Ascension Health looks
to boost its network

Nation's largest Catholic health system forms new joint venture

'Interactive patient systems' gain new ground in hospitals with clinical uses

SOLUTIONS & SERVICES 18

HOSPITALS & IDNs

; Ascension Health plans growth

; N.H. hospitals are struggling

; Duke, LifePoint join forces

COMMUNITY CARE

; Family planning under assault

; Mental health funding reduced

; Nursing home report criticized

PAYERS

; Ark. BCBS launches PCMH pilot ; Vt. mulls single-payer system ; Study: Healthcare demand drops

SOLUTIONS & SERVICES 18 GPOs call Medtronic contract

; Making the most out of TVs ; Siemens Financial gets busy ; Pitney Bowes unveils Volly

JOB SPOT

19 cancellations an ‘attack’ on hospitals

; NLRB ruling sparks outcry

; Tackling accounts receivable

TRENDS
www.HealthcareFinanceNews.com
Med Tech Media / Vol. 6 No. 2

By Stephanie Bouchard, Associate Editor

System Consortium – two national healthcare alli-
ances serving more than 25,000 members – and
Provista, representing some 28,000 sites. Novation
develops and manages competitive contracts with
more than 600 suppliers, officials say, representing
nearly $40 billion in spending in 2010.
“Medtronic’s recent decision to cancel its GPO
contracts puts greed ahead of patients,” said Cur-
tis Rooney, president of HIGPA, which represents
16 GPOs. “GPOs work on behalf of hospitals and
other healthcare providers, and GPO contracts
are based on strong competitive forces. Manufac-
turers compete with one another to win business
by offering the best products and services at the
best value. Medtronic has simply abdicated this
MEDTRONIC SEE PAGE 19
A physician in an operating room holds a Medtronic

WASHINGTON – The Health Industry Group Pur-
chasing Association has called Medtronic’s can-
cellation of some of its largest group purchasing
organization contracts “nothing short of an attack
on America’s hospitals.”
The Minneapolis-based medical device vendor
recently canceled five contracts with Novation, an
Irving, Texas-based healthcare supply contracting
company serving VHA and the University Health-

EnRhythm pacemaker. Medtronic is canceling GPO contracts for cardiovascular devices and other products.

PHOTO BY STEV.IE FROM FLICKR

PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY 20

Experts say facilities could lose negotiating power

; What comes after RAC audits?

GAO report: $48B in Medicare fraud in 2010

By Chris Anderson, Senior Editor

WASHINGTON – Roughly $48 billion of Medicare’s $507 billion budget in 2010 went to fraudulent or improper payments, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

“Medicare remains on a path that is fiscally
unsustainable over the long term,” the report
noted. “This fiscal pressure heightens (the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’)
challenges to reform and refine Medicare’s
payment methods to achieve efficiency and
savings and to improve its management, pro-
gram integrity and oversight of patient care
and safety.”
The report, prepared for a House Energy and
Commerce Oversight Subcommittee hearing

GAO SEE PAGE 20

Addressing the Crisis of 2011

Medicaid Policy Actions Taken by States

POLICY ACTION
Provider Payment Increases
Long-term care Expansions
Benefit Expansions
Eligibility Expansions
Decreased Co-Payments

TAKING ACTION
35 STATES
31 STATES
16 STATES
16 STATES
3 STATES

takeover target Twilight in Miami is a sight to behold, but is the sun also setting on the city’s Jackson Health System? The health system could lose $240 million in fiscal 2011 and is ripe for a takeover bid.

FLICKR PHOTO BY TYLERDURDEN1

Troubled Miami
health system a
Jackson Health could run
out of cash by July

By Eric Wicklund, Managing Editor

MIAMI – The Jackson Health System stands on the brink of financial collapse, but those in charge of the six-hospital public network aren’t sure that going private is the answer.