Daily roundup: March 19, 2012

Bite-sized hospital and health industry news

Topics: Around the Nation

March 19, 2012

  • California: The National Cancer Institute has designated the University of California-Davis Cancer Center as one of 40 "comprehensive" cancer centers in the United States. To receive the designation, the center needed to meet certain standards for cancer treatment, research, and funding. UC-Davis said total research funding for the center has grown from $45 million in 2001 to about $107 million by the end of 2011. In addition, a $37 million expansion project is expected to nearly double the size of the center by September (Garza, Sacramento Bee, 3/14).
  • Mississippi: The state is "well on its way" to establishing a health insurance exchange by 2014, despite its involvement in the multistate lawsuit against the federal health reform law. According to Kaiser Health News, former Gov. Haley Barbour (R) initiated efforts to establish an exchange before the health reform law was enacted in 2010. Meanwhile, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney (R) said that the exchange will be designed and administrated solely by the state. In January, the Center for Mississippi Health Policy released a study that found that an exchange could help reduce the state's uninsured rate from 20% to 7% (Hess, KHN, 3/14).
  • New York: New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has announced a deal that will create a school and preserve a historic building on the former site of St. Vincent's Hospital, which shuttered in 2010. The plan also says a freestanding ED will replace the hospital (Hartocollis, New York Times, 3/14).
  • Ohio: Gov. John Kasich (R) has proposed legislation that would factor hospital quality into future Medicaid payments. Under the legislation, quality components would be developed in association with the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) and other industry stakeholders. "With Medicare and private insurers moving toward value-based purchasing, it makes sense for the state to provide hospitals with the opportunity to receive Medicaid incentives for high quality as well," said OHA President and CEO Mike Abrams (AHA News, 3/14).

 

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