Payers & Providers Midwest Edition – Issue of July 31, 2012

7/31/2019 Payers & Providers Midwest Edition Issue of July 31, 2012

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Payers & Providers Page 2

Top Placement...Bottomless Potentia l

Advertise Here

(877) 248-2360, ext. 2

In Brief

Minnesota BluesFoundation Makes

$510K In Grants

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation has provided22 grants totaling $510,000 to helpfund social and health improvementinitiatives across the state.

The largest grant, $100,000,went to The Family PartnershipMinneapolis to fund a project toimprove relations between NativeAmericans and Somalis living inclose proximity in Minneapolis.

The grants were chosen bycommunity judges from nearly 400applicants.

Relationships matter to yourhealth. Strong connections betweenfriends and neighbors help people

to be more involved in theircommunities, perform better inschool and live longer and happierlives, said Carolyn Link, thefoundations executive director.

Gentiva HealthAcquires Indiana

Hospice

Gentiva Health Services , theAtlanta-based, publicly tradedhospice services firm, has acquiredAdvocate Hospice in Danville, Ind.

Gentiva is acquiring thehospice for cash. Terms were no tdisclosed.

The addition of AdvocateHospice to the Gentiva familyenables us to expand our coveragein central and southern Indiana andto leverage our existing hospiceand home health capabilities in the

Continued on Page 3

NEWS

Accretive (Continued from Page One)

operated by Minneapolis-based FairviewHealth Services .

According to Swansons of ce,employees were placed at Fairview facilitiesposing as hospital employees and pressuringpatients and their families to pay for care.

Fairview employees were also pressuredto use special software to track patientaccounts and ensure they were asked forpayments upfront, according to investigators.

A followup report released by Swansonsof ce earlier this month named patients andtheir speci c circumstances when they wereapproached for collections.

Aside from the stroke victim, a 63-year-old pastor was asked for $1,500 prior to

undergoing a hip replacement procedure, atotal he had to negotiate down to $700because he could afford not more than that.

In another case, a mother was told hernewborn son would not be allowed to leavethe hospital until she paid her bill a tacticSwansons of ce referred to as babyprison.

Accretive said it did not expect thesettlement to have any adverse effect on itsoperations the rm has more than $200million in cash on hand.

Accretive stock had taken a beating asa result of Swansons allegations. However,it rose 20% in after-hours trading on theNew York Stock Exchange on Monday. TAMMY WORTH

Uncompensated Care In Iowa SoarsDouble-Digit Increase Between 2010 and 2011

The recession may be receding, but thecountrys improved economics have notnecessarily trickled down to hospitals.

According to a report released recentlyby the Iowa Hospital Association , the states118 community hospitals provided more than

$950 million in uncompensated care in2011, up $100 million, almost 12%, from theprevious year.

If there is a recovery happening, we willlikely see more hints of it in the next report,said Scott McIntyre , spokesperson for theassociation. But the numbers here dontindicate much of a recovery if we are judgingfrom the levels of charity care and bad debt.The hospitals also had losses of $274 millionfrom Medicare and Medicaid underpayments up 17% from 2007. According to the

report, more than 60% of the states hospitalrevenue comes from these two payers.

Some of this pain will be alleviated asstates increase payments to primary careproviders in 2013 and 2014, as required bythe Affordable Care Act. All states will berequired to increase Medicaid payments to falin line with what Medicare pays, whichtraditionally pay more generously.

Those states that expand their coveragewill have much of the higher matching ratepaid for by the federal government beyond2014, according to the Center on Budget andPolicy Priorities.

STORIES OF ONE HIGHLY LITIGIOUS PHYSICIA

$149Call (877) 248-2360, ext. 2 to order

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Page 3Payers & Providers

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NEWS

In Brief

state," said Gentiva CEO Tony Strange. "Going forward, we willcontinue to pursue acquisitionsthat make strategic sense and fillin geographic gaps in both of ourdivisions, while balancing theseefforts with our continued focus ondebt repayment.

Capital HealthcareTrust Acquires

Wisconson MedicalOffice Buildings Run By

Aurora Health Care

New York-based Realty CapitalHealthcare Trust has acquiredthree medical office buildings inWisconsin for $63 million.

The buildings are located inTwo Rivers, Neenah, and Hartfordand had been owned by hospitalsystem Aurora Health Care . Theywill continue to be leased out toAurora.

Altogether, Reality Capitalnow owns 34 properties with atotal value of $409.7 million.

We are very pleased tocomplete the acquisition of thesethree highquality, recentlyconstructed medical officebuildings leased and operated byone of the largest and mostreputable healthcare systems in thestate of Wisconsin, Aurora Health

Care," said Tom D'Arcy , chief executive officer of AmericanRealty Capital. As we effectivelydeploy our capital, these propertiesadd to our diversified portfolio,focused on healthcare assets leasedto strong national and regionaloperators on a long-term basis .

A new report by the Center for HealthcareResearch and Transformation forecasts that asmany as 500,000 Michiganders will beeligible for Medicaid should the state decideto expand its program as part of the AffordableCare Act.

Moreover, the Ann Arbor-based CHRTcontends that employing ACA in Michigancould be used to simplify a patchwork of

dozens of programs that allow Michigandersto enroll in Medicaid.Altogether, there were about 1.7 million

Michiganders enrolled in Medicaid in 2011,according to the Kaiser Family Foundation .That represents about 16% of the statesoverall population.

According to the CHRT study, there arecurrently at least 40 different points of entryinto the Michigan Medicaid program, all withvarying eligibility requirements.

As part of ACA, the existing categories inMichigan will be consolidated into threeeligibility categories: Parents with dependent

children under 19; pregnant women and

children under the age of 19. Incomeeligibility will be up to 138% of the FederalPoverty Level.

Many changes were included in the ACAthat go beyond the Medicaid expansion. Thesechanges were designed to make enrollmentpolicies and processes simpler for those whohave existing Medicaid coverage, and enablethose newly eligible to go through an easier

enrollment process than exists today. Theseenrollment changes alone should help ensurethat more people have access to the affordablecare when they need it, said CHRT DirectorMarianne Udow-Phillips .

Whether Michigan will expand itsMedicaid program remains to be seen.

Although under ACA the federalgovernment would pay for virtually all of thecost of expansion in the rst several years aftMedicaid expansion takes place in 2014, Gov.Rick Snyder, a Republican, has yet toannounce whether he intends to accept themoney for expansion. Many GOP governors

have said they would reject expansion.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad , along withmany of his Midwestern counterparts, havespoken out against the expansion in theirstates.A report released in April by the MissouriFoundation for Health found that bad debtexpense increased from $137 million in 2004to $256.5 million in 2008 at the hospitalssurveyed in the study. Bad debt has outpacedthe growth of charity care by 22% a year since2004, according to the report.

But the Midwest generally hasnt had the

deep cuts in the economy that other areashave seen. According to the MFH, pro tmargins for more than half of the hospitals inthe study were higher than the nationalaverage.

And unemployment is lower in Iowa andhospitals are doing OK, McIntyre said.Hospitals are expanding across the state andhealthcare jobs are steady, he said.

Hospitals are working with it well; theyhavent had layoffs and I havent heard muchabout hiring freezes of late, he said.TAMMY WORTH

MEET OUR READERS!Need to promote a conference? Or your brand? Payers Provider ! s e-mail list for all editions is available for yourmarketing needs. Reach out to more than 12,000healthcare professionals who read our publications. Callour advertising director Claire Thayer at (503) 226-9850or e-mail her at [email protected] .

Streamlining Michigans Safety NetNew Study Suggests ACA Could Cut Duplication

Iowa (Continued from Page One)


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I am not a doctor and I dont play one on TV. Iam, however, an occasional patient. So while Iam not quali ed to write about airwaymanagement or anesthesia carts or the prosand cons of scrub laundering services, I amideally suited to ponti cating aboutphysicians, their foibles and forts.

My rst encounter with an Americanphysician was a memorable one. I had been inthe US only a few months after arriving fromEngland.

I was directed to anexamination room where Iwaited patiently, and patient-like, for the physician.After a while, a long while, Iheard footsteps in the corridoroutside, some activity, rustlingof papers, and a loud voicesaying: Whats this guysname? followed by thenurses whispered response:Geoffrey Charlton-Perrin.The door ew open. In walkeda physician I had never met inmy entire life, armsoutstretched, a beaming smile on hisface, as he bellowed, Geffy, baby!and hugged me like I was his long-lostchum from childhood.

Friendliness, accessibility,unpretentiousness these are welcomequalities in a man of medicine. But there issuch a thing as too much friendliness,accessibility and unpretentiousness!I remember another encounter some yearslater when I was experiencing extremediscomfort in my right shoulder. Every time Iraised my arm to pitch to one of my youngsons, I felt a erce, stabbing pain thatprevented me from completing the movement.

I went to a physician who enjoyed greatrenown as of cial orthopedic surgeon tothe citys hockey team. Hockey players mustoften have shoulder problems, right? Howcould I go wrong?, I reasoned.

He examined me carefully, put methrough several tests, but failed to come upwith an answer. More examinations. Moretests. Still no answer. At the third visit, as I saton the exam table being poked and proddedfor a third time, he straightened up anddelivered with some fanfare, I might add -his considered opinion.

You have gout!To say that I was astonished would be anunderstatement.

Gout? How do you work that out?Well, you are English and the English

drink a lot of port wine and too much portwine often leads to gout.

I suddenly had an urge to take to thebottle, possibly copious quantities of portwine. But instead I sought a second opinion.

With every yin,however, there is a yang.Since then I have beenin nitely more fortunate inmy visits to physicians. Ihave undergone kneesurgery, watching thespecialist clean outfragments from my patellaon a monitor while beinggenuinely entertained by afascinating and informativecommentary from thephysician as he explainedwhat he was doing and why.

And eventually I had surgeryon my shoulder - yes, that shoulder -to repair my rotator cuff at the handsof a surgeon and surgeon assistantwho were not only artists at theircraft but friendly, helpful, informativeand down-to-earth.

And the reason I can say with someauthority that they were artists? I wasproducing a video on ambulatory surgerycenter accreditation at the time and had theentire procedure lmed so I could includeparts of it in the video.

Afterward in the editing room, I marveledat the skill, the deftness, the sure hands of both physicians. And thanked my lucky starsthat I wasnt witness at the time to what theywere doing to my body with what lookedsuspiciously like a hammer! For a patient,some things are best left a mystery.

OPINION

A New View Of Americas PhysiciansTheir Bedside Manner as Seen From Across The Pond

Geoffrey Charlton-Perrin is the director ofmarketing and communications for theAccreditation Association for AmbiulatoryHealth Care.

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ByGeoffreyCharlton-

Perrin

Op-ed submissions of up to 600 words arewelcomed. Please e-mail proposals to

[email protected]


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Payers & Providers Midwest Edition – Issue of July 31, 2012

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