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For
the
most current ABL Healthcare Online
and access to ABL.org, go to
http://www.abl.org/new/html/resources_news_hc.asp
-- Click on Titles Below to Go to News Item --
I-Flow's ON-Q Designated Payable & Medically Necessary
Isotis, Inc.
Announces Proposed NASDAQ Public Offering
El Camino, Sacred Heart Named to "Top 100" in Cardio
Care
Dynamic Healthcare Systems
Raises $4 Million
DWT Invites
ABL Members to Employment Law Seminar
Pediatrix
Adds Bay Area Neonatal Group Practice
AARP to Report Key Congressional Votes to
Members
CMS: U.S.
Health Spending Nearly $2 Trillion
Hythiam's PROMETA
Granted European Patents
IBM
to Operate for Childrens Hospital
L.A.
Schwarzenegger Unveils Healthcare Reform Plan
House to Vote on Drug Price Negotiations Bill
Amendment Seeks to Permit Association Health Plans
Medicare Monthly Premium Rises Just 5.6%
I-Flow's ON-Q Designated Payable & Medically Necessary
I-Flow Corporation, where Don Earhart is CEO, announced that, effective
January 1, 2007, Medicare covers ON-Q to treat post-surgical pain under
the hospital outpatient payment system -- signifying that Medicare has recognized this therapy to be a payable
covered benefit and therefore medically necessary.
>>
Isotis, Inc. Announces Proposed NASDAQ
Public Offering
IsoTis, Inc., where Pieter
Wolters is CEO, has announced an exchange offer for the
outstanding shares of IsoTis SA and that it intends to raise
between $30 million and $40 million by offering newly issued
NASDAQ listed shares of its common stock to the public in an
underwritten public offering.
>>
El Camino, Sacred Heart Named to "Top 100" in Cardio Care
El Camino Hospital, where Ken Graham is CEO, and Sacred
Heart Hospital, where Skip Davis is CEO, have been named
to the nation's "100 Top Hospitals" for cardiovascular care by
Solucient. If peer, non-winning hospitals provided the same
quality of care as the 100 Top, survival rates could increase
by more than 8,000 patients each year, Solucient's study
showed.
>>
Meanwhile, EMPATH
Academy has been established at Sacred Heart Medical Center to
teach hospital leaders nationwide how to engage their
employees in process changes that result in best-in-class
performance. Participants will see how Sacred Heart changed
its technology and patient care delivery systems and metrics
management to achieve far-reaching changes in quality patient
care.
>>
Dynamic Healthcare Systems
Raises $4 Million
Dynamic Healthcare Systems, where Ken Stockman is CEO,
has
completed a Series A round of financing of nearly $4 million,
with various angel investors, including principals of Knott
Partners and the Van Dam Family Partnerships. Proceeds will
enable Dynamic to accelerate sales growth and rapidly deploy
its technology solutions and services for Medicare-focused MSOs
and health plans, enhance customer service and expand its
product offerings.
>>
DWT
Invites ABL Members to Employment Law Seminar
Davis Wright Tremaine, where Gerry Hinkley is a Partner,
is presenting a "California Employment Law Update" seminar, on
January 30th in San Francisco and February 1st in Los Angeles.
ABL Members and/or their HR executives are invited to
attend at no charge. Click here for the Seminar Agenda and
to Register Online (insert "Comp" opposite Total):
>>
Pediatrix Adds Bay Area Neonatal Group Practice
Pediatrix Medical Group,
where David Mintz is a senior executive, has acquired San
Francisco Neonatology Medical Group, a
neonatal physician group practice that serves three hospitals in the San
Francisco area. Annual patient volume exceeds 13,000
NICU patient days and more than 10,000 newborn nursery days.
>>
AARP to Report Key Congressional Votes to Members
AARP, where Jennie Chin Hansen is President Elect, has
alerted Congress that for the first time it will be recording
House and Senate roll call votes on key issues, and informing
nearly 38 million members of the results of these key votes
throughout the 110th Congress. According to exit polls,
roughly a quarter of the voters in the past election were members of AARP.
>>
CMS: U.S. Health Spending Nearly $2 Trillion
Healthcare spending growth in the U.S. slowed for the third
consecutive year in 2005, increasing 6.9% compared to 7.2%
growth in 2004 and 8.1% in 2003, reports CMS, where Jeff
Flick and David Sayen are Regional Senior Executives. 2005
marks the slowest rate of growth in health spending since
1999, when growth was 6.2%. Healthcare spending reached almost
$2 trillion in 2005, or $6,697 per person, up from $6,322 per
person in 2004.
State and federal governments
paid about 40% of healthcare costs, totaling $736.3 billion. A variety of factors contributed to the
slowdown:
>>
Hythiam's PROMETA Granted European
Patents
The European
Patent Office has notified
Hythiam,
Inc., where Rick Anderson is Senior Executive VP, that it intends to grant a patent
for Hythiam's treatment of cocaine
dependence. And,
the Russian and Ukrainian Patent Offices have
both informed Hythiam of decisions to grant patents for
Hythiam's treatment of
alcoholism. Meanwhile, HealthNow
New York Inc., with membership in excess of 720,000, will
conduct a commercial evaluation of Hythiam's PROMETA protocols as a
central component for substance dependence disease management.
>>
IBM to Operate for Childrens Hospital L.A.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has signed a five-year, $13
million contract with IBM, where Bill Craddock is a senior
executive, to manage and support the hospital's financial,
HR, materials management and grants-tracking systems. IBM will
provide outsourcing services for the hospital's PeopleSoft
applications that manage medical supplies, inventory, general
ledger, AP, purchasing, budgetary controls, asset management,
payroll and benefits.
>>
Schwarzenegger Unveils Healthcare Reform Plan
Governor Schwarzenegger has announced a plan that would
require all California residents to obtain health insurance
coverage, regardless of immigration status. The plan -- which
would cost an estimated $12 billion -- would expand state
programs and require contributions from employers,
individuals, insurers, medical providers and the government.
Schwarzenegger said his plan will save
$10 billion annually by reducing costs and redirecting state
money already in the healthcare system. For specifics:
>>
(California Healthline, 1/9/07)
House to Vote on Drug Price Negotiations Bill
House
Democrats plan to seek passage of a bill (HR
4) that would require the HHS secretary to
negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies on prices for
medications under the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
However,
the bill would not allow the HHS secretary to establish a
formulary under the Medicare prescription drug benefit to help
negotiate lower prices for medications.
(Miami Herald, 1/8; L.A. Times, 1/6/09)
Amendment Seeks to Permit Association Health
Plans
House
Republicans have drafted a minimum wage bill that includes a
provision to allow businesses with fewer than 100 employees to
form association health plans (AHPs) across state lines.
AHPs would not have to meet state
benefits requirements. (CongressDaily, 1/9; Wall Street
Journal, 1/10/07)
Medicare Monthly Premium Rises Just 5.6%
CMS
has raised the standard Medicare monthly premium to $93.50 in
2007, up 5.6% from the current $88.50 -- the smallest increase
in the Part B premium in five years. For the first time, CMS
said more affluent beneficiaries would have to pay premium
surcharges, or adjustments, based on their income. (Managed
Care Weekly Watch, 1/3/07)
Reducing
Uninsured Top Priority for Californians
78%
of California voters believe businesses with more than 20
employees should be required to provide health insurance or
pay into a state-administered fund, according to the second
half of a recently released Field Poll, funded by the
California Wellness Foundation.
Respondents also said that reducing the number of uninsured
should be California officials' main priority.
Further poll results include:
*76%
of respondents favor expanding government programs to cover
more uninsured;
*75%
support coverage for part-time workers through a shared-cost
program;
*47%
believe in replacing the current healthcare system with a
state-run, single-payer system;
*68%
support health insurance for all residents; and
*61%
believe the state should promote health savings accounts.
(Riverside Press-Enterprise, 1/3/07)
Meanwhile,
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has announced his commitment to
extending access to health coverage to all 500,000 uninsured
children in his state. A detailed plan will be made public
later this month. (NY Times, 1/4/07)
1/11 - Northern California Round Table
1/17 - Life Sciences Round Table
1/19 - Los Angeles Round Table
1/25 - Focused Workshop: "Key Technology Trends Shaping 2007
& Beyond," Long Beach, 2-5:30 p.m. >>
2/7 - Orange County
Round Table
For
the
most current ABL Healthcare Online and access to ABL.org, go to
http://www.abl.org/new/html/resources_news_hc.asp