In a statement Monday, UNC Health Care said it has launched several initiatives to "restore confidence in its pediatric heart surgery program," in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina.
- Georgia: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has named Pam Stahl as president. Stahl joined Anthem last year as VP of sales operations and effectiveness and has previously served as the chief commercial officer for Invivo Therapeutics. Stahl will succeed Jeff Fusile, who is stepping down to spend more time with his family (Haefner, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/17).
- Maryland: Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and U.S. Attorney for Maryland Robert Hur on Friday announced a $14.8 million settlement with IBM and its Curam Software unit over the botched rollout of the state's Affordable Care Act health insurance exchange. In the fall of 2013, the online marketplace crashed on the first day of open enrollment. While other states suffered issues launching their exchanges, "Maryland's site was among the worst," Meredith Cohn writes for the Baltimore Sun (Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 6/14).
- North Carolina: UNC Health Care on Monday announced that UNC Children's Hospital will suspend most complex heart surgeries pending investigations by state and federal regulators as well as a group of outside experts. The investigations follow a New York Times report in which cardiologists and department leaders in the hospital expressed concerns about quality and patient outcomes. In a statement Monday, UNC Health Care said it has launched several initiatives to "restore confidence in its pediatric heart surgery program." The initiatives include creating an external medical advisory board to recommend improvements and a commitment to publicly releasing mortality data (Gabler, New York Times, 6/17).
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