Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Jury Selection To Start In California's Antitrust Lawsuit Against Sutter Health
Sacramento Bee: California AG To Challenge Sutter Health’s Pricing Practices As Antitrust Trial Begins Monday
Sutter Health and the California Department of Justice will begin what’s expected to be a months-long antitrust trial on Monday in San Francisco as state attorneys attempt to prove that Sutter is using its market dominance to drive up health care prices in Northern California. (Anderson, 9/22)
The Associated Press: Trial Approaching In California Hospital Antitrust Case
Spurred in part by former President Barack Obama’s health care law, hospitals across the country have merged to form massive medical systems in the belief it would simplify the process for patients. But a simpler bill doesn’t always guarantee a cheaper bill. That’s a key issue in an antitrust lawsuit against one of California’s largest hospital systems set to begin Monday. (Beam, 9/22)
Sacramento Bee: AG Xavier Becerra Explains Feud Over Health Costs As Sutter Health Responds
Two behemoths will collide September 23, 2019, in court as the California Attorney General’s Office takes on Sutter Health over what Xavier Becerra has described as anti-competitive practices that raise the cost of health care in California. (Caraccio and Anderson, 9/20)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: St. Christopher’s Goes To New Owners For $50 Million In Bankruptcy Sale
Drexel University and Tower Health agreed Friday to buy St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children out of bankruptcy for $50 million in a deal that will put the safety-net hospital under nonprofit ownership for the first time in more than 20 years. “This will ensure that the hospital remains a vital resource to families in North Philadelphia and throughout the city and region, and that Drexel’s medical education training program at the institution will continue,” Drexel president John Fry said in an email to faculty. (Brubaker, 9/20)
Modern Healthcare: University Of Michigan To Build $920 Million Hospital
A new $920 million, 264-bed hospital for the University of Michigan is expected to open in the fall of 2024 after a vote today by the university's board of regents approving the project. Michigan Medicine officials said the new 12-story adult hospital will "transform inpatient and surgical care," create 370 construction jobs, employ 1,900 full-time medical workers and alleviate overcrowding on the main medical campus in Ann Arbor. (Greene, 9/20)
NH Union Leader: AG's Office: Proposed Merger Of Exeter, Dover Hospitals Violates Anti-Trust Laws
A proposed merger between the parent companies of Exeter Hospital and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover is “unlawful,” according to the Charitable Trusts Unit at the Attorney General’s office, because it would likely decrease competition and increase the cost of health care on the Seacoast. The decision, announced Friday by Attorney General Gordon MacDonald, comes after a yearlong review by that office’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau. (Wickham, 9/20)
Boston Globe: Mass. General’s Plan To Buy N.H. Hospital Held Up By AG
New Hampshire’s attorney general on Friday objected to a proposal by Massachusetts General Hospital to acquire a local hospital and threatened legal action to stop it, dealing another setback to the expansion plans of Mass. General and its parent company, Partners HealthCare. In a report released Friday, Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald said Mass. General’s proposal to acquire Exeter Hospital — after its 2017 acquisition of Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H. — would harm consumers by reducing competition and raising costs. (Dayal McCluskey, 9/20)
The Associated Press: After Rural Hospital's Closure, County Seeks Other Options
About two years ago, a rural, mountainous Virginia county lost its only hospital, and local officials have now all but given up trying to bring it back. Community leaders in Patrick County said in recent interviews that reopening the hospital has proven financially unworkable, in large part because of the deteriorating building’s $5 million price tag. Patrick County isn’t alone in its struggle. Rural hospitals across the country are closing, advocates say many more are at risk, and it’s rare for one to reopen after a shutdown. (Rankin, 9/20)
Modern Healthcare: Ballad Says Changes Will Improve Safety, Not Everyone's Convinced
Formed in February 2018 through a controversial state maneuver that allowed it to avoid a federal lawsuit, Ballad is aggressively consolidating services across its 21-county region in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia. Many residents say they're concerned the changes are leading to unsafe conditions and higher bills, claims Ballad refutes. In interviews discussing the trauma changes, several Ballad executives repeated Levine's belief that it’s safer to consolidate high-level services into one tertiary center, and added that very few cases would transfer from Kingsport to Johnson City. (Bannow, 9/20)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Violations At Sunrise At East Cobb Not Uncommon
Over and over again, a significant share of these facilities failed to provide even the minimal level of care that state regulations require, resulting in injuries, discomfort, humiliation and even deaths, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation has found. Short staffing, lapses in training and constant turnover among both top managers and front-line staff led to the worst problems, the AJC found, with incidents playing out in dozens of facilities. (Teegardin, 9/22)
