Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare programs are tight on cash. The cash-flow problem has prompted the Department of Community Health to ask medical providers and insurers to give the agency some flexibility on payments. The financial situation came up Thursday at a Department of Community Health board meeting. Scott Frederking, the agency’s budget director, said, “We…
The federal government announced Tuesday that 27 health collaboratives –- including two in Georgia — have been picked to participate in a new Medicare program that provides financial incentives for doctors and hospitals to form an “accountable care organization.” The program is called the Shared Savings Program. If the organizations improve patient care and contain…
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ruled Monday against an Albany accountant in his civil lawsuit over a prosecutorial investigator’s alleged false testimony before a grand jury. The justices said witnesses who lie to a grand jury are protected from civil lawsuits, giving them the same protection that witnesses get at trials. Justice…
The CEO of the Mayo Clinic said Thursday that the Minnesota-based organization, fresh off a merger with a Waycross health system, is looking at establishing other hospital relationships in the region around its Jacksonville, Fla., hub. Dr. John Noseworthy, president and CEO of the Mayo Clinic, told Georgia Health News in an interview that those alliances could be…
Hospital consolidation has heated up again in metro Atlanta, as Emory Healthcare and Southern Regional Health System have entered talks about a possible partnership. The discussions were first reported in an Atlanta Business Chronicle story. Emory issued a statement Friday that confirmed the talks with Southern Regional. “During the past several weeks, discussions have taken…
The renowned Mayo Clinic is entering Georgia for the first time, taking control of a health system in Waycross. In a merger that is effective Thursday, Satilla Health Services –- featuring a 231-bed hospital and two nursing homes — will be renamed Mayo Clinic Health System in Waycross. No money exchanged hands in the deal,…
The Federal Trade Commission is resuming its challenge of the merger of two Albany hospitals. The Albany-Dougherty County Hospital Authority and Phoebe Putney Health System said Sunday that U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, on behalf of the FTC, has asked for an extension of the deadline to seek the Supreme Court’s review of the federal…
The merger of the only two hospitals in Albany has been a done deal since December. But now a Huffington Post article has raised the possibility of yet another legal challenge to the merger. The Federal Trade Commission’s chairman, in a visit to the Post’s newsroom, said his agency is considering a Supreme Court challenge…
Elbert Memorial Hospital, facing major financial challenges, is seeking a larger hospital as a partner. “We keep losing patients, losing revenue and also doctors in the past several years,” said Jim Lloyd, chairman of the Elberton-Elbert County Hospital Authority. “We need someone with assets and capital to take us forward.” Elbert Memorial Hospital, a 47-bed…
John Haupert is four months into one of the toughest jobs in health care: president and CEO of Grady Health System in Atlanta. Grady Memorial Hospital is the biggest safety-net hospital in the state, and faces formidable challenges financially, with a large portion of its patients being uninsured. Just in the past few months, Grady…