State Highlights: Mass. Hospital CEOs Get Hefty Pay Packages; Conn.’s Banner Health Faces Lawsuit After Security Breach

The Boston Globe: Pay Packages Rise For Many Hospital CEOs
Pay increases for many top Massachusetts hospital executives outpaced the growth of state health spending in 2014, according to new filings with the Internal Revenue Service. Leading the pack was Elizabeth G. Nabel, president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who drew total compensation of $5.4 million that year, up 119 percent from her $2.5 million pay package in 2013. Most of the increase was attributed to a jump in deferred compensation in 2014, the year she vested in a retirement plan managed by Brigham and Women’s corporate parent, Partners HealthCare. The compensation data from the Brigham and other hospitals are contained in IRS filings by nonprofit organizations that are made with a nearly two-year lag. (Weisman, 8/16)

Denver Post: Banner Health Faces Lawsuits After Security Breach 
Banner Health faces several lawsuits after revealing on Aug. 2 that 3.7 million customers’ medical records were exposed during a sophisticated hack this summer. “The health care industry has been known to have some of the worst cyber security systems of any industry that holds this kind of sensitive information,” said James Bilsborrow, an attorney with Weitz and Luxenberg in New York City, which this week launched an investigation into the breach. (8/16)

The CT Mirror: DDS Layoffs To Reach 605 As State Moves To Privatize Services
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration unveiled plans Tuesday that would privatize 40 state-run group homes and a host of services for the intellectually disabled and eliminate the need for 605 state jobs, saving Connecticut almost $70 million annually by next fiscal year. The changes at the Department of Developmental Services are planned to comply with a major reorganization and savings initiative the governor and the General Assembly ordered in May when they adopted the latest state budget. The administration, which already has laid off 113 DDS employees, would eliminate another 492 workers in two stages, most happening after Jan. 1. (Thomas and Phaneuf, 8/16)

California Healthline: Sacramento Court Helps Kids By Healing Parents’ Addictions
Parents who receive addiction treatment are much more likely to get their kids back, but four in five parents fail to complete their treatment regimen. The Early Intervention Family Drug Court in Sacramento aims to change that by helping parents complete treatment before their children enter the foster care system. If they fail, they’ll be sent next door to a formal family drug court, where their children are taken away and given attorneys of their own. But before that, the parents get this opportunity to enter recovery, through a mix of support, medication-assisted treatment and tough love. (Gold, 8/17)

Orlando Sentinel: One Day Into Trial, Health First Settles Case
One day after starting what was expected to be a three-week trial, Health First reached a settlement with the doctors who were suing the health system and its former executives for  more than $100 million in damages. Executives for OMNI Healthcare, which was the lead plaintiff in the case, said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon that the financial claims against all the defendants have been settled.  (Miller, 8/16)

The Washington Post: Man Dies After Being Shot By Fairfax Deputy In Confrontation Outside Hospital
Sheriff’s deputies normally guard the jail in Fairfax County, but when a call crackled over the radio Monday night about a man wielding a weapon at an INOVA Fairfax Hospital bus stop, a veteran deputy nearby hurried to the scene, police said. The 29-year-old man had struck a security guard with a metal sign post and appeared to be in the throes of a mental health episode, so the deputy tried to calm him, police said. (Jouvenal and Hedgpeth, 8/16)

The Associated Press: Owners Of Diagnostic Firms That Falsified Reports Get Prison
The married owners of two mobile diagnostic testing companies who knowingly produced thousands of fraudulent medical test reports have received lengthy prison terms. Federal prosecutors say Nita Patel received a 6 ½-year sentence Tuesday, while Kirtish Patel was sentenced to more than eight years. They must pay more than $4.8 million in restitution.The Rockaway couple pleaded guilty in November to health care fraud related to their Parsippany, New Jersey-based companies, Biosound Medical Services and Heart Solution PC. (8/16)