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The Center for Disease Control director Brenda Fitzgerald resigned her position due to a conflict of interest. New HHS Secretary Alex Azar accepted the resignation due to financial interests in cancer detection and health information that she was legally obligated to maintain. The principal deputy will be acting director. A financial advisor purchased for Fitzgerald while she was director and without her knowledge some tobacco stocks. When Fitzgerald found out she ordered them sold but the politics of it with the Democrats were great causing the resignation.
The IRS sometime is not efficient. They are charged with the collection of Ocare tax and refunding Ocare tax credits. They are good at the crediting part. Too good. In 2017 they overpaid nearly $3.5 billion that they can not claw back since when Pelosi passed Ocare she put limits as to how much the IRS was capped in their claw back. The Dems continue to fight against raising the limits.
The gross tally of Ocare sign ups from all states and the fed program is about 12 million. The actual amount will be seen later.
The California nurses have been screaming for the nurse practitioners to be able to practice without physician supervision. That has now come to pass, somewhat. California NPs can now practice without supervision but only at VA hospitals.
The big five insurers had good quarters even if they had less revenue.
Kaiser Permanente outdid all. They had a operating revenue increase of 12.5%. They gained over 10% in new members and had an operating revenue of $2.2 Billion. The net income grew over 22%. Nobody can match those figures.
Remember the story about the Aetna medical director who testified that he read no patient records before denying care. Well, Aetna ha responded. They contend the CNN story was taken from testimony taken out of context. They say the physician actually testified that he reviewed the medical records. In any case the judge in the case has postponed the trial due to the publicity.
Seattle TV station KIRO has done a great thing. They have purchased the medical debt from medical providers. They spent $12,000 to purchase $1 million in medical debt and then forgave the debt. Top
Dear Broward Health in Florida always finds a way to screw up. This week it is with the appointment of the CEO who was the interim CEO until she was indicted. They had four outside finalists but they were probably too honest for the board. The job description requires a masters degree which the new CEO has, however it is from a defunct diploma mill school. The new CEO was a board member who got indicted for violations of the open meeting law when they fired the past CEO who got the job after the original CEO killed himself.
University Hospitals in Ohio are not nice people. They put hospital staffing above patient protections. The hospital fired a temp nurse because she had two unexcused absences in a 60 day period. She had the flu and a physician's note. The hospital does not consider that good enough even though they want patients who have the flu to stay home. Stupid hospital policies by stupid people.
About 16% of the nation's non profit hospitals will have to pay an additional 21% excise tax on their top five highest paid execs. The new tax law put the new tax in. Of course the issue is who pays the tax, the individual receiving it or the "non profit" giving it.
The harmony between Kaiser and the unions is over. According to the dastardly SEIU mean Kaiser wants to diminish patient care by reducing pay to employees and consolidate other jobs for efficiency. Top
Dr. Soon-Shion is a multiple billionaire physician who is working on a cancer cure but also just purchased the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union Tribune. He also owns over 25% of the shares to the Tribune Publishing company. He is also a minority owner of the LA Lakers from shares purchased from Magic Johnson.
The Mississippi Medical Board hired Dr. Kenneth Cleveland as its medical director. He should do well as he has been sued 12 times over 11 years. He has no discipline at the board against him and retired from surgery and the hospital due to back problems. Some of the cases were settled and some were dismissed.
Poland has been hemorrhaging physicians due to their inefficiency and corruption. The government has now agreed to increase spending on healthcare over time from 4.7% to 6% o annual economic growth. Good luck on that.
Now Great Britain is starting to see its GPs leave the system in greater numbers. They are under stress and do not like it. Between 2012 and 2014 the number of unfilled GP posts quadrupled. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this
article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.