Cartoon – Human Resources Reporting
Monthly Archives: March 2018
Cartoon – References Pleaded the Fifth
Cartoon – Exit Level Position
Trinity Health in talks to sell New Jersey assets to Virtua Health 3 months after failed merger
Carbondale, Pa.-based Maxis Health reportedly entered into a nonbinding agreement March 8 to sell Lourdes Health System, a two-hospital system in Camden, N.J., to Virtua Health.
Under the letter of intent agreement, Marlton, N.J.-based Virtua Health will purchase Lourdes Health System’s two hospitals from Maxis Health, an entity of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health.
“The parties hope that they will be able to complete this transaction, which has the potential to achieve great benefits for healthcare in South Jersey. Further review is underway; there is no final agreement,” Lourdes Health System officials said in a news release. “Because we are very early in the due diligence process, the parties have no other information to provide at this time.”
The decision comes roughly three months after Camden-based Cooper University Health Care axed its plans to acquire Lourdes Health System and Trenton, N.J.-based St. Francis Medical Center.
Operator to bar New York hospital CEO, CFO and COO from expensing bi-yearly trips to Cayman Islands
East Meadow, N.Y.-based Nassau Health Care Corp. officials expect to pass a resolution March 8 barring East Meadow-based Nassau University Medical Center officials from traveling to the Cayman Islands twice a year and charging the hospital for expenses incurred on the trip, according to Newsday.
George Tsunis, chairman of the board of Nassau Health Care Corp., which operates NUMC, told the publication the proposal is part of a series of resolutions to cut costs at NUMC, prevent corruption and make the public more aware of executives’ actions.
Nassau Health Care Corp. created a limited liability company, called NHCC LTD, in the Cayman Islands for tax purposes to self-insure for malpractice and general liability claims, according to the report. Company officials must meet outside the U.S. at least once a year to maintain the Cayman Islands location. NUMC’s CEO, COO, and CFO were all named to NHCC LTD’s board, and previously traveled to the islands for two weeks out of the fiscal year to discuss the company’s financial and operational activities.
Under the proposal, two NUMC executives will meet once a year for one day at an offshore location, such as a Canadian airport, to discuss the company’s activities.
The series of resolutions also calls for a reduction in the use of outside legal firms to handle internal legal issues, and to enact anti-nepotism disclosure requirements for hospital trustees, among other initiatives.
Nassau Health Care Corp. officials did not disclose how much the organization would save as a result of the proposed changes, Newsday reports.
Mr. Tsunis said as a safety-net hospital, NUMC should adhere to federal expense guidelines and not use taxpayer money to fund executives’ trips.
“[The proposed resolutions are] essential for credibility. The taxpayers of Nassau County need to be assured that we are protecting their tax dollars and operating at the highest ethical levels,” Mr. Tsunis told Newsday.
Moody’s: Nursing shortage will pressure hospital margins for years
U.S. nonprofit hospital margins will be negatively affected by an extreme nursing shortage for at least the next three to four years, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service.
To attract and retain nursing talent, many hospitals are increasing compensation and offering sign-on bonuses and attractive fringe benefits. However, these incentives are putting expense pressure on hospitals.
“Labor is the largest hospital expense and is increasing faster than total expense growth while outpacing revenue growth,” Safat Hannan, a Moody’s analyst, said. “The lack of qualified nurses will compound these expense pressures and negatively affect hospital margins.”
The nursing shortage is most prevalent in Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia, according to the report.
Orthopedic Urgent Care Franchising is THE Opportunity of 2018
Healthcare Executives, Physicians, and Healthpreneurs dealing with hospital spending cuts, reduced insurance reimbursements, and reduced market share are looking for solutions to earnings loss which is giving rise to the innovations in specialized focused urgent care.
The economic pressures coupled with the need for lifestyle balance cause many in the healthcare industry to look for alternatives and franchising is leading this nationwide healthcare overhaul.
With approximately 9,000 urgent care centers in the United States offering generalized care, OrthoNOW is the only franchised care center of its kind in the United States — a unique position to gain market share in this highly fragmented industry.
OrthoNOW’s focus is on sports medicine and the treatment and prevention of the full range of orthopedic injuries, all on a walk-in basis. Services include treatment of injuries to the hand, wrist, foot, ankle, knee, spine and shoulder, as well as preventative consultation and regimens by experts in orthopedics.
Strong interest in the brand is being fueled by CDC estimates that injuries have a $671 billion annual impact on the U.S. economy — orthopedic medicine contributes $48 billion to the GDP and urgent care centers produce an additional $30 billion in revenue. Further, 160 million patients seek out urgent care each year; 48 million of those patients will require orthopedic care who, without access to, are referred to the local emergency room only to be redirected to a specialist following a long and expensive visit.
“OrthoNOW offers an innovative turn-key solution with a comprehensive support system built in. Our corporate staff consists of veteran business, medical and franchise professionals who work closely with our franchisees and provide ongoing support. Thus, our operations are efficient and effective,” says Christine Dura, Chief Development Officer. “We have more than 1,000 territories available, and we are aggressively targeting proven multi-unit operators and Regional Developers who understand the power of scalability.”
Have you ever wondered how owning a proven franchise model in healthcare could change your financial future? OrthoNOW’s power-packed 30 minute webinar is the place to start. Get expert answers to your most pressing questions. Some will watch and miss the opportunity. Some may even try a solution on their own. Regardless, their proven model leads the charge in delivering the healthcare solutions many Americans need NOW.
Answer the call of millions of Americans in need of expert and affordable healthcare. Join OrthoNOW’s webinar on February 28, 2018, which covers the four big questions in franchising:
- Am I the right fit?
- What is my investment?
- How much money can I make?
- Why OrthoNOW?
Pharma karma catches up: Shkreli sentenced to 7 years
The man who embodied the phrase “pharma bro” and once urged his fans to pull a hair from Hillary Clinton’s head at a book signing has had a visit from pharma karma. The judge in Martin Shkreli’s fraud case, Kiyo Matsumoto, has sentenced the poster man for pharmaceutical company greed to seven years. Estimates are that Shkreli, 34, might get out in a couple of years if his behavior is good.
At his sentencing hearing, Shkreli apparently, and rather uncharacteristically, expressed contrition and shed enough tears that the judge called for the court officer to bring the defendant a box of tissues. Shkreli, in making his plea for leniency, tearfully told the judge that “the one person to blame for me being here today is me.” The judge apparently was unmoved, although the sentence is less than the 15 years the prosecution requested.
Shkreli drew the time after a jury found him guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and 2 counts of securities fraud. The same jury found him not guilty on an additional five counts, raising some hope from his legal team that his sentence would be light. The crimes, related to stock manipulation of shares in Retrophin, one of Shkreli’s companies, and ripping off hedge fund backers, could have carried a sentence of up to 20 years.
In February 2018, Matsumoto found that losses resulting from Shkreli’s crimes tallied up to $10.4 million.
Although he’s probably best known for overseeing a 5,000 percent price hike of a toxoplasmosis drug for HIV-positive patients, Shkreli’s post-pharmaceutical shenanigans caught a much attention as his venality while helming Turing Pharmaceuticals. He dropped $2 million on the sole copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which the judge has included in his assets. He harassed a journalist on Twitter, getting himself suspended, and seemed to want to fashion himself into the Snark King of Social Media.
His posturing ended up being his downfall.
While awaiting sentencing, Shkreli boasted that he would end up serving hardly any time and what time he did serve would be in the relatively posh environs of a “Club Fed” prison for white collar criminals. But after he exhorted Facebook followers to pluck a hair from Clinton’s head and offered $5000 per sample, the judge who sentenced him revoked Shkreli’s bail and ordered him to be placed in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, a far different experience for the pharma bro.
Although Shkreli is at the center of his own story, some believe that the industry overall is not blame-free. STAT journalist Adam Feuerstein has pointed out that the pharmaceutical industry can’t entirely disown Pharma Bro and his behavior, noting that Shkreli “was doing what lots of other biotech and pharma CEOs did, and still do to various degrees. Legally.”
Epic President says EHRs are not walled off, integrations are just hard
Healthcare Triage: Why Does the U.S. Spend So Much on Healthcare? High, High Prices.
Healthcare Triage: Why Does the U.S. Spend So Much on Healthcare? High, High Prices.
American healthcare spending is still WAY higher than pretty much all other industrialized countries. But not that long ago, things were different. The US didn’t spend nearly as much in this realm. What changed? Demographics? More sickness? Nah. Spoiler alert, prices have risen much, much faster than the rate of inflation. We’ve got a few suggestions for getting it under control.
HENRY KOTULA 