AIS's Health Business Daily

April 22, 2008

"The overall effect in this study is that rural hospitals are faring better [with regard to case-mix index, which is driven largely by complications and comorbidities], and large urban hospitals are doing as expected or losing ground. That was not the prediction at all. It is really opposite."

-- Steven Robinson, a director of KPMG's Forensic Healthcare Practice in Atlanta, discussing a recent KPMG analysis of Medicare severity diagnosis-related groups (DRGs).

Today's Featured Story

Health Care Cost Hikes Are Significantly Lower for Companies With High Enrollment in Consumer-Directed Health Plans

Roughly
60%

…of responding health plans reward quality performance by physicians, but just 3.5% reward pharmacists, according to a new study by America's Health Insurance Plans.

Health Reform and the 2008 Elections:
What's Ahead for Health Care Access, Delivery and Financing
July 10-11, The Washington Court Hotel, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Speakers include Senators Rockefeller, Hatch and Wyden and Congressmen Stark, Waxman and Camp. You'll also hear reform perspectives from the Clinton, McCain and Obama presidential campaigns, leaders from prominent health business organizations, health policy analysts, and state legislators. Click here.

People On the Move

Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. said that Dan McCarthy, interim president of the company's Medicare Advantage plan, METCARE Health Plans, Inc., joined New York-based Healthfirst as chief operating officer. METCARE's operations are being integrated into Metropolitan's core business. Joseé Guethon, M.D., president of Metropolitan's provider service networks business, and Robert Sabo, its chief financial officer, will assume senior management responsibilities for METCARE.… WellPoint, Inc. appointed Kevin Hayden president of state-sponsored business division. Hayden was secretary of Wisconsin's Department of Health and Family Services.

Personal Health Records (PHRs): New Strategies for Health Plans
An audioconference - April 23, 2008
Learn strategies for effectively developing and deploying a PHR to serve the needs of stakeholders from Jan Oldenburg, Internet Services Group, Kaiser Permanente and Scott Heimes, SVP of consumer solutions for OptumHealth. Click here.

Today's Featured Health Business Job Opening

Albert Einstein Medical Center
RN - Quality Improvement Manager - Heart and Vascular Institute
Philadelphia

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