OWNED N.C. HOSPITAL SEEKING MORE AUTONOMY
Aug 10, 1998; ... University of North Carolina Hospitals is asking the state for more independence so that it can keep up with its competitors.A special provision tucked inside a state appropriations bill would give UNC Hospitals more flexibility in its business dealings, many of which must be ...
LOOKING FOR TROUBLE: STATE, FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS SEEK TIPS ON PROBLEM HMOS
Aug 10, 1998; ... State and federal investigators are soliciting tips from hospitals and physicians in their quest to find and punish HMOs that have denied necessary care or purposely delayed payments.With two Medicare HMOs recently inking settlements with federal prosecutors for a total of ...
DRUG DEALS SCRAPPED: TWO MERGERS BLOCKED BECAUSE OF ANTITRUST CONCERNS
Aug 10, 1998; ... A pair of billion-dollar mergers involving four of the nation's largest drug wholesalers have been scrapped just one week after a federal judge blocked the deals because of antitrust concerns.In one deal, McKesson Corp., the largest wholesaler, had planned to purchase No. 4 ...
APPOINTMENT TO TENET, JCAHO BOARDS CRITICIZED
Aug 10, 1998; ... A routine recent appointment to the board of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations became controversial when the appointee was named to the board of Tenet Healthcare Corp. last week.The Rev. Lawrence Biondi, president of Saint Louis University, a Jesuit ...
Tenn. hospital deal clears antitrust hurdle
Aug 10, 1998 ... Tenn. hospital deal clears antitrust hurdle. Johnson City (Tenn.) Medical Center is plowing ahead with its proposed acquisition of six hospitals from Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. after clearing a big antitrust hurdle. The Federal Trade Commission chose not to challenge Johnson City ...
Nursing home group backs 'zero tolerance' approach to abuse
Aug 10, 1998 ... Nursing home group backs 'zero tolerance' approach to abuse. In a change in its stance on federal nursing home quality enforcement, the American Health Care Association, a major long-term-care provider group, has called for a "zero tolerance" policy against neglect and abuse of nursing home ...
Fix delayed for home health payment system
Aug 10, 1998 ... Fix delayed for home health payment system. Prospects for fixing Medicare's home health payment system dimmed last week as members of Congress and the Clinton administration sparred over who should take the lead on the issue. A home health "interim payment system," or IPS, took effect Oct ....
PacifiCare earnings jump
Aug 10, 1998 ... PacifiCare earnings jump. Showing a strong performance during a tough time for many of its competitors, PacifiCare Health Systems posted better-than-expected second-quarter earnings, more than doubling last year's quarterly numbers. The Santa Ana, Calif.-based managed-care company reported a ...
MedPartners revises earnings downward
Aug 10, 1998 ... MedPartners revises earnings downward. MedPartners' turnaround strategy hit a snag last week as the Birmingham, Ala.-based physician practice management company said it will take longer than expected to revamp its Southern California operations, which account for almost half the company's ...
OHIO INVESTIGATES BLUES PULLOUT
Aug 10, 1998; ... The Ohio Department of Insurance is conducting an official investigation into Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's late May decision to yank its Medicare HMO from much of rural Ohio.Kip May, the insurance department's deputy commissioner, confirmed late last month that the agency is ...
MARKETING STANDSTILL: CALIF. BLUE SHIELD STOPS PROMOTING ITS MEDICARE HMO
Aug 10, 1998; ... Following a path blazed by a number of other HMOs in recent months, Blue Shield of California abruptly suspended promotion of its Shield 65 Medicare risk program in six Northern California counties on Aug. 1.The San Francisco-based plan will continue to provide coverage for about ...
RIPPLE EFFECT: FEDS' INVESTIGATION INTO BEVERLY COULD HAVE BROAD IMPACT
Aug 10, 1998; ... The federal investigation of long-term- care giant Beverly Enterprises could affect the way the entire long-term-care industry fills out its Medicare cost reports.The U.S. Justice Department and HHS' inspector general's office are looking at whether Beverly improperly reported some ...
HORIZON HEALTH STOCK PLUMMETS
Aug 10, 1998 ... Horizon Health Corp. shares plummeted 51% to $5.13 on Aug. 4, the day after Horizon announced it wouldn't meet financial expectations for its fourth quarter ending Aug. 31 or for its fiscal 1999, which begins Sept. 1.Lewisville, Texas-based Horizon blames its troubles on Medicare ...
NOT-FOR-PROFITS GET IRS HELP
Aug 10, 1998; ... Governing boards of not-for-profit hospitals would get valuable guidance in avoiding conflicts of interest that could land them in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, under IRS regulations proposed late last month.If the regulations remain largely unchanged after a public ...
ON THE REBOUND: GWU HOSPITAL REALIZES BENEFITS OF INVESTOR OWNERSHIP
Aug 10, 1998; ... A hospital on the rebound.That's how executives portray George Washington University Hospital in the District of Columbia one year after investor-owned Universal Health Services purchased an 80% stake in the 296-bed academic hospital.The $125 million deal already has ...
PROBLEM TAKEOFF: CALIF. PROGRAM FOR LOW-INCOME KIDS HITS SOME SNAGS
Aug 10, 1998; ... The application for California's Healthy Families program is bursting with warm fuzzies: Multicolored hearts, outstretched hands and stars are sprinkled throughout the 27-page form.But the graphics don't obscure the fact that completing the application requires a calculator, copies ...
NEW COLUMBIA PARTNERSHIP: TALKS WITH HEALTH MIDWEST INVOLVE KAN., MO. OPERATIONS
Aug 10, 1998; ... Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. operations in the Kansas City area, Kansas and Missouri, could come into the orbit of Health Midwest, the area's largest integrated hospital system, under a letter of intent signed recently. But the structure of the relationship is yet to be determined. ...
SNELL RESIGNS AS CEO OF BROOKLYN HOSPITAL
Aug 10, 1998 ... Donald Snell resigned as president and chief executive officer of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., late last month.The 516-bed hospital recently made headlines for receiving the largest bequest ever made to a hospital (July 20, p. 48). Snell, who joined the hospital ...
Y2K HITS CIOS' HOT BUTTON: MILLENNIUM BUG INVADES IS PRIORITIES, SURVEY SHOWS
Aug 10, 1998; ... In just 12 months, the millennium bug, which renders computers unable to recognize the year-2000 date and beyond, has gone from an invisible issue to a crisis of hulking proportions among healthcare chief information officers, a new industry survey reveals.Asked to name their three ...
KODAK BUYS IMATION IMAGING UNIT
Aug 10, 1998; ... Eastman Kodak Co. last week agreed to acquire most of the medical-imaging business of Imation Corp. for about $520 million in cash, a move that broadens Kodak's product line of diagnostic film to include direct capture of digital images.Central to the deal, Kodak executives said, ...
'CREATING COMPETITION': COLO. IPA TARGETED IN ANTITRUST SUIT PLANS SURGERY CENTER
Aug 10, 1998; ... A rural Colorado physicians group entangled in an antitrust lawsuit last year now hopes to build an outpatient surgery center.Ironically, the Mesa County Physicians IPA is working with a local HMO, whose contract with the physicians was once said to be keeping other payers out of ...