Proposed Chicago Hospital Merger Faces Uphill Climb; Conn. Budget Director Questions Bristol Construction Project

Modern Healthcare: Uphill FTC Fight Starts This Week For Big Chicago-Area Health Systems
Two Chicago-area health systems may have a tough time persuading a federal judge this week to allow their merger to move forward in one of the biggest healthcare deals to be challenged by the Federal Trade Commission in years. Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem will face the FTC in federal court in Chicago in a hearing scheduled to begin Wednesday. A judge will weigh the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to pause the merger while the FTC holds administrative hearings to determine whether the deal should be allowed. (Schencker, 4/4)

The Connecticut Mirror: Bristol Project Becomes Focus Of Tensions Between State, Hospitals
In the latest volley in a longstanding dispute over the financial health of Connecticut hospitals, state budget director Benjamin Barnes on Monday questioned Bristol Hospital’s plans to build a new medical office building and recruit staff, noting that hospital supporters had recently warned that state funding was needed to avoid compromising the community’s health and access to care. (Levin Becker, 4/4)

Marketplace: The Future Of Hospital Care Could Look A Lot Like Home
For more and more people, hospitals are just too expensive, but admissions – or what executives call "heads in beds" - is how the doors stay open. So will these hospitals keep making money if they have to radically change their business model? For one answer, let’s go to Denver where nurse practitioner Drew Dawkins shakes a few Tylenols into a cup. Dancer-like, he twists and glides past the EKG machine, a case of meds, even a printer, toward his patient. (Gorenstein, 5/5)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital In Drug-Ravaged Appalachia Provides Hope And Jobs
Adventist Health System, which was losing millions a year on the [54-bed Jellico Community Hospital] ..., announced in May 2014 that it wanted out. Fortunately for Jellico and area residents, a white knight rode to their rescue. Last May, Community Hospital Corp., a Plano, Texas-based not-for-profit company whose mission is to preserve access to healthcare in rural communities, took over the hospital and its clinic in nearby Williamsburg, Ky. The management team at CHC—which owns five acute-care hospitals and 10 long-term-care hospitals and manages or provides strategic support for 13 others across the country—analyzes the needs of each rural hospital it takes under its wing and applies its expertise to turning them around. (Meyer, 4/2)

The Washington Post: Bowser’s Pick For St. Elizabeths CEO Resigns Amid Questions About Qualifications
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s recently installed pick to lead the city’s long troubled public psychiatric facility has resigned amid questions over his qualifications, including a brief stint leading a hospital later deemed unsafe by federal authorities. James Edward Kyle on Monday stepped down as chief executive of St. Elizabeths Hospital after just a month on the job, said a spokesman for Bowser (D). The mayor had no comment and Kyle offered no reason for his resignation from the post, which pays $171,000 a year, the spokesman said. Kyle could not be reached for comment. (Nirappil, 4/4)

The Dallas Morning News: Parkland’s Strategic Plan Calls For Cutting Costs, Improving Care, Through Innovation
Imagine a world where a simple email or FaceTime session could take the place of a doctor’s visit. In the near future, Parkland Memorial Hospital leaders envision a reality in which patients can electronically visit with certain specialists. That’s among the timesaving, cost-cutting measures that Parkland CEO Dr. Fred Cerise described Monday as the hospital unveiled its new strategic plan. (Martin, 4/4)

Heartland Health Monitor: KU Hospital Partners With KVC To Add Adult Psychiatric Beds
The University of Kansas Hospital said Friday that it is partnering with KVC Health Systems to provide adult psychiatric care in Wyandotte County. Under the arrangement, KVC Prairie Ridge Hospital’s 12 adult psychiatric beds in Kansas City, Kan., will become part of KU Hospital. It will be called The University of Kansas Hospital Adult Services at KVC Prairie Ridge, according to a news release. (Sherry, 4/4)

North Carolina Health News: Yadkin County Reaches Settlement With Former Hospital Operator
Yadkin County officials announced Monday they’ve reached a legal settlement with the former operator of the Yadkin Valley Community Hospital. The hospital, located in Yadkinville, about 30 miles west of Winston-Salem, has been closed since the operator, HMC/CAH Consolidated Inc., shut it down in May 2015 despite a temporary restraining order instructing the company to keep it open. In June, a federal judge ruled that HMC/CAH owed the county for expenses incurred. (Sisk, 4/4)

Meanwhile, Arizona hospitals and pharmacies are working together to address the problem of incorrect prescription drugs —

The Arizona Republic: Incorrect Prescription Medicine Use Is A Big Problem; Goodyear Hospital Has A Solution
According to a 2013 study by the National Council on Patient Information and Education, a coalition of health-care organizations, as many as 30 percent of people never fill their prescriptions. Less than half take their medications for chronic conditions as prescribed. (Boehm, 4/4)