FOR NEWS for Crain’s Health Pulse, contact reporter CRAIN’S HEALTH Crain’s Health Pulse is Gale Scott at available Monday through (212) 210-0746 Friday by 6:00 a.m. A product or [email protected] of Crain’s New York Business. Copyright 2007. Reproduction or Barbara Benson in any form is prohibited. at (718) 855-3304 For customer service, call or [email protected] pulseA daily newsletter on the business of health care (888) 909-9111. Wednesday, August 8, 2007 TODAY’S NEWS Dupe CINs a longstanding problem PREZ, CEO & CRO GADE Dr. Ronald Gade is a busy man. At the The attorney general’s announce- what they suspect are duplicate CINs, request of the state Department of Health, ment this week about recovering $7 mil- and the people aren’t taken off the he agreed to take the restructuring officer lion from HealthFirst and now-defunct rolls,” says Robert Belfort, a partner at job at North General Hospital. But he will Partners In Health because of duplicate Manatt Phelps & Phillips and counsel to continue in his role as president and chief client ID numbers for some Medicaid the Prepaid Health Service Plan Coali- executive of Cabrini Medical Center, and Family Health Plus beneficiaries did tion, which is composed of Medicaid according to a hospital spokesman. “He not surprise people in the industry. plans. has unequivocally communicated his com- Medicaid managed care plans have Because contracts place time limits mitment to Cabrini and to ensuring the suc- been begging the state for years to fix on retroactive adjustment, the PHSPs cess of our restructuring plan,” he says. this problem. The health plans maintain probably can’t recover any money from that state and local districts had been providers that were paid years ago. WEST NILE informed about the problems with CINs Between July 1, 2000, and Nov. 30, There haven’t been any cases of West but failed to correct them. 2006, HealthFirst and affiliate Managed Nile Virus detected in either people or ani- The plans themselves can’t disenroll Health Inc. submitted about $6 million mals this year in New York City, according to beneficiaries but can only report their in claims for roughly 6,000 people with the Health Department. Though the city is suspicions to localities, which often duplicate numbers. spraying regularly, the department has don’t take action. “Some of the plans PIH agreed to repay $902,000 for identified the virus in 12 mosquito-infested have been alerting the districts about overpayments dating back to 2000. locations—10 of them in Queens. Four of the 12 New Yorkers who contracted West Nile last year lived in Staten Island, where bill meant to cut adverse drug reactions system Pharmacists has worked on several 136 of a total 197 mosquito-infested and related medical errors. The bill would recent amendments to the legislation to waters were found. permit pharmacists employed by hospitals, overcome objections by the Medical Soci- clinics or nursing homes to collaborate with ety of the State of New York. PHARMACIST BILL physicians on drug therapy management. New York pharmacists are pushing for a Pharmacists in 46 other states and in veter- AT A GLANCE ans’ hospitals are permitted to work with PULSE EXTRA: This week’s edition pro- physicians to assist in managing drug ther- APPROVED: The bankruptcy court has vides data on how effectively New apy. The bill (A 3933/S 2426-A) calls for approved an extension for Westchester York hospitals provide treatment for voluntary participation. Pharmacists would Square’s reorganization. The hospital now serious ailments. To read Pulse Extra, have to meet certain experience and con- has until Dec. 14 to file a plan and until Feb. scroll down to Page 2. tinuing education requirements to partici- 12 to solicit creditors’ approval of the plan. pate. The New York State Council of Health- Comments? [email protected] The Healthcare Experts Commerce provides healthcare financing to New York Metro acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, certified and licensed home care agencies. Put our team of experienced healthcare professionals to work for you. Call Greg Braca at 1-888-751-9000. commerceonline.com EQUAL OPPORTUNITY LENDER Member FDIC extra AUGUST 8, 2007 Pulse Extra is available each Wednesday by 6:00 a.m. A product of Crain’s New York Business. Copyright 2007. Reproduction in any form is prohibited. pulseA special report on health care in New York The New York State Health Accountability Foundation recently issued a health care report card, which compiled data from various sources about the performance of New York hospitals and managed care plans in different categories. This chart uses data from IPRO, one of the foundation’s partners, to show how effectively Manhat- tan hospitals provided recommended treatments for serious ailments. New York Business Group on Health is also a partner. HOSPITALS: APPROPRIATE CARE ▲ Significantly better than state average ● Not significantly better or worse than state average ▼ Significantly worse than state average Overall Overall Overall Overall surgical heart attack care heart failure care pneumonia care infection prevention (composite score) (composite score) (composite score) (composite score) Bellevue Hospital Center ▲▲ ● ▲ Beth Israel Medical Center/Petrie Campus1 ▼▼ ▼ ▲ Cabrini Medical Center ●▼ ▼ ▼ Harlem Hospital Center ●▲ ▲ ● Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute n/a n/a n/a ● Hospital for Special Surgery n/a n/a n/a ▲ Lenox Hill Hospital ▲▲ ▼ ● Metropolitan Hospital Center ▲▲ ▲ ▲ Mount Sinai Hospital1 ▼● ▼n/a NYU Hospitals Center ▲▲ ● ● NY Downtown Hospital ▲● ▼ ● New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Allen Pavilion1 ▲▲ ▼ ● New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia Medical Center1 ▲▲ ▼ ● New York-Presbyterian Hospital/New York Weill Cornell Center1 ▲▲ ▼ ● North General Hospital ●▲ ▲n/a St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital/St. Luke’s Hospital division1 ●▲ ● ▲ St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center/Roosevelt Hospital division1 ●▲ ● ▲ Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers/St. Vincent’s Manhattan ▲▲ ▼ ● St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital ●▲ ●n/a n/a-Not available. 1-This hospital is part of a group of hospitals that report quality performance data collectively. The following hospitals either did not report or were not required to report data, or reported a very small number of applicable cases: Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital; Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases; The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary; and Rockefeller University Hospital..