Category: News - Part 25

Former board president challenges sale of hospitals

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon A former board president and negotiator of the original hospital sale that created the Colorado Health Foundation is warning that the foundation could lose control of $1.45 billion in profits from its current proposed sale of seven hospitals and should cancel the deal. Dick Anderson, who was chairman of the joint venture board that ran the hospitals from 1995 to 2000, filed comments with Colorados attorney general on Thursday. He believes that the original intent of the deal was to protect community assets, not to serve as an investment engine for the Colorado Health Foundation. Anderson…

Opinion: Deficit-reduction plans target
 provider fees, Medicaid support

By Bob Semro The Health Care Affordability Act of 2009 is one of Colorados most effective reforms, but the program it fostered could be in jeopardy because budget-cutters in Washington are targeting the federal funding that makes the act work. As talks continue on deficit reduction and increasing the debt ceiling, a number of proposals are zeroing in on the federal matching funds that cover hospital provider fees and help support Medicaid funding. Colorado is not alone among states that could lose funds. The Health Care Affordability Act, with the agreement and support of state legislators and the Colorado Hospital…

Opinion: Businesses, communities key to health care debate

By Anne Warhover Theres been a lot of talk both fiery rhetoric and thoughtful discourse on the national stage about fixing health care since Congress and President Obama took a crack at overhauling the entire system last year. Fast-forwarding to mid-2011, health care reform is moving along, but many key provisions still face legislative, judicial and budgetary scrutiny not to mention an onslaught of partisan bickering and negative ads from both sides of the political aisle. Whether the pillars of the Affordable Care Act and the health care debate succeed in expanding access, improving quality and reducing costs, one fact…

Steak or scallops? Hospitals add luxuries to attract the well-heeled

By Myung Oak Kim Concierge service. Jacuzzi tubs. Bacon-wrapped scallops or New York strip steak prepared by professionally-trained chefs and brought to your room. These amenities can be found at most new hospitals in Colorado and across the country. Gone are the days of sterile, white hallways, fluorescent lights and cloth curtains separating patients in the same room. The newest hospitals offer bountiful natural light, warm-colored walls and floors, soothing art and private patient rooms with large windows and relaxation videos. Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree features fireplaces on every floor. Childrens Hospital Colorado in Aurora offers video…

More calls for resignations of “insider” from industry-heavy health board

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon A second large consumer group representing 500,000 Coloradans joined the call Tuesday for the resignation of a health industry insider from Colorados new health exchange board. The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative called on Eric Grossman, vice president of strategy and government affairs for TriZetto, a Greenwood Village health IT company, to step down from the nine-member board. Gov. John Hickenlooper appointed Grossman to serve as on the board that will design a new online health insurance marketplace for Colorado by Jan. 1, 2014. He was supposed to be one of the non-industry appointees, but consumer groups…

Colorado best in fat nation, but obesity epidemic alarms health experts

By Diane Carman A study released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundationreaffirmed Colorados ranking as the leanest state in the nation, but found that Coloradans are caught up in the same ominous trend toward obesity that is occurring across the country and much of the world. Were the leanest, but were moving in the wrong direction, said James O. Hill, director of the University of Colorado School of Medicines Center for Human Nutrition. Clearly were getting fatter. The report, entitled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens Americas Future, found that Mississippi had the highest obesity rate in the…

Health exchange starts from scratch

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Colorados new health exchange board meets for the first time next week and must immediately get to work. This is a roll-up-your-sleeves, we-need-your-expertise kind of board, said Joan Henneberry, director of the Colorado health insurance exchange at the Colorado Health Institute. For the first three to four months, the board is going to be very busy. This board is building something from scratch. Heres what is on deck for the new board and a summary of priorities for board members who returned calls to Solutions. Among the first agenda items: Evaluating and interpreting the regulations that…

Opinion: Mammography guidelines have chilling effect on breast cancer screening

By Lara Hardesty, M.D. New studies show that women in their 40s are getting mammograms less frequently after much-publicized new guidelines came out in 2009. I am greatly concerned that these guidelines are subjecting women to unnecessary risk. I have been director of Breast Imaging at the University of Colorado since 2005 and have been sub-specializing in all aspects of breast imaging (mammography, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, breast needle biopsies) since 1997. As such, I recommend annual screening mammography for my patients beginning at age 40, as recommended by the American Cancer Society and the American College of Radiology. In…

Foxes guarding the henhouse? Consumer advocates cry foul over health board

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Gov. John Hickenlooper appointed a consultant to Colorados new health insurance exchange board who has instructed clients in the insurance industry on how to find gold in the exchanges. A strict conflict of interest policy is supposed to prevent people with direct financial interests from running the exchange board, which could funnel as many as 400,000 new Colorado clients into the states health insurance market. But, the newly appointed board includes four heads of health insurance companies, along with Eric Grossman, an executive with a privately held company called TriZetto, based in Greenwood Village. TriZetto bills…

DeGette renews push for stem cell research

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette visited Craig Hospital on Wednesday to build momentum once again for bipartisan stem cell research legislation. DeGette, a Denver Democrat, and her new Republican cosponsor, U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Penn.), introduced H.R. 2376 on June 24. Twice, DeGette successfully shepherded stem cell research legislation through Congress only to have former President George W. Bush veto the measures. DeGette is hoping to win support from new Republicans in the House, then eventually send the Stem Cell Research Advancement Act to President Obama. Disease doesnt know any partisan boundaries, DeGette said, noting that her…