Hospitals
As nonprofit hospitals reap big tax breaks, states scrutinize their required charity spending
POTTSTOWN, Pa. — The public school system here had to scramble in 2018 when the local hospital, newly purchased, was converted to a tax-exempt nonprofit entity. The takeover by Tower Health meant the 219-bed Pottstown Hospital no longer had to pay federal and state taxes. It also no longer had to pay local property taxes, […]
Feds to Consider Paying for End-of-Life Planning
© AP Hospice patient Jocelyn Green, left, discusses medications with registered nurse Tanya Diedrich, of DeKalb County Hospice, at Green’s home in DeKalb, Illinois. The Obama administration is considering whether to reimburse doctors for conducting end-of-life conversations with patients. The federal government may reimburse doctors for talking to Medicare patients and their families about “advance […]
States Missing Out on Millions in Medicaid for Prisoners
Dr. David Mathis examines a prison inmate in California. Medicaid pays most hospitalization and nursing home care costs for prison inmates but few states or counties take advantage of it. (AP) (CORRECTION 6/26/2013: The option of Medicaid does NOT extend to patients in mental institutions. Those references have been deleted) Only a dozen states have taken […]
New Database Reveals Thousands of Hospital Violation Reports
Hospitalsmake mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes. A patient may get the wrong medication or evenundergo surgery intended for another person. When errors like these are reported, state and federal officials inspectthe hospital in question and file a detailed report. Now, for thefirst time, this vital information on the quality and safety of the nation’shospitals has been made […]
Seizing Medicaid Expansion as a Means to Reform
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, a medical doctor, visits with children. He wants to improve medical services in Alabama, possibly along the lines of Oregon’s relatively generous Medicaid program. (Corbis) MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Just two states have governors who are physicians. Democrat John Kitzhaber of Oregon is an emergency room doctor. Republican Robert Bentley of Alabama […]
One State’s Hospital Cost Solution: Regulated Prices
thinkstock The new federal health law has created a flurry of hospital mergers as the industry prepares for major changes in financing and delivery of care. Some worry that the resulting behemoths will have too much price-setting power. In one state, however, monopoly pricing won’t be a problem. The state sets the prices. For more […]
States Work to Avert Nurse Shortage
If America is to solve its nurse shortage crisis, health-care leaders will have to figure out a way to keep people such as Nancy Burtis in the profession. Burtis, 52, was an emergency room and surgical nurse in the Chicago area for almost 25 years. But after growing weary from the constant stress of […]