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The quality of care at hospitals acquired during a recent wave of deal making got worse or stayed the same, new research found, a blow to a frequently cited rationale for tie-ups. Hospital merger-and-acquisition activity has surged in recent years, with executives involved in transactions making the case that greater size will boost quality with new investments and yield other improvements as deal makers benefit from each others’ strengths. (Evans, 1/1)

When Danielle Robinson got a letter in the mail from Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in October, she braced herself. She’d missed a court-ordered payment to the hospital after she was laid off from her job in September. In 2018, the massive nonprofit health care system sued her for just over $11,500 in unpaid hospital bills, plus $3,800 in attorney’s fees. In April, a Shelby County General Sessions Court judge ordered her to pay $150 per month toward the debt. (Thomas, 12/24)

Kaiser Health News: Hospital Group Mum As Members Pursue Patients With Lawsuits And Debt Collectors

The American Hospital Association, the biggest hospital trade group, says it promotes “best practices” among medical systems to treat patients more effectively and improve community health. But the powerful association has stayed largely silent about hospitals suing thousands of patients for overdue bills, seizing homes or wages and even forcing families into bankruptcy. Atlantic Health System, whose CEO is the AHA’s chairman, Brian Gragnolati, has sued patients for unpaid bills thousands of times this year, court records show, including a family struggling to pay bills for three children with cystic fibrosis. (Hancock, 12/28)

The patient had been admitted to Smokey Point Behavioral Hospital on a 90-day involuntary commitment order. But when his health-insurance plan sent a team to check on him, some 20 days into his stay, he was gone. Representatives of the Community Health Plan of Washington, which provides health services for Medicaid clients, went to the Marysville psychiatric hospital with concerns after reading a Seattle Times investigation of Smokey Point and its parent company, US HealthVest, published three days earlier. (Gilbert, 12/30)

The Washington State Department of Health is putting together legislation to give it greater enforcement power over private psychiatric hospitals, including the authority to immediately halt patient admissions and to levy fines of up to $10,000 per violation. The agency also wants the Legislature in the session that begins Jan. 13 to create a provisional, two-year license for new facilities that would bring more frequent inspections, and require psychiatric hospitals to report every escape and death of a patient within three days, according to a draft reviewed by The Seattle Times. (Gilbert, 12/29)

After more than a year of lawsuits and government extensions, federal authorities this week ended their Medicare agreement with a Chicago psychiatric hospital plagued by allegations of abuse and safety violations. The Illinois Department of Public Health said Thursday it is moving forward with plans to revoke the hospital’s license. (Eldeib, 12/27)

When Seattle Children’s Hospital revealed last month that 14 children dating back to 2001 had been infected with Aspergillus mold, six of them fatally, the cases had an unusual feature in common. They all involved patients who had contracted the infection during surgery, ostensibly as spores from the fungus contaminated the operative wound. It is the rarest way of getting such an infection, according to medical experts, that almost by definition can only happen in a hospital. (Gilbert, 12/27)

With a week left until 100,000 UnitedHealthcare plan members lose in-network access to Houston Methodist’s hospitals and outpatient clinics, there’s still no contract in sight between the health care provider and insurance giant. ...The two entities have just over a week to reach a deal before the contract ends Dec. 31. The termination, which comes after a two-decade relationship between UnitedHealthcare and Houston Methodist, is expected to affect anyone covered by a UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored plan or enrolled in its Medicare Advantage program for seniors. (Wu, 12/24)

Our Lady of Lourdes will be finalizing its purchase of the Heart Hospital of Lafayette early next month. KATC reports that Our Lady of Lourdes CEO Bryan Lee sent at letter to staff Friday congratulating OLOL employees on their hard work that led to the deal. In the letter, he said that a purchase agreement was reached with Lafayette Cardiologists and that Friday marked the first day of "go-live" preparations to have the Heart Hospital of Lafayette join their network as Our Lady of Lourdes Heart Hospital. (Boudreaux, 12/27)

The state’s settlement providing $872 million to Connecticut’s hospitals over seven years negotiated by the governor and approved by the General Assembly last month at long last moves policymakers past a thorny fiscal issue that has taken up significant airspace in the state capitol for the last few years. (Casa, 1/2)