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Castulo de la Rocha, AltaMed Health Services

KDH Signs Onto HHS' Value-Driven Health Care Initiative
CMS Adds California Cooperative to its BQI Project
Dynamic Healthcare Chosen by SCAN
Genentech, Wellpoint, Walgreen Among "Most Admired"
IntelliDOT Secures $10 Million in Financing
Legacy Hospitals Earn Top Rankings
On Lok Conference Addresses Technology and Aging
PCG Software Announces Affiliate Vendor Program

HEALTHCARE & GOVERNMENT

Proof of Citizenship Rule Pushes Drop in Medicaid Enrollment
Democrats Seek to Slow Spread of HSAs
Poizner to Evaluate California Healthcare Reform Proposals

HEALTHCARE TRENDS

Healthcare Services & Medical Devices Top Angel $$
CNA Affiliates with AFL-CIO
Health Insurance Premium Increase Lowest Since 1997
Proposed Consolidation Opposed by AMA
Cell Phone Ban in Hospitals is Likely "Unmerited"
L.A. County Could Face Increased Physician Shortage

Castulo de la Rocha, AltaMed Health Services Corporation
Cástulo de la Rocha is President and CEO of AltaMed Health Services Corporation, a non-profit community health clinic that he directed from two employees to a JCAHO-accredited Federally Qualified Health Center with over 950 employees and its current position as the leading provider of high quality, comprehensive health and human services in Los Angeles County. AltaMed provides over 400,000 health and human services visits annually from its 22 sites in the greater L.A. area, including five primary care clinics. It offers a wide-range of programs serving special needs populations. For example, it has the largest HIV/AIDS program in East L.A. and is nationally acclaimed for its senior programs. Castulo has joined the Los Angeles Healthcare Executives Round Table. >>  

KDH Signs Onto HHS' Value-Driven Health Care Initiative
In a meeting with HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, Dave Haddick, CEO of KDH Systems (pictured above), signs a "Statement of Support for the Four Cornerstones of Value-driven Health Care," including a commitment to support the following actions and encourage the health plans and others with which KDH contracts to take actions consistent with achieving these goals: Support Health Information Technology; Provide Quality Information; Provide Pricing Information (Transparency); and Promote Quality and Efficiency of Care (P4P). 

CMS Adds California Cooperative to its BQI Project
CMS, where Jeff Flick is a Regional Administrator and David Sayen is an Associate Regional Administrator, announced the California Cooperative Health Care Reporting Initiative (CCHRI) as its newest participant in the "Better Quality Information to Improve Care for Medicare Beneficiaries" project, which is an effort to produce more accurate, comprehensive measures of the quality of services at the provider level. CCHRI will combine their claims data or clinical information with that of Medicare to provide consistent measures of the quality of provider services. Currently, the BQI project is being implemented in four regional collaboratives around the country. >>

Dynamic Healthcare Chosen by SCAN
Dynamic Healthcare Systems, where Ken Stockman is CEO, has signed an agreement with SCAN Health Plan to provide professional services and hosted software, including its Voyager Software Suite, giving one of California’s largest senior-focused health plans Medicare Advantage management capabilities to help them with complete Part A/B and D revenue reconciliation and Part D event administration. >>

Genentech, Wellpoint, Walgreen Among "Most Admired"
FORTUNE magazine has named Genentech, where Art Small, MD, is a senior executive, #1 in the Pharmaceuticals category on its 2007 list of "America's Most Admired" companies. This is the second year Genentech has qualified for the list, up from a number two ranking last year. >>  Also on the list, Wellpoint, parent company of Lumenos, where Chris Metz is a senior executive, is #1 in the Health Care: Insurance and Managed Care category; and Walgreen, where Eileen Goodis is a senior executive in Walgreens Home Care, is #2 in the Food and Drug Stores category. (www.Fortune.com)

IntelliDOT Secures $10 Million in Financing
IntelliDOT Corporation, where Tom Klopack is CEO, has closed $10 million in Series D financing, led by Psilos Group and including Menlo Ventures, American River Ventures, Integral Capital Partners, Shoreline Ventures, Dick Allen, and Shea Ventures. IntelliDOT intends to use the new capital to support the expansion of its CAREt™ bedside bar-coding system into acute care hospitals throughout the country. Recent additions to CAREt System applications include Phlebotomy Specimen Collection, Vital Signs Collection, and Breast Milk Matching. >> 

Legacy Hospitals Earn Top Rankings
Legacy Health System, where Lee Domanico is CEO, announced that three of its hospitals have been recognized as top-ranked Community Value hospitals by Cleverley & Associates, a nationally recognized firm specializing in healthcare financial and operational benchmarking studies and reports. Also, Legacy Meridian Park Hospital is one of only six hospitals in the U.S. to receive the "Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Sustained Performance Achievement Award" from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. >>

On Lok Conference Addresses Technology and Aging
On Lok, where Bob Edmondson is CEO, is presenting a Conference on Technology, Society and Aging, on May 1st in San Francisco. The event - designed for professionals within the aging field - will discuss new technologies and alternative lifestyles that promote safety, independence, wellness and longevity in elders. For more information and to register: >>

PCG Software Announces Affiliate Vendor Program
PCG Software, where Andria Jacobs is COO, has named Personable PC Solutions as the first affiliated company in its Affiliate Vendor program. In an effort to deliver added value and flexibility to its healthcare customers, PCG’s web site highlights vendor companies who provide complementary software and system technologies to healthcare payer and provider organizations. >>  

HEALTHCARE & GOVERNMENT

Proof of Citizenship Rule Pushes Drop in Medicaid Enrollment
Medicaid programs in seven states - Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia - have reported declines in enrollment during the past year that they attribute to new federal rules requiring beneficiaries and applicants to provide documentation proving their U.S. citizenship - such as a passport or the combination of a birth certificate and driver's license. Applicants are required to submit original documents or copies that have been certified by the issuing agency, some state officials say. The law is intended to prevent undocumented immigrants from enrolling in Medicaid. However, it "has instead shut out tens of thousands of United States citizens," the New York Times reports. (New York Times, 3/12/07)

Democrats Seek to Slow Spread of HSAs
Democrats this year will seek to reverse an expansion of health savings accounts supported by Republicans, said Jon Sheiner, a legislative assistant to Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY). Democrats "question whether HSAs will lead to the savings touted by proponents and fear that they will leave sick people financially vulnerable while shutting out people with chronic or pre-existing conditions." "We as Democrats are not going to be supporting health savings accounts, and we will try to turn around those provisions snuck in last year," Sheiner said. (Washington Times, 3/21/07)

Poizner to Evaluate Healthcare Reform Proposals
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner plans to analyze the cost of proposals to rework the healthcare system offered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislative leaders. Here is a summary of the plans: >> (Sacramento Bee, 3/21/07)  Meanwhile, consumer advocacy groups are questioning whether affordable health insurance coverage will be available for individuals in California if Schwarzenegger's proposal is enacted. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said the group's "big concern is that without guarantees that costs will be controlled, we're certain to stick some patients with health plans that simply aren't affordable." The organization wants the state to set a limit on how much insurers can charge under a new system. And Health Access said it is unacceptable to force some individuals to "buy a product that is not useful and is unaffordable." (Sacramento Bee, 3/11/07)

HEALTHCARE TRENDS

Healthcare Services & Medical Devices Top Angel $$
Angel investments totaled $25.6 billion in 2006, a 10.8% increase from the previous year that was fueled by growing interest in healthcare services and medical devices firms, according to a new study. The number of angel-backed ventures also went up 3% to 51,000, according to the report by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. Healthcare services and medical devices together ranked as the most popular area, getting 21% of total investments, followed by software and biotechnology, each with 18%. Dennis Fernandez, Managing Partner of Fernandez & Associates, a Menlo Park intellectual property law firm, said he has also seen "a modest unleashing of early stage capital," including funding for healthcare startups. He said the aging of the Baby Boom generation and the growing reliance on information technology in healthcare has prompted entrepreneurs to explore new business opportunities. He cited the trend of making medical records digital and more easily accessible to patients and their healthcare providers. "There is an opportunity here to automate and integrate," he said. "I think there is a screaming need for streamlining the management of patient information." (San Francisco Chronicle, 3/20/07)

CNA Affiliates with AFL-CIO
TheCalifornia Nurses Association is affiliating with the AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the U.S. AFL-CIO has approved the charter and CNA officials stressed that the alliance came two days after AFL-CIO endorsed a proposal for a single-payer healthcare system modeled on Medicare. The charter will link AFL-CIO to 75,000 nurses represented by CNA and the National Nurses Organizing Committee and, as a result, AFL-CIO members include 325,000 RNs. (L.A. Times, 3/10; San Francisco Business Times, 3/9/07)

Health Insurance Premium Increase Lowest Since 1997
Health insurance premiums saw the smallest increase since 1997, according to a survey of HMOs and PPOs by Milliman Inc. Premiums for HMOs were up 6% over 2005 and PPO premiums for a standard $250 deductible plan were up 4% over 2005. However, for 2007 renewals, this survey noted that HMOs anticipate premiums to increase 10% to 11%, while PPOs anticipate premiums to increase 12% to 13%. (Managed Care Weekly Watch, 3/13/07)

Proposed Consolidation Opposed by AMA
UnitedHealth last week announced an agreement to acquire Sierra Health for $2.6 billion in an effort to expand operations in the West and Medicare business. Under the agreement, UnitedHealth would obtain 56% of the health insurance market in Las Vegas and 43% of the market in Nevada. However, the American Medical Association has since asked the Department of Justice to block the proposed acquisition, contending that UnitedHealth would obtain 95% of the HMO market in Las Vegas and 78% of the market in Nevada. AMA said that the share of the HMO market UnitedHealth would hold and "United's well-documented single-minded focus on profits should raise major red flags" about the leverage the company would have in negotiations on reimbursements to physicians in Nevada. (L.A. Times, 3/20; California Healthline, 3/13/07)

Cell Phone Ban in Hospitals is Likely "Unmerited"
Calls made on cell phones do not affect hospital medical devices, researchers at the Mayo Clinic report. They tested cell phones using two different technologies from different carriers, switching them on near 192 different medical devices. During 300 tests run over five months, they reported no trouble with the equipment. Most hospitals forbid the use of cell phones. (Reuters, 3/9/07)

L.A. County Could Face Increased Physician Shortage
Los Angeles County officials say the potential loss of medical resident slots at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital could contribute to physician shortages in the county and statewide. The hospital failed a CMS inspection conducted over the summer, resulting in a loss of eligibility to participate in Medicare at a cost of about $200 million annually, about half the hospital's budget. Federal funding to the facility was scheduled to end by Nov. 30, 2006, but CMS officials granted a request by the county to extend funding through March 2007. County officials now are seeking a second extension of federal funding, this one running to Aug. 15. If the extension is denied, the facility could lose its 250 slots for medical residents permanently because of the way Medicare funds are allotted to fund physician training programs. The county DHS said the slots in question account for about 15% of the county's physician-training positions. In addition, a denial of the extension request would require the county to find $60 million to maintain services at the hospital or close it. Federal regulators are evaluating whether a second extension is legal. (L.A. Times, 3/21/07)

UPCOMING ROUND TABLES & EVENTS

4/4 - Orange County Round Table
4/12 - Northern California Round Table
4/18 - Life Sciences Round Table
4/20 - Los Angeles 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