[ { "DATE_ENTERED": "12/2/2010", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Information Technology", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Children's Hospital Boston attains Stage 7 EMR adoption", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Pediatric medical center Children’s Hospital Boston has received its Stage 7 award from HIMSS Analytics, representing its attainment of the highest level on the EMR Adoption Model used to track EMR progress at hospitals and health systems. HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of EMR systems for hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database. The validation process that confirms a hospital has reached Stage 7 includes a site visit conducted by an executive from HIMSS Analytics and former or current CIOs for an unbiased evaluation of the Stage 7 environments, the Chicago-based HIMSS Analytics stated. As of November, HIMSS Analytics had recognized 52 hospitals, or 1 percent of the more than 5,000 hospitals in the HIMSS Analytics Database, with its Stage 7 award.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Boston Childrens Hospital", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "3/21/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Labor/Staffing", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Tufts Medical Center Calls on Massachusetts Nurses Association to Respect Patient Care and Negotiate at the Bargaining Table", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "BOSTON, March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tufts Medical Center today called on the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) to respect patients and their families by not threatening a strike and moving forward on their negotiations with Tufts Medical Center together. The MNA's continued pickets, strike threats and other nonproductive tactics, which are often used to enhance the union's business goals, have been disruptive and are in direct conflict with the union's own claims regarding the importance of patient safety and quality of care. In 2009, the MNA became a part of National Nurses United (NNU), a 160,000-member union known for its aggressive tactics around the nation. Since that time, the NNU has been pursuing a national strike strategy in an attempt to secure mandatory staffing ratios, a proposal which has failed legislatively in Massachusetts for the past 15 years. In the past several months alone, the NNU has threatened or carried out strikes in dozens of hospitals around the nation, including in California, Maine, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Washington D.C., Minnesota and Massachusetts. This tactic unnecessarily increases health care costs and, most importantly, places patients and their families in the middle of a union's business goals. 'For over 200 years, Tufts Medical Center has been serving our patients and communities with high quality, affordable care,' said Ellen Zane, President and CEO of Tufts Medical Center. 'Our standards and quality outcomes give us bragging rights in Boston and beyond. It is disappointing that the NNU continues to use our hospital and patients as props to push its legislative agenda instead of working to benefit its membership. We respect and appreciate the dedication of our nurses, physicians, staff and other caregivers who are so vital to our ability to deliver quality medical care locally– and the time is now for us to move forward together.' Tufts Medical Center has been involved in good faith negotiations with the MNA for nearly five months. During this time, the NNU has attempted to gain attention and confuse the public through ongoing pickets, vigils, attack ads and rallies. The NNU and MNA have done a disservice to patients through repeated attempts to falsely impugn the quality of Tufts Medical Center's care, which has been consistently rated as exceptional by independent third-party experts. 'In order to best serve our patients and develop important medical advances, physicians, nurses and hospital leadership must be innovative and flexible,' said Deeb Salem, M.D., a physician with a 36 year history at Tufts Medical Center. 'We are not interested in a national agenda. What we care about here is our local organization – the hospital we all love. The NNU's notion that pickets and strikes will improve patient care is a contradiction because at the end of the day all it does is cause undue stress for our patients and their families. It is not difficult to see that the real agenda for such perverse tactics are self serving and developed to enhance the union's business goals. Patient safety and the well being of the membership are not paramount to this union. Most importantly, we want to work with our nurses to further enhance the care here at Tufts Medical Center. We value their ideas and their input, and we know that nursing leadership is committed to listening to them and wants to work together for a better future.' Tufts Medical Center has pledged it will continue to work with its nurses to deliver the highest quality of care, and it will continue good faith negotiations that consider the best interest of Tufts Medical Center nurses, patients, employees and the long-term health of the organization.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Tufts Medical Center", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "4/4/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Merger/Acquisition", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Southcoast Health System says it lost out to Steward Health Care System in bid to buy Taunton's Morton Hospital", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Taunton, MA — The president of the non-profit hospital group that lost its bid this week for an acquisition merger with Morton Hospital and Medical Center is dismayed with the Taunton hospital for abandoning its non-profit status. 'Our board of trustees is certainly disappointed by the decision,' said Keith Hovan, Southcoast Health System president and president/CEO of subsidiary Southcoast Hospitals Group. 'Our offer was considerable, generous and on target,' Hovan told the Taunton Daily Gazette. 'We saw a great opportunity for both organizations.' Recent struggles Morton Hospital, during the past three years, has increasingly struggled with depleted revenue from declining reimbursement, in addition to a pension obligation that CEO Maureen Bryant in September 2010 said had grown to more than $80 million. In April 2010, after six months’ negotiation, the hospital managed to avoid a strike by signing a contract agreement with the local bargaining unit of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Later that year it resorted to austerity moves, including the closing of its Transitional Care Unit and its Occupational Health Services Program in Northwoods Medical Center. And, in September, it eliminated a defined-benefit 401(k) retirement plan for 800 non-union members, replacing it with a 403(b) plan requiring a maximum three-percent contribution by the hospital. Hovan said that after four months of negotiations, the bad news arrived Wednesday at 10:45 a.m. that Morton’s board of trustees the night before had decided to sell its assets to Steward Health Care System. End of negotiations? The Boston-based Steward group owns six for-profit hospitals in the Bay State, including Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. It was created in 2010 when private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management bought Caritas Christi Health Care, formerly Boston’s Catholic hospital group. Morton Hospital management did not return a request to confirm the sale. But city officials weren’t hesitant to react to the news that Taunton’s cash-strapped, non-profit medical center had finally nailed down a merger agreement. 'It’s great news,' Mayor Charles Crowley said. 'It’s good for everyone in Taunton and the region.' Crowley, although he declined to mention Steward by name, says he expects the city eventually will collect roughly $1 million annually in 'new growth' property taxes. But the mayor also said the merger will benefit the city in other ways. 'It could very well make Morton a destination for medical services,' he said. Crowley said with the expectation of capital investment for new technology and equipment upgrades, the quality and range of care at Morton will increase and expand. As a result, he said, residents in greater Taunton will be less inclined to automatically assume the need to travel to Boston for high-quality, specialized treatment. City Councilman and mayoral hopeful Thomas Hoye echoed Crowley’s comment that the merger is 'great news' for the city. 'First and foremost,' Hoye said, is Steward Health Care System’s reputation for 'proven medical care.' The merger will also result in 'instant upgrades to [Morton’s] facilities and software,' both of which, he said, are in dire need of modernization and improvement. And Hoye said the city — which is looking at the real possibility of layoffs because of cuts in state aid — certainly could use the added $1 million a year in taxes. Service to the community Hovan, however, insisted that any property tax benefit to the city would be outweighed by 'direct services' to the community — such as free primary-care screening, a visiting 'health van' and programs targeting at-risk teens, drug abuse and teen pregnancy. He said Southcoast Health System in 2010 reinvested the equivalent of $14 million worth of services that 'the government didn’t provide' to communities in the vicinity of its three non-profit hospitals — Fall River’s Charlton Memorial, St. Luke’s in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham. Hovan said he had offered Morton Hospital capital investment for infrastructure and technical upgrades and had promised to take on obligated debt. He also said he ensured them that Southcoast would recruit new talent and fully fund Morton’s existing pension-plan obligation. Bigger competition Hovan said his 'key worry' is that 'a precedent is being set' whereby an established model of reinvestment in the community is being supplanted by 'a corporate structure' beholden to shareholders. 'There’s been a new level of competition with the introduction of private equity,' he said. Hovan also pointed out that Steward-owned St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River is one of 15 in the commonwealth designated as 'high-cost' by Blue Cross Blue Shield, which charges members more for using those hospitals. Hovan’s comments elicited a strong reaction from Chris Murphy, spokesman for Steward Health Care System, who called Southcoast Health System’s stance 'hypocritical' and 'beyond the pale.' 'It’s beyond disingenuous — their stance is an abomination,' Murphy said. Murphy called Southcoast the 'second-wealthiest (medical) system in the state' and accused them of behaving more like a for-profit than a non-profit group. 'They made $63 million in 2010 and have $513 million in the bank just sitting there [and] they’re not paying taxes to any communities,' he said. 'It’s insulting and a joke that they attacked and disparaged our business model,' said Murphy, who charged Southcoast with operating a for-profit cancer treatment center in Fall River. Southcoast spokeswoman Joyce Brennan said that any money accumulated is not representative of profit, but rather 'a strong bottom line' that affords her group strength and stability for reinvestment and growth. As for the Southcoast Centers for Cancer Care satellite facility in Fall River, she said it indeed operates on a non-profit basis. Since 2000, Brennan claimed, Southcoast Health System has invested $500 million 'in capital at all of its sites.' As for Murphy’s strong statements, she said that Southcoast was merely following the guidelines of a 'communications matrix' devised by Morton Hospital, stipulating that the competing parties could contact media outlets the day after an agreement had been brokered. 'I don’t understand his point, other than he hasn’t got his facts straight,' she said. Read more: http://www.tauntongazette.com/archive/x1992230163/Caritas-may-acquire-Tauntons-Morton-Hospital-Southcoast-officials-confirm-they’ve-lost-deal#ixzz1IZEDn21P", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Morton Hospital", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Taunton", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": "Steward Health Care System", "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": "TX", "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": "Dallas" }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "4/8/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Merger/Acquisition", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "SAINTS MEDICAL CENTER AND STEWARD HEALTH CARE SYSTEM LLC SIGN LETTER OF INTENT", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "LOWELL and BOSTON, April 4, 2011 -- Saints Medical Center and Steward Health Care System LLC (Steward) announced they have signed a letter of intent for Saints to become part of Steward. The parties will continue due diligence toward the signing of an asset purchase agreement. Victor Poirier, Chair, Saints Board of Trustees, said, 'After a comprehensive review and analysis of several partnership opportunities, we chose Steward Health Care System because their interests are best aligned to fulfill the mission, values and vision of Saints.' Steward is a Massachusetts-based, regional accountable care organization (ACO) and community hospital network. Formed out of a Catholic system, Steward is a mission-based organization that is committed to keeping health care in the local community. Over the past three years, Steward has invested in clinical information technology, improved infrastructure and significant physician network growth. This investment has helped enable the creation of their community-based ACO, increased physician efficiency and enhanced communication between physicians. 'This decision was not just about finances,' said Stephen Guimond, Chief Executive Officer of Saints. 'It was about finding a partner that shares our mission and ideals. By joining Steward, we will gain long-term financial stability without sacrificing who we are and what we believe in.' 'Steward is a physician led organization that has a unique model that fosters communication between physicians and rewards them for keeping patients healthy,' said Ralph de la Torre, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Steward.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Lowell General Hospital - Saints Campus (FKA Saints Medical Center)", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Lowell", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": "Steward Health Care System", "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": "TX", "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": "Dallas" }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "4/8/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "People on the Move", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "St. E's Names New Hospital President", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Boston, MA – April 5, 2011 – Today, Steward Health Care System (Steward) announced that John Polanowicz has been named president of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. John Holiver, current president of St. Elizabeth’s, will assume the role of president of Norwood Hospital and Margaret Hanson, current president of Norwood Hospital, has accepted the position of vice president of hospital integration in the corporate offices of Steward. 'John has proven an exceptional leader at both academic and community hospitals, he will bring that rich background to St. Elizabeth’s' said Bob Guyon, chief operating officer of Steward. 'John has achieved consistent success by partnering strategic management with the highest attention to patient care. Most importantly, he is committed to Steward’s mission of bringing world-class health care to the St. Elizabeth’s community. Polanowicz joins St. Elizabeth’s from Marlborough Hospital, where he served as president and chief executive officer. While at Marlborough Hospital, Polanowicz bolstered patient care by establishing new service lines, building relationships with physician groups and investing in emerging technologies. He also led a financial turnaround that resulted in five straight years of positive financial results. Polanowicz has also served as vice president of operations at UMass Memorial Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He currently serves on the board of the Massachusetts Hospital Association and chairs its Clinical Issues Advisory Council. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a MBA from Stanford University. 'For more than 100 years St. Elizabeth’s has done an unparalleled job of serving its community,' said Polanowicz. 'St. Elizabeth’s will play in integral role in Steward’s accountable care organization and I look forward to implementing Steward’s new vision for health care.'", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "St Elizabeths Medical Center", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Brighton", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": "Steward Health Care System", "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": "TX", "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": "Dallas" }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "4/27/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "People on the Move", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Interim Marlborough Hospital President and CEO Named", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "WORCESTER - Douglas Brown, senior vice president and general counsel of UMass Memorial Health Care, has been selected to serve as the interim president and CEO of Marlborough Hospital. The announcement was made today by John O'Brien, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care, and Richard Bennett, chair of the Marlborough Hospital Board of Trustees. Brown will replace John Polanowicz, who will depart Marlborough Hospital effective May 6 to become president of St. Elizabeth's Medical Center. Brown will begin transitioning into the Marlborough Hospital position immediately. Brown, who has been with the UMass Memorial Health Care system for eight years, will continue in his current capacity as well as his new interim role at Marlborough Hospital. 'We are pleased that Doug will take on this important role,' said O'Brien. 'He is a well respected and trusted leader and has spearheaded a number of key and innovative UMass Memorial initiatives that have improved governance and reduced risk. He will be a great fit with the team in Marlborough.' Within the UMass Memorial Health Care system, Brown also helped lead the development of the system strategic plan and is very much focused on the future model of health care delivery. Brown's prior operational experience includes his direct oversight of the then $6 billion state Medicaid program at the beginning of the Romney Administration, during a time of severe fiscal crisis and organizational restructuring. There, Brown managed a staff of more than 600 employees and led the development of a number of successful initiatives, which were largely adopted by the Legislature. Brown holds a JD degree from Boston University School of Law and a bachelor's degree in international relations/economics from Boston University. Massachusetts Medical Law Report named him as a 'Leader in Quality' in 2008, and in 2009 he was selected as New England 'In-House Leader in the Law' by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and New England In-House magazine. He was also selected as the 2009 recipient of the American Bar Association's 'Outstanding In-House Counsel Award' for distinguished service by an attorney employed in a legal role at a nonprofit organization in the United States. He frequently speaks at local and national conferences on health care issues, and is a frequent writer on issues of on the health care industry. A formal search committee has been formed to identify a new president and CEO of Marlborough Hospital. The committee is led by Bennett, and will include a number of the hospital's trustees. Once a number of candidates have been identified additional trustees, medical staff and other staff will be included in the interview process. It is estimated the process will take six months to complete.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "UMass Memorial Marlborough Hospital", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Marlborough", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "4/27/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Labor/Staffing", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Nurses union authorizes strike, could cost Tufts Medical millions", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "In a move that could cost Tufts Medical Center up to $4.2 million, the nurses union at Tufts Medical on Monday announced its intention to strike next month amid protracted negotiations with the hospital centered around the hospital's staffing levels. The strike is slated begin at 6 a.m. on May 6, National Nurses Day, and end at 7 a.m. on May 7, but could be held off if Tufts Medical meets the nurses' demands, according to Barbara Tiller, a nurse at Tufts Medical and chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) bargaining unit. The MNA, the union supporting Tufts Medical's 1,200 nurses, is required to issue the hospital a 10-day notice before strikes. The MNA and Tufts Medical have been in negotiations since November following changes in the hospital's staffing pattern early last year. After the nurses earlier this month voted to authorize a one-day strike, Tufts Medical said that, if the strike proceeded, the nurses would be out of work for no fewer than five days. This rule ensures that the center could meet the requirements of the temporary nurse staffing company it would employ. The five days of employing temporary nurses are expected to cost the hospital at least $4.2 million, according to Julie Jette, director of media relations and publications at Tufts Medical. The MNA decided to issue a strike notice because no agreements on the hospital's nurse-to-patient ratio or other staffing issues were reached during bargaining sessions with the hospital on Friday and Monday, according to Tiller. MNA contends the ratio is too low. 'They were not willing to talk about staffing at all,' Tiller told the Daily. 'We tried several different approaches to get some relief so that nurses wouldn't have too many patients. They weren't willing to even talk about it.' Without a strike notice, Tiller said, the nurses decided that they would not be able to make progress. If the strike occurs, Tufts Medical will be one of five hospitals nationwide under National Nurses United (NNU), the parent union of the MNA, on strike during the same week. Tufts Medical President and Chief Executive Officer Ellen Zane criticized the NNU for its decision. 'We are extremely disappointed that they would take this reckless, national approach in Massachusetts and in Boston,' Zane said in an April 25 statement. 'It is clear that this is a selfish, self-serving agenda designed to increase MNA/NNU membership, and thus generate more union dues.' Earlier this month, the administration at Tufts Medical criticized the voting procedures of an April 14 vote in which Tufts Medical nurses overwhelmingly authorized the use of a one-day strike. A Tufts Medical press release the next day cited several irregular voting practices, such as allegations that the MNA had not released the exact vote count, that the ballot box was transparent and that nurses felt intimidated when voting. A nurse, who Tiller directed to the Daily, said that she was shocked when she heard that some nurses felt intimidated by the voting procedures. The nurse has worked at the medical center for 24 years. 'That was a shock to me because I personally didn't feel one bit intimidated,' the nurse, who requested anonymity due to worries about job repercussions, told the Daily. 'I walked up and they told me to put the piece of paper in the box, and all I heard was, ‘Thank you for coming.' No one I worked with said they felt that way at all.' The medical center also said in the press release that the nurses were misinformed that the strike would last one day when, if the one-day strike occurred, they would in reality not be able to work for at least five days. 'If the MNA calls a strike, nurses will be unable to return to work for a minimum of five days,' Jette told the Daily. 'This is for two reasons: First, it is not good for continuity of patient care to have our entire nursing staff turn over twice in 24 hours. Second, because of this MNA action we must hire a nurse staffing company to provide us with nurses to care for our patients. Those nurses are recruited from around the country, and we must provide them with a minimum of 60 hours of work.' Tiller said that when the nurses voted, they were fully aware of Zane's ability to extend the period in which they would remain off work. 'What Ellen is saying is that she would rather hire the [temporary] nurses and bring them in, and if she has to pay them for five days, then they're going to work for five days,' Tiller said. 'Our nurses understand completely … that Ellen has the option of locking us out [for five days]. That is under her power, and she can do that. They have never been misled by anyone about what the risks are.' Tiller said, though, that the nurses have not received official notice from Zane or the hospital that there will be a four-day lockout period after the one-day strike. 'She keeps threatening it,' Tiller said of Zane, 'but we have not received official notice of that.' Tiller added that it is possible that the nurses and the hospital will negotiate during the period before the strike and that the strike will not have to happen. She said that the nurses are 'very willing to negotiate' but have not yet heard from Tufts Medical whether it wanted to negotiate during the period before the strike. 'I'm not sure how you do that after you've given your best final offer,' she said. 'We're very willing to negotiate.' Tiller hopes that both sides will reach an agreement that ensures that the staffing levels return to what she believes are safe standards. 'Are we going to be settled by the end of all of this? I don't know,' she said. 'But at the end of the day, you just have to keep fighting for what you believe in.'", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Tufts Medical Center", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "4/27/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Labor/Staffing", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "St. Vincent RNs Call for One-Day Strike for Patient Safety on May 6", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "WORCESTER, Mass., April 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The registered nurses of St. Vincent Hospital will hold a one-day strike for patient safety on Friday, May 6, 2011, as contract talks continue to stall over hospital management's refusal to improve unsafe patient care conditions at the hospital. The nurses issued the formal 10-day strike notice today, which is required by federal labor law, to Vanguard Health Care management, the for-profit owner of the hospital. The one-day strike will begin at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, May 6 (National Nurses Day), and end on Saturday, May 7 at 6:45 a.m. The 740 St. Vincent nurses are working under the worst RN staffing levels in the city. In the last 16 months nurses have filed more than 1,000 official reports of unsafe conditions at the facility (an average of more than two a day). To address the crisis, the nurses are seeking contract language to guarantee safer staffing levels in the hospital. 'The nurses of St. Vincent Hospital cannot allow our patients to suffer day in and day out simply because their nurse has too many patients to care for at one time,' said Marlena Pellegrino, RN, a nurse at the hospital and chair of the nurses' local bargaining unit. 'No nurse wants to strike, but we are prepared to do so if Vanguard continues to refuse to make improvements in staffing levels – improvements that are needed to prevent a continued deterioration in the quality and safety of care at this hospital.' At the negotiating session held today, talks ended with the hospital making what it called 'its last, best and final' offer, which failed to include the staffing improvements nurses need to provide safe patient care. Vanguard management's latest proposal would add more nurses to a few floors, while also calling for the closure of nine beds in the intensive care unit, increased patient assignments for nurses on a floor caring for patients recovering from open-heart surgery and elimination of a team of patient support nurses who assist other nurses with complex cases. The hospital's plan may actually make the conditions for nurses and patients more dangerous. The nurses' concerns about the staffing conditions at the hospital are supported by a significant body of research demonstrating the link between poor staffing and a variety of poor patient outcomes and an increase in preventable patient deaths in the nation's hospitals. In fact, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine published last month shows that when hospital floors or units are understaffed, and where there is a high turnover of patients on a unit each day (as is the case on every unit at St. Vincent Hospital), the risk of patient death increases significantly. Nurses are outraged that their patients are forced to suffer every day while Vanguard, the multi-billion dollar for profit owner of the hospital, has reaped more than $50 million in profits over the last two years at St. Vincent Hospital alone, and just recently spent more than a billion dollars to purchase hospitals in other parts of the country. 'Vanguard can well afford to provide the safe care the patients in this community deserve,' Pellegrino said. Pellegrino added, 'It is our sincere hope that Vanguard will take the opportunity over the coming days to engage in a good faith negotiation to avert the need for a strike. Should they decide otherwise, we are prepared to make a stand for the safety of our patients.' The nurses began negotiating a new contract with Vanguard management in December of 2009 and a total of 39 negotiating sessions have been held to date. The current contract expired on Dec. 31, 2009, and has been extended by mutual agreement until May 4, 2011, which is the last scheduled session before the strike. The decision to issue a strike notice was authorized by an overwhelming vote of the St. Vincent membership held on April 8. Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest professional health care organization and the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. The MNA is also a founding member of National Nurses United, the largest national nurses union in the United States with more than 150,000 members from coast to coast.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "St Vincent Hospital", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Worcester", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Legal/Regulatory", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "UMass Memorial president apologizes in donor ploy", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "WORCESTER — The president of UMass Memorial Health Care Inc., John G. O’Brien, yesterday apologized to the hospital chain’s doctors and staff for spending more than $50,000 a week for more than a year on young models in racy outfits to recruit potential bone marrow donors. UMass Memorial and its subsidiary, the Caitlin Raymond International Registry, have come under fire from outraged potential bone marrow donors and law enforcement agencies in two states for spending millions of dollars on models and allegedly misleading potential donors about the cost of lab testing required to join the registry. 'First of all, let me say right from the start that the use of professional models for marketing purposes here was not appropriate for an academic health care organization like ours, which holds itself to the highest standards. We have discontinued that practice. I am very sorry for this and apologize for our error in judgment,' Mr. O’Brien wrote in a two-page memo addressed to physicians and staff. The hospital formed an internal task force working with outside consultants to investigate the registry’s marketing and billing practices and is cooperating with official probes by attorneys general offices in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to the memo. 'I regret that the recent focus on these issues has detracted from the reputation of UMass Memorial and the work you do each day,' Mr. O’Brien wrote to his staff. The hospital president, who also is on the Caitlin Raymond board of directors, praised the registry’s lifesaving efforts to match patients in need of bone marrow transplants with potential donors. Caitlin Raymond searches for donors in its own and other registries have helped to make possible roughly 20,000 bone marrow transplants since it was founded in 1986, according to the letter. Mr. O’Brien also defended UMass Memorial’s practice of billing the insurance companies of potential donors thousands of dollars for a lab test that New Hampshire prosecutors and other bone marrow registries say typically costs about $100. 'The rates for this test are part of the contracts we have with each major insurer,' Mr. O’Brien wrote. That explanation did little to placate local people who say they were deceived by registry staff into believing the required DNA test was free or would only cost their insurers a nominal amount. 'It was a year ago, but I clearly remember them saying it would only cost a ‘minimal amount.’ A thousand dollars is not minimal to me,' said Cathy Richard of Boylston, who signed up to be a potential donor when approached during a Cirque du Soleil performance at the DCU Center last December. UMass Memorial billed her employer, which is self-insured, $4,084 for the lab test. The company’s Cigna-administered health plan eventually paid $1,040 for the test. 'It didn’t come out of my pocket personally, but maybe it’ll come out of our health insurance rates for next year or out of my bonus. It’s very annoying,' Ms. Richard said. Ken Dostoler of Worcester, who signed up for the registry while volunteering during a professional golf tournament over Labor Day weekend, scoffed at Mr. O’Brien’s explanation. 'It’s laughable. It’s barfable. It’s hideous,' he said. Mr. Dostoler said registry staff told him the DNA test would cost his insurer a couple of hundred dollars at most. After reading a story about the controversy in the Telegram & Gazette over the weekend, he went back and checked his health insurance statements on Monday and discovered UMass Memorial billed his insurer $4,137 for the test. His health insurance company later paid the hospital $1,100 to settle the bill. 'Everybody’s willing to help, especially sick kids in need of a bone marrow transplant, but when they tell you one thing and then try to push a $4,100 bill through your health insurance, that’s fraudulent,' Mr. Dostoler said. In his memo to hospital staff, Mr. O’Brien said the registry seeks potential donors regardless of their ability to pay for the lab testing. More than 30 percent of the donor tests conducted this year were not billable, he wrote. Caitlin Raymond, which is named for the daughter of the founder of the registry, who got a bone marrow transplant but later died from complications, reported revenue of $5 million and fiscal year-end net assets of $1.1 million, according to financial records on file at state Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office. Mr. O’Brien said all revenue and reimbursements for lab testing related to signing up potential donors for the registry go to fund the overall operations of UMass Memorial. New Hampshire prosecutors have said UMass Memorial was spending more than $50,000 a week, for a year and half, on models who were personally selected from photographs by a marketing director at the hospital. The marketing director, who authorities have not identified by name, also required the young women to dress in short skirts, high heels, lab coats and brightly colored wigs, according to New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General James T. Boffetti. Mr. Boffetti said that his office will investigate potential criminal violations of New Hampshire’s Consumer Protection Act as part of a joint probe with the state’s Insurance Department. ", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Worcester", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "New Facility/Company", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Mass General parent in $420M bond sale", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Partners HealthCare, parent organization to Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is offering $420 million in bonds issued by MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority. Proceeds of the bonds will go towards some or all of a number of projects listed on the regulatory filing. One project is the construction of a 500,000 square foot building at Mass General Boston campus, which will house radiation oncology and emergency services. The bonds would also be used to build a new 132-bed facility to replace Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown. The bonds also would fund a new system-wide revenue management system and an acute care documentation management system for Partners, and may also be used for other improvement projects throughout the Partners system. The bonds are offered in six different series, all of which are rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors’ Service. The bonds are rated AA by both Fitch and Standard & Poor’s. Partners is required to maintain a debt coverage ratio of 1.0 to 1.0 on the bonds. ", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Partners HealthCare", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "People on the Move", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Beth Israel chief Paul Levy resigns", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff Paul Levy, the chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center whose achievements at the hospital were clouded by criticism last year of his relationship with a female employee, has announced that he is resigning. In an email to the hospital community, he said he had reached the conclusion to leave after recently turning 60 and after returning this month from a mountain bike trip to Africa, where he had ''plenty of time in a less cluttered environment to think this through.'' Levy said he needed ''some new challenges,'' and made only a general reference to the controversy that surrounded him this year, when he was fined by the board of trustees for mistakes in judgment regarding the long-time employment of a woman who Levy has called a close personal friend. 'Over the last nine years, I have certainly made mistakes of degree, emphasis, and judgment,'' Levy said in his email. 'I have apologized to you directly for some of those, but I do so again, in the hope that such errors will not overshadow the many accomplishments and contributions of our hospital to the community and the health care industry. On the personal level, if I have slighted any one of you in any way or given you any cause for concern about my warm regard and respect for you, I doubly apologize.'' In an interview from his office at the hospital this morning, Levy said his resignation was unrelated to the controversy last year. 'That was over. That was almost a year ago. The board had given me a vote of confidence.'' Instead, Levy said his decision was related to his turning 60 and the hospital's financial success. Levy said he enjoys leading an organization most when it's struggling and is in need of a turnaround -- which was the situation when he was hired as chief executive of the hospital nine years ago. 'Once that's in place, I lose my enthusiasm for the maintenance of things,'' he said. 'Here, that job is done. We had our best year ever last year.'' Because the hospital is very profitable and because more patients are seeking care there, Levy said he believes his friendship with the female employee, who no longer works at Beth Israel Deaconess, and the subsequent investigations did not end up hurting the organization. He said he will stay ''a few weeks to a month'' and that the hospital's chief operating officer will temporarily run Beth Israel Deaconess while the board searches for a permanent replacement. ", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "People on the Move", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Codman Square CEO leaving for Caritas", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "The longtime chief executive officer of the Codman Square Health Center is leaving to become the president of the Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester, the health center announced today. Bill Walczak.JPG Bill Walczak , has served as the Codman Square Health Center's CEO for the past 36 years. According to a news release, Sandra Cotterell, Chief Operating Officer for Codman for the past sixteen years, will become the CEO position. Walczak co-founded the Codman Square Health Center in 1974 and has been credited for leading the organization to its present day success, the release said. In a statement, Walczak said the transition would be seamless. 'I will miss being a daily part of Codman, but the institution and people will always be within me,'' he said. 'It is in a strong position as it begins this next chapter, with talented and effective leaders. Sandra Cotterell has been an integral part of running our operations for years and, with a strong senior management team behind her, the Health Center will carry on and continue to develop new and innovative programs.'' The Health Center provides health care and other services to the residents of Dorchester.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Carney Hospital", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Dorchester", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "People on the Move", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Levy’s exit cushioned by $1.6 million severance deal", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center board decided this week to pay Paul Levy, outgoing chief executive, up to $1.6 million in severance, and the hospital described his leaving as a negotiated departure rather than simply a voluntary resignation, as Levy and the hospital framed it earlier this month. The board voted on Wednesday to pay Levy as much as two years of his $800,000 base annual salary but that amount would be reduced if he takes another job. The Board concluded that this agreement was in the best interest of the medical center and the people it serves, Stephen Kay, the board chairman, wrote in an e-mail to the hospital community late yesterday. Just under two years before Pauls contract would have expired, the Board of Directors has agreed with Paul on a negotiated departure. The e-mail suggests a more complicated scenario behind Lys departure than he and Kay described Jan. 7, the day Levy announced his resignation. At the time, Kay had said,Paul wanted a change; theres nothing more to it. In an e-mail to the Globe yesterday, Kay elaborated on how the decision unfolded, after the board had completed Levys first comprehensive job evaluation. Kay said that when Levy returned from a vacation to Morocco, I updated him on questions that had been raised about his level of engagement and I told him that recent performance reviews had been mixed. Raised the question of whether it would be better for BIDMC if he stepped down, Kay continued. Initially, his suggestion took me off guard but soon I calculated that the medical center might be better served with a leader who did not take as a burden the day to day challenges of a post turn-around institution; Kay said. On the day Levy resigned, he said in an interview with the Globe that he started to reevaluate his career when he turned 60 in August, and reached a final decision after returning that week from a 10-day biking and camping trip in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. He said that with the Harvard-affiliated hospital profitable and attracting more patients, he no longer felt challenged. Kay said yesterday that the board agreed “that any leader who had lost the enthusiasm for the maintenance of things was not the best leader for the organization. Both sides concluded it was best for Paul to leave. Levy did not return an e-mail and phone call seeking comment yesterday.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Merger/Acquisition", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Morton Hospital and Medical Center of Taunton talks merger with Southcoast Hospitals Group", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Taunton — Cash-strapped Morton Hospital and Medical Center of Taunton is in merger talks with Southcoast Hospitals Group, a spokesperson for the latter confirmed Monday. 'We’re in affiliation discussions with Morton,' said Joyce Faria Brennan, of SHG, a subsidiary of Southcoast Health Systems. Faria Brennan said she could not disclose the status or conditions of the discussions/negotiations, because of a 'confidentiality agreement.' She did, however, say there are 'significant synergies in place between the two that are beneficial to both' Morton and SHG. A call seeking comment from Morton Hospital was not returned by deadline Monday night. As early as the summer of 2010, Morton President and Chief Executive Maureen Bryant said she and the hospital’s board of directors would consider a merger proposal from a hospital group as a means of alleviating growing fiscal woes. Bryant’s statement came during a time of upheaval and adjustment at Morton. In April 2010, a strike was averted, but only after six months of negotiations with the hospital’s nurses’ union. In July, in a move to save money, Morton closed down its Transitional Care Unit and its Occupational Health Services Program, the latter of which was located in its Northwoods Medical Center on Bay Street. And in September, a cost-cutting measure was announced whereby the defined-benefit pension plan for 800 non-union workers was replaced with a 403(b) retirement plan. Bryant at the time said the old pension plan represented a $80 million commitment that in effect was hobbling the hospital’s effort to regain financial stability. Southcoast Hospitals Group currently comprises three regional hospitals: Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Morton Hospital", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Taunton", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": "Charlton Memorial Hospital", "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": "Fall River" }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "People on the Move", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Tufts Medical Center chief to retire", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Ellen Zane, who helped build Massachusetts’ largest physicians’ network at Partners HealthCare, then joined a competitor, Tufts Medical Center, to pull it from the brink of flatlining, is stepping down as the hospital’s chief executive to join her husband in a long-delayed retirement. The tenacious 59-year-old Waltham native, known for her predawn e-mails to colleagues, sent a 'bittersweet’’ one yesterday afternoon to Tufts’s 5,000 employees, announcing her retirement and describing her seven-year tenure as one of the 'greatest experiences’’ of her career, which also included a stint as chair of the Massachusetts Hospital Association.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Tufts Medical Center", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Legal/Regulatory", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Massachusetts General Hospital settles potential HIPAA violations", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Large hospital system to improve policies and procedures safeguarding patient information The General Hospital Corporation and Massachusetts General Physicians Organization Inc. (Mass General) has agreed to pay the U.S. government $1,000,000 to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today. Mass General, one of the nation’s oldest and largest hospitals, signed a Resolution Agreement with HHS that requires it to develop and implement a comprehensive set of policies and procedures to safeguard the privacy of its patients. The settlement follows an extensive investigation by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires health plans, health care clearinghouses and most health care providers (covered entities) to protect the privacy of patient information through administrative, physical and technical safeguards at all times. 'We hope the health care industry will take a close look at this agreement and recognize that OCR is serious about HIPAA enforcement. It is a covered entity’s responsibility to protect its patients’ health information,' said OCR Director Georgina Verdugo. The incident giving rise to the agreement involved the loss of protected health information (PHI) of 192 patients of Mass General’s Infectious Disease Associates outpatient practice, including patients with HIV/AIDS. OCR opened its investigation of Mass General after a complaint was filed by a patient whose PHI was lost on March 9, 2009. OCR’s investigation indicated that Mass General failed to implement reasonable, appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of PHI when removed from Mass General’s premises and impermissibly disclosed PHI potentially violating provisions of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The impermissible disclosure of PHI involved the loss of documents consisting of a patient schedule containing names and medical record numbers for a group of 192 patients, and billing encounter forms containing the name, date of birth, medical record number, health insurer and policy number, diagnosis and name of providers for 66 of those patients. These documents were lost on March 9, 2009, when a Mass General employee, while commuting to work, left the documents on the subway train that were never recovered. Mass General also agreed to enter into a Corrective Action Plan (CAP), which requires the hospital to: Develop and implement a comprehensive set of policies and procedures that ensure PHI is protected when removed from Mass General’s premises; Train workforce members on these policies and procedures; and Designate the Director of Internal Audit Services of Partners HealthCare System Inc. to serve as an internal monitor who will conduct assessments of Mass General’s compliance with the CAP and render semi-annual reports to HHS for a 3-year period. 'To avoid enforcement penalties, covered entities must ensure they are always in compliance with the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules,' said Verdugo. 'A robust compliance program includes employee training, vigilant implementation of policies and procedures, regular internal audits, and a prompt action plan to respond to incidents.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Massachusetts General Hospital", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/3/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Legal/Regulatory", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Children’s zeroes in on its costs", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Tagged by the attorney general and insurers as one of the state’s most expensive hospitals, Children’s Hospital Boston is moving aggressively to cut health care costs while seeking to sustain its elite reputation for pediatric care. Children’s has reduced its fees to private insurers and to Medicaid-managed care programs by $90 million over the last year and a half, hospital executives said, by focusing on charges for lab tests, doctors’ appointments, imaging, surgery, and hospital admissions. Children’s also recently slashed imaging and outpatient surgery prices by 20 percent at the hospital’s three suburban sites. Hospital president Sandra Fenwick said Children’s is responding to pressure to reduce costs 'coming from everywhere’’ — government, insurers, employers, and patients. 'We are trying to change institutional culture,’’ said Fenwick, noting that the hospital also is investing heavily in innovative programs to reduce expensive imaging and overnight stays for children who don’t really need that level of testing and care. The reductions come amid intense scrutiny of hospital prices by state government, with Governor Deval Patrick’s administration looking to wield regulatory power to restrain soaring health costs — unpersuaded that market forces such as those Fenwick cites will work by themselves. Two weeks ago, the governor proposed legislation to change how hospitals and doctors are paid and to create incentives for providers to reduce costs — though the bill also would give the administration authority to limit provider rate hikes, a provision aimed at high-cost hospitals and doctors’ groups that charge twice as much as the lowest-cost ones. Legislative leaders said last week that they expect a year of hearings and vigorous debate on the governor’s proposal before they reach agreement on a final bill. 'The disparities in cost are enormous,’’ said Representative Steven Walsh, a Lynn Democrat who will oversee the review of Patrick’s legislation in the House. 'We need to address that. . . . We will review all the options.’’ Fenwick and other Children’s executives have been briefing legislative leaders, Patrick administration officials, and health care executives on their initiatives. Several of those briefed, including state Senator Richard Moore, the Uxbridge Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Health Care Financing, and Stuart Altman, professor of national health policy at Brandeis University in Waltham, said Children’s appears to be making some progress at curbing costs. Andrew Dreyfus, chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest insurer, commended Children’s as one of only a few academic medical centers that have reduced prices. Blue Cross officials said the cuts have saved the plan $29 million so far, allowing it to shave 0.2 percent off of customers’ premiums — the equivalent of reducing a $100-a-week payment by 20 cents. Dreyfus said the price cuts are 'modest’’ given that the hospital starts 'from a very high payment level.’’ An investigation by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s staff released last year found that in 2008, Children’s Hospital and its physicians’ network were among the four highest-paid providers in the state. Fenwick argues that comparing Children’s to hospitals that treat both adults and children or just adults is unfair, because kids are more expensive to treat. When compared with 28 US pediatric hospitals, costs at Children’s Hospital Boston were only about 10 percent higher than the average payment for inpatient admissions in 2009, she said. She said the hospital made up for the $90 million in price reductions by scaling back hiring, negotiating better prices for drugs, and other measures. As it has cut costs, the Children’s gain from operations — what would be called a profit outside the nonprofit sector — also fell from $71 million in fiscal 2009 to $52 million last fiscal year. Dreyfus pointed out that lowering prices doesn’t get at underlying issues such as the overuse of medical tests and treatments — insurers may be paying less for imaging but in some cases they shouldn’t be paying for MRIs and CT scans at all. 'Children’s has committed to working on this,’’ he said. 'They understand they need to fundamentally change how they deliver care.’’ Fenwick said the hospital has begun addressing these issues by, for example, keeping hundreds of heart patients for one-day observation rather than admitting them to the hospital. Under an agreement with insurers, Children’s is keeping $10 million of the $90 million in cuts for two years to pay for developing programs to cut down on unnecessary care, and to improve quality. One such program is an experiment to reduce the number of children with routine headaches referred to the Harvard teaching hospital for expensive MRIs and CT scans. Headaches are one of the most common complaints pediatricians hear. And they send many of these patients to Children’s Hospital — even though the most worrisome condition, a brain tumor, is relatively rare, affecting 5 children per 100,000, or about 2,500 children annually in the United States. 'A lot of kids come in for unnecessary CT scans and MRIs,’’ said Dr. Scott Pomeroy, chief neurologist at Children’s and one of the leaders of its new headache collaborative. And many who are diagnosed with migraines and prescribed medication continue to consult with Children’s doctors when they could be talking to their primary-care doctors, he said. Concerned parents often want their children checked out at Children’s; that understandable anxiety can result in needless and costly hospital care. 'The parents figure in a big way,’’ Pomeroy said. So Pomeroy’s team began meeting with pediatrician groups, starting with Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, to develop referral criteria. They created a software program so doctors could ask patients the right questions, based on an algorithm for determining when tests are required. 'We were in a lose-lose situation,’’ said Dr. Anita Feins, chief of pediatrics at the Kenmore practice of Harvard Vanguard. 'Children’s neurologists were frustrated. They were seeing people who should have been in primary-care settings. We were frustrated because we had seen the kids a lot and parents were worried they could have a brain tumor.’’ Fenwick said it is too early to see savings from these types of programs.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Boston Childrens Hospital", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/4/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Merger/Acquisition", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Beth Israel, Milton Hospital mum on discussions", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "Officials at Milton Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are engaged in top-level talks, but neither institution is saying much about whether the big Boston hospital wants to take control of the Milton hospital. Representatives for the hospitals confirmed in terse, nondescript statements that discussions began recently about potential ways to integrate the operations of the two hospitals and expand on a business relationship that the two institutions have had for eight years. When asked if a merger or acquisition was in the works, representatives for both hospitals declined to comment beyond the written statements. The two institutions are dramatically different in size: Beth Israel Deaconess has 631 beds and nearly 8,000 full- and part-time employees, while the 81-bed Milton Hospital is staffed by about 650 full- and part-time employees. The two nonprofit hospitals have had a clinical affiliation since 2003. The relationship was expanded in 2005, an expansion that put representatives of the Boston hospital on Milton Hospital’s board of directors. But the two hospitals have maintained separate finances throughout their affiliation. That could be changing soon. The state’s largely nonprofit hospital industry has been upended by the arrival last year of Cerberus Capital Management, a deep-pocketed private equity firm from New York. Cerberus established Steward Health Care System to buy the Caritas Christi hospitals, including Carney Hospital in Dorchester, and convert the group to a for-profit company. Steward, under the leadership of Caritas chief Ralph de la Torre, has been an aggressive pursuer of other community hospitals in the state since completing the Caritas deal in November. The company lined up a deal in December to buy Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and the Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill. In recent weeks, Steward also signed agreements to acquire Morton Hospital in Taunton and Saints Medical Center in Lowell. These deals were unveiled as a number of community hospitals in the state have been scrambling to find larger partners to help shore up their finances and bolster their medical care. For example, the board of directors at Quincy Medical Center recently hired an investment bank to consider a potential sale of the hospital. Read more: http://www.patriotledger.com/business/x1798429727/Beth-Israel-Milton-Hospital-mum-on-discussions#ixzz1LPUmPgcq", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Milton (FKA Milton Hospital)", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Milton", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": "Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center", "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston" }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/5/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "Labor/Staffing", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Tufts talks with nurses going down to the wire", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "ufts Medical Center nurses and management met for 20 hours Sunday and Monday and were close to agreeing on a new contact that would avert a strike on Friday. But as often happens with serious labor-management disputes, the nurses won’t decide whether to strike on Friday until the very last minute. Another negotiating session is not scheduled until tomorrow. Nurses said yesterday that one last issue stands in the way of a resolution: whether nurses on the day and evening shifts at the Boston teaching hospital can be required to care for six patients at a time, or whether they win language limiting the maximum number of patients to five. Nurses say caring for more than five patients is unsafe. Hospital executives respond that nurses almost always care for no more than five patients now — but they want the flexibility to increase that number, depending on patients’ conditions. The two sides have reached a compromise on staff levels on the overnight shift and in the intensive care units. 'We’re hoping, but we are not there yet,’’ said Barbara Tiller, chairwoman of the Tufts bargaining unit of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The hospital is not taking any chances. About 200 temporary nurses began flying into Boston Monday and all are expected to be here by today, in case there is a strike. The hospital will train them today and tomorrow. 'We have to be prepared,’’ said Nancy Shendell-Falik, Tufts’ chief nursing officer. Nurses notified the hospital last week that they would walk off the job for one day on Friday if the dispute over patient-to-nurse ratios is not resolved. A mediator has called a final session for tomorrow at 10 a.m. Negotiations also continue at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, where the nurses association is also threatening to strike on Friday.", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Tufts Medical Center", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null }, { "DATE_ENTERED": "5/6/2011", "NEWS_EVENT_TYPE": "New Capabilities", "NEWS_EVENT_TITLE": "Beth Israel Doctors Take Risk For Managing Care", "NEWS_EVENT_DETAILS": "BOSTON — If you feel the earth shaking near Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the next few months, it may be the rumble of 1,800 physicians adjusting to a new way to deliver and get paid for care. These doctors are the latest and largest physicians group to sign a global budget contract for HMO patients at Blue Cross — and many are uneasy. 'There’s guarded optimism, there’s outright anxiety, there’s everything in between,' said Rich Parker, medical director at the Beth Israel Deaconess Physician Organization. Parker and other leaders are convinced that moving away from a system in which doctors are paid based on volume, regardless of quality or need, to one with bonus payments for keeping patients healthy makes sense. A growing number of doctors and hospitals is taking this admittedly risky step. Parker argues that the move to global payments will help correct a basic flaw in medicine today — paying doctors based on how many patients they see, tests they perform or procedures they do. 'More care is not always better care and, in some cases, it’s worse care,' Parker said. 'We’ve all heard of situations where somebody got a procedure that caused a complication and in retrospect questions were asked, ‘Did they really need that procedure?’ So all of this extra doing is not necessarily benign.' Now, instead of getting paid for every visit, test and procedure, doctors at Beth Israel will receive a budget to care for their 75,000 to 80,000 Blue Cross HMO patients. If the physicians group goes over-budget they split the loss with Blue Cross. If they come in under budget, they share the surplus, based on how much they improved the care of patients with say, high blood pressure, cholesterol or diabetes. If the doctors can’t show improvement in patients’ conditions or that patients are getting more preventative tests, they don’t share the surplus. Rich Parker, medical director at the Beth Israel Deaconess Physician Organization (Martha Bebinger/WBUR) 'There’s no incentive in this contract whatsoever that for any individual patient, spending should be limited for any reason,' Parker said. Parker says the goal will be to give patients everything they need, especially preventive care. 'But it also means that I’m not going to offer you things I think are worthless,' Parker said. 'And if you ask me for something that I think is worthless I’m going to explain to you why it’s not in your interest to get a test or procedure that’s of no benefit to you.' There will be both health and financial incentives to keep patients at Beth Israel Deaconess. If patients go to some other hospital, these doctors would have to pay the rival hospital’s bill and may not have easy access to their patients’ records. Both Beth Israel and Blue Cross say the contract will save money over time but they are not sharing details. Primary care doctors will take the lead in managing a patient’s care under this contract — and that’s where another major change comes in. 'There will be a shift of resources to primary care and away from specialists,' said Stuart Rosenberg, president of the Beth Israel Deaconess Physician Organization. 'The best specialists will be as busy as ever; there may be some at the margins that go into other kinds of work, it’s just part of the equation.' The idea that Beth Israel will need fewer specialists under this contract is raising the anxiety of many doctors, but WBUR did not speak to any who were willing to say so on the record. You can imagine the list of physician worries: job security, salary, losing autonomy. But Parker and Rosenberg argue that doctors are already feeling threatened and, in the long run, they’ll be happier under a global payment. Signing the Beth Israel doctors to the so-called 'Alternative Quality Contract' is a big deal for Blue Cross. CEO Andrew Dreyfus says it’s the largest physicians group since the insurer started advocating for this contract two years ago. 'It’s rooted in a group that initially w", "FIRST_COMPANY_NAME": "Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center", "FIRST_COMPANY_CITY": "Boston", "FIRST_COMPANY_STATE": "MA", "SECOND_COMPANY_NAME": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_STATE": null, "SECOND_COMPANY_CITY": null } ]