Spotlight On Opt-Out Fees As NewYork-Presbyterian Charges Union Fund $25M
The Wall Street Journal writes about a $25 million fee charged by NewYork-Presbyterian hospital system to a major union benefits fund, which wanted to exclude the system from its plan over alleged high prices. The fee exists via Aetna's contract with the hospital.
Peter Goldberger, who leads a major union benefits fund, was on the verge of completing a new health-insurance deal with Aetna to cover its 210,000 members.聽Then he learned the union fund would have to pay the powerful NewYork-Presbyterian hospital system $25 million鈥攖o stay out of its plan.聽The 32BJ Health Fund didn鈥檛 want its insurance to include NewYork-Presbyterian, which the Service Employees International Union affiliate says has high prices. But Aetna鈥檚 contract with the hospital system required the insurer to get a signoff from NewYork-Presbyterian to omit it from a client鈥檚 plan. (Mathews, 5/21)
Prime Healthcare plans to switch two Pennsylvania hospitals to nonprofit status.聽The for-profit, privately held health system wants to transfer ownership for Philadelphia-based聽Roxborough Memorial Hospital and Bristol, Pennsylvania-based聽Lower Bucks Hospital to Prime Healthcare Foundation, its nonprofit that operates 14 hospitals in six states. (Hudson, 5/21)
Two of Howard Brown Health's 10 Chicago clinics will shut down. The Diversey clinic鈥攁t 2800 N. Sheridan Rd. in East Lakeview鈥攁nd the Thresholds South clinic, at 734 W. 47th St. in Canaryville鈥攚ill both close in the coming months. The nonprofit said the clinics are closing due to a budget shortfall, and because of the departure of the sole providers and the end of Howard Brown Health's leases at each location. (Kaufman and Harrington, 5/21)
The Change Healthcare cyberattack that disrupted nationwide health care systems earlier this year鈥攁ffecting a third of Americans at a total loss of $100 million鈥攚as a major wake-up call: Such attacks in the health care industry are on the rise. And they should be treated with utmost seriousness, agreed a panel at Fortune鈥檚 Brainstorm Health聽conference in Dana Point, Calif., on Tuesday. 鈥淚n my world, it鈥檚 almost an act of war,鈥 said Stephen Gillett, chairman and CEO of Verily, a life sciences company. 鈥淚t鈥檚 that level of aggression toward infrastructure. Those are people鈥檚 lives, their personal information. That is not something that should just be a tech issue that we鈥檙e solving for.鈥 (Greenfield, 5/21)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
He Fell Ill On A Cruise. Before He Boarded The Rescue Boat, They Handed Him The Bill
Vincent Wasney and his fianc茅e, Sarah Eberlein, had never visited the ocean. They鈥檇 never even been on a plane. But when they bought their first home in Saginaw, Michigan, in 2018, their real estate agent gifted them tickets for a Royal Caribbean cruise. After two years of delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, they set sail in December 2022. (Sable-Smith, 5/22)
In health worker updates 鈥
Tufts Medicine, one of the state鈥檚 largest health care systems, is laying off about 1.3 percent of its 13,000-person workforce as it continues to weather financial difficulties. The 鈥渧ast majority鈥 of the 174 employees whose jobs will be cut are 鈥渁dministrative and non-direct patient care roles,鈥 according to a statement sent by a Tufts spokesperson to the Globe on Tuesday. (Gerber, 5/21)
San Francisco public nurses reached a tentative agreement with the city Tuesday, potentially ending the threat of a strike authorized just days ago over staffing shortages and unsafe conditions for patients at the city鈥檚 public hospital and clinics. The union representing the nurses, SEIU Local 1021, said the nurses secured improvements in several areas, including retention and recruitment, safety, and reduction in the use of contractors. (Parker, 5/21)