Items of Interest: 2011

• Insurers Weigh In on Health Care Law (NYT)

• 7 Companies Offering Health Care Benefits to Part-Time Workers (ABC)

• South Carolina's Rural Hospitals Are in Critical Condition (The State)

• CT scans for lung cancer trigger debate (Washington Post)

• Illinois CON Board to Decide Future of a Cook County Safety-Net Hospital (AP)

• Hospitals: The Strong Get Stronger, the Weak Get Weaker (American Medical News)

• Georgia Questions Hospitals’ Community Benefits (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

• Catholic Hospital Mergers Can Create Problems of Access and Continuity (Louisville Courier-Journal)

• Study Finds Doctors Often Too Quick to Try Costly Procedures to Clear Arteries (Wall Street Journal)

• NH Hospitals: State budget cuts ‘devastating' (New Hampshire Union Leader)
  

• Trying to fill a hole in medical clinic regulation (LA Times)

• State Regulatory Process at Odds with Chicago Reality (Op Ed - Chicago Tribune)

• The Department of Health and Human Services Releases a Comprehensive New Website for Community Health Data, the Health Indicators Warehouse (HIW)

• Health Planning for a Major Nuclear Emergency is Almost Nonexistent (ProPublica)

• New Database Tracks State Healthcare Reform Initiatives
  (Information Week)

• Florida Governor Wants a Study of Whether the State’s Public Hospitals Are Needed (The Miami Herald)

• Community Health Center Funding Opposed by Congressional Republicans as Part of the Affordable care Act (The Boston Globe)

• Medicare Spending Adjustments Alter Findings on Regional Costs (Kaiser Health News)

• Maryland Cardiologists Call for More State Oversight of
  Cath Labs (Medscape)

• Hospital readmissions take toll in Pennsylvania (Tribune Review)

• Hospital Charity Care Funding Becomes an Issue in Florida
  (Miami Herald)

• Doctor-Owned Radiation Therapy Centers Drive Up Utilization (The Washington Post)

• Health insurers pushed to cut rates (Boston Globe)

• Michigan Finally Funds its Trauma Network (Crain’s Detroit Business)

• Treating Heart Failure: Higher Volume Equals Higher Cost (Reuters)

Items of Interest: 2010

• Unlicensed and Unaccredited Surgical Centers Present Problems for California (LA Times

• Decrease in Interventional Cardiology Procedures
  Documented in NYC (Crain’s New York Business)

• How Medicare Sets Hospital Prices: A Primer, Uwe E. Reinhardt
  (NY Times)

• Unlicensed and Unaccredited Surgical Centers Present Problems for California (LA Times)

• Advocates Fear that ACOs’ Integrated Care May Prove Anti-competitive and Dysfunctional to the Public Interest (NY Times)

• Kidney Dialysis, Medicare ESRD Program Examined (Pro Publica)

• Tennessee's bold leap in care for the aged and disabled (Stateline)

• Comm

• unity Hospitals Scramble to Survive, Stay Independent (USA Today) Forbes Report: America’s Most Profitable Hospitals (Forbes) Public Hospitals

• Are Being Eliminated During Difficult Times (Wall Street Journal)

• Advocates Fear that ACOs’ Integrated Care May Prove Anti-competitive and Dysfunctional to the Public Interest (NY Times)

• Kidney Dialysis, Medicare ESRD Program Examined (Pro Publica)

• Tennessee's bold leap in care for the aged and disabled (Stateline)

• Community Hospitals Scramble to Survive, Stay Independent (USA Today)

• Forbes Report: America’s Most Profitable Hospitals (Forbes)

• Public Hospitals Are Being Eliminated During Difficult Times (Wall Street Journal)

• Cleveland Clinic CEO Worries Comparative Effectiveness Could Stifle Innovation (Wall Street Journal)

• Health Reform Law Changes Rules For Docs With In-House Imaging Machines (Kaiser Health News) 

• Timeline for Health Care Reform (Americas Quarterly)

• Americans Cut Back on Doctor Visits (Wall Street Journal)

• Mergers of For-Profit and Non-Profit Hospitals Raise Questions (USA Today/Kaiser Health News)

• Hospital Mergers Are Changing Healthcare Delivery in Communities (Daytona Beach New Journal)

• Illinois Rules on Hospital Charity Care (Rockford Register Star)

• Accountability for Healthcare Stimulus Spending Is an Issue (Kaiser Health News)  

• Hospitals Face Government Sanctions Over Safety and Quality (CNN Money)

• Major Expansion of Medicaid to Be No Panacea (New York Times)

• Facilities on U.S. News & World Report’s annual list ride their reputations heavily (Los Angeles Times)

• Nebraska Moratorium on Hospital Construction Calls for Study of Hospitals' Roles; Physician-Owned Hospitals an Issue (Modern Healthcare)

• Illinois Posts Its First Report Card for Hospital Mortality (Chicago Tribune)

• (Rhode Island Analysis Predicts a Poor Fiscal Future for Hospitals (Providence Journal)

• Community Health Centers Benefit from the New Reform Legislation (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

• New County Health Rankings Give First County-by-County Snapshot of Health in Each State (County Health Rankings)

• Long Term Hospitals Face Scrutiny (The New York Times)

• Radiation Offers New Cures, and Ways to Do Harm (The New York Times)

• Health Cuts With Little Effect on Care (The New York Times)

• Massachusetts Examines Relationship Between Public Reporting of Angioplasty Mortality and Its Utilization (The Boston Globe )

• Massachusetts Looks into Whether Not-for-Profit Hospitals Are Providing Charity Care Equivalent to Their Tax Exemptions (The Boston Globe)

• Book Review: What's Wrong with the American Healthcare Non-system (Health Affairs )

• State's Policy for Improved ER Access Works (Boston Globe)

• Wisconsin's Communitarian Infant Mortality Initiative (The New York Times)

• Study: Uninsured Trauma Victims Face Sky-High Death Rate (Sphere)

• Value of State Reporting of Hospital Outcomes Data Proven in Pennsylvania  (RWJ/Wall Street Journal)

• Maryland Reins In Hospital Costs by Setting Rates (Wall Street Journal)

• The Dartmouth Atlas: Excess Treatment Costs Are Due to Excess Treatment (NEJM )

• Medical Errors Are Pervasive & Uncontrolled (The Houston Chronicle/ Hearst )

• Wide Variation in Hospital Death Rates (USA Today )

• Debating the Merits of Medicare (The New York Times )

• States Fight Medicaid Expansion (The Wall Street Journal )
  

• Is Cyberknife Covered by Medicare in Your State? (The New York Times )
  

• Five Myths About Our Health Care System (Washington Post) 
  

• New Freestanding Emergency Facilities Challenge Hospital ERs (U.S. News & World Report )
  

• Surging into Bethlehem: "Surge Capacity " Becomes a Political Issue (The Washington Post )
  

• CON to Limit Proton Therapy in Michigan (The New York Times )