In no particular order, here are the top five news stories involving hospitals and health systems that occurred this week.
1. Mokena, Ill.-based Provena Health and Chicago-based Resurrection Health Care have signed a deal to merge. The potential merger, which awaits approval from Illinois regulators, would create the largest Catholic-owned healthcare system in Illinois and nearly $3 billion in operating revenue.
2. Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., has officially ended its merger with Adventist Health’s Florida Hospital in Orlando. A judge overturned the $80 million merger in February after ruling the two groups had violated the state’s Sunshine Law.
3. Maywood, Ill.-based Loyola University Health System is officially part of Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health. LUHS was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of Loyola University Chicago.
4. Unite Here, a national labor union based in New York, has agreed to issue a formal apology and a $6 million settlement to Sacramento-based Sutter Health after six years of accusing the health system of using dirty linens in its maternity wards. In 2005, Unite Here delivered approximately 11,000 postcards to Northern California residents that alleged the health system’s linens were not always properly cleaned of feces, blood and other pathogens.
5. The University of California at Los Angeles Health System has agreed to pay $865,500 in a settlement regarding potential HIPAA violations. An HHS Office for Civil Rights investigation showed from 2005 to 2008 unauthorized employees, repeatedly and without legitimate cause, looked at the electronic protected health information of numerous UCLAHS patients.
