Cigna Healthcare, a subsidiary of Cigna Corp., announced this week that Tenet Healthcare Corp. has received 214 Cigna Healthcare quality designations based on the outcomes of 29 surgical procedures and medical conditions at 38 hospitals.[...]

VHI customers aged 60 and over could be facing premium hikes of up to three and a half times their current rates, according to a report in last week’s Sunday Tribune. This follows a Supreme Court decision not to allow risk equalisation in the health insurance market.[...]

It’s money the indigent care hospital can definitely use. Grady ended last year $48 million in the red and expects to end this year is a equally large financial hole. The 953-bed hospital is also losing patient volume.[...]

Tenet Hospitals Awarded 214 CIGNA HealthCare Quality Designations. - DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC - News) today announced that 38 of the hospitals it operates have received 214 quality designations through CIGNA HealthCare, a subsidiary of CIGNA Corporation[...]

The Georgia Department of Community Health board on Thursday approved a plan to charge commercial HMOs the same fee as managed care companies that operate the state's Medicaid program in an effort to make up for a 5% reduction in program funding, the Savannah Morning News reports. The Georgia[...]

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has appointed Ellen Badley as new chief of the Office of Health Plan Administration. Badley replaces Marcine Crane, who left the job earlier this year to pursue other interests, said pension fund spokeswoman Karen Perkins.[...]

Just last week, the Census Bureau released its annual study of household incomes, poverty and health insurance -- often called the nation's "economic report card." Its hard numbers seemed to confirm how many Americans feel. Sure, we're prosperous, but prosperity is fraying.[...]

Gentiva Health's Neutral Outlook. - Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (NasdaqGS: GTIV - News) recently reported better-than-expected 2Q08 net income of $12 million (up 34% y/y), or EPS of $0.41, reflecting solid increases in Medicare related revenues in Home Health buoyed by higher episodic patient[...]

GlobalConnect Australia has been selected to provide network support for McKesson's telephony-based health care service. McKessons Asia Pacific network provides private health care for customers in A/NZ. Customers are connected to nurses, psychologists[...]

DENVER?Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said during his Thursday night speech accepting the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency that it is time to ensure that Americans have affordable, universal health care coverage. 'Now is the time to finally[...]

A Hawaii federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a health advocacy group against the state that sought to overturn a $1.5 billion Medicaid contract, which was awarded to two Mainland health plans instead of to a local health maintenance organization.[...]

A group of not-for-profit health insurers and providers have their back up over Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield's application to convert its corporate structure to for-profit status. The group, Read more[...]

The Georgia Department of Community Health board on Thursday recommended a series of cuts that would trim $113.8 million annually from the state’s Medicaid and Peach Care budget in fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010. DCH’s recommendations come after Gov.[...]

The number of Americans without health insurance dropped by more than a million, to 45.7 million.[...]

California health officials have asked U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder to suspend an injunction that she issued against a 10% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for health care providers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program (Egelko, San[...]

After decades of partial solutions to fire threats in nursing homes, regulators are finally requiring sprinkler systems for the 2,466 facilities that still don't have them fully installed. On Aug. 13, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued[...]

At least where Medicare beneficiaries were concerned, it appears that Floridians were the U.S. champs for medical imaging in 2006. A new report from the GAO found that for that year, Florida Medicare Read more[...]

HEALTH CARE REFORM, HEALTH INSURANCE, MEDICAID, MEDICARE, IMPACT OF UNINSURED, HEALTH CARE COSTS, LONG TERM CARE, BABY BOOMERS, AGING POPULATION, CAMPAIGN ISSUES Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Description ?We are headed into[...]

Three Washington communities will receive $1.7 million in grants for pilot projects that will test consumer managed health records.[...]

Tampa General Hospital is facing the termination of its Medicare provider agreement with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The stern warning came in a letter Aug. 19 to TGH administrators. The hospital has been reviewing its psychiatric unit procedures since mid-July.[...]

The Blue Shield of California Foundation, the San Francisco-based health plan’s philanthropic arm, said Thursday it’s making $7.7 million in 3rd-quarter grants to 17 nonprofits across California.[...]

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A U.S. Medicare advisory panel on Wednesday expressed doubts that industry-sponsored data on the use of PET scans to diagnose and evaluate nine cancers could apply more widely to[...]

The number of enrollees in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid health care program, stands at 1.12 million, up 5 percent from August 2007. That comprises nearly 18 percent of the state's 6.3 million residents.[...]

BOSTON (Reuters) - Nearly half a million people obtained health insurance in the two years since Massachusetts enacted a pioneering health-care law, officials said on Tuesday, putting the state closer[...]

Although he also said it did not go as far as he would have liked on the issue of providing all children with health insurance, he said “modest, but solid gains were made toward that goal.”[...]