More hospitals requiring payment before treatment
In a front-page story, the Wall Street Journal (4/28, A1, Martinez) reports that many "[h]ospitals are adopting a policy to improve their finances: making medical care contingent on upfront payments." According to the American Hospital Association, "[u]ncompensated care cost the hospital industry $31.2 billion in 2006, up 44 percent from $21.6 billion in 2000." Meanwhile, approximately "77 percent of nonprofit hospitals are in the black, compared with 61 percent of for-profit hospitals," data from the American Hospital Directory indicate. Hospitals claim that the figures are "driven by a larger number of Americans who are uninsured" or underinsured, and that "among those with adequate insurance, deductibles and co-payments are growing so big that" even some "insured patients also have trouble paying hospitals." The Journal notes that even though federal law "requires hospitals to treat emergencies, such as heart attacks or injuries from accidents," that "law doesn't cover conditions that aren't immediately life-threatening."
[Health and Life Sciences Law Daily, April 28, 2008 - AHLA]
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U.S. Court In Tennessee Finds Incident Reports Sought By Plaintiff In Malpractice Action Not Privileged Under State Laws
Certain incident reports and other documents requested by the estate of a deceased nursing home resident in a medical malpractice action are not privileged under state peer review and health data reporting laws, a federal district court in Tennessee ruled April 14.
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Brown v. Sun Healthcare Group Inc., No. 3:06-CV-240 (E.D. Tenn. Apr. 14, 2008).
[Health Lawyers Weekly, May 2, 2008 - AHLA]
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Tennessee Senate passes long-term care legislation
The AP (5/2) reported that the Tennessee Senate voted 32 to 0 to approve the Long-Term Care Community Choices Act of 2008 (SB 4181), legislation that would direct roughly half of TennCare's budget toward "home-based care over the next decade." Currently, TennCare "spends almost all of its annual $1.2 billion long-term care budget on nursing homes."
In an op-ed for the Tennessean (5/4), State Sen. Lowe Finney (D-Jackson) noted that the bill would address the Tennessee "system from the top down, from services that are offered, licensure of care providers, expansion of community-based alternatives to quality assurance." Sen. Finney concluded, "We are integrating these long-term care services into our existing managed-care system, which is funded by federal and state dollars," and "[t]his helps us manage growth within our existing resources."
[Health and Life Sciences Law Daily, May 5, 2008 - AHLA]
