Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1187260
51 HEALTHCARE NEWS Illinois hospital shuts down, lays off staff By Ayla Ellison M etroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, Ill., suspended all services and discharged all patients. Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health, which owns MetroSouth Medical Center, said the loss of physician surgical coverage and growing understaffing forced the hospi- tal to stop all services. "Patient safety has been MetroSouth's highest priority; unfortunately, suspension is neces- sary as the ability to provide adequate care in a safe manner is not currently possible," Quorum said in an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review. Quorum announced in June that it filed an application with the Illinois Health Facili- ties and Services Review Board to close the 314-bed hospital, and employees were told in August that the hospital would close Sept. 30. MetroSouth Medical Center's future remains uncertain aer the review board postponed a decision on whether to approve the closure Sept. 17. Members of the review board de- cided to defer action aer a lawsuit was filed Sept. 16 against Quorum. ough the hospital closed its doors to patients, Quorum said a limited number of employees were managing the wind-down processes. More than 800 employees were laid off on Oct. 1, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed in August. Employees who stayed through their termination date will contin- ued to receive pay and benefits through Oct. 30. Quorum said it is committed to finding a healthcare-related use for the facility aer it closes. Blue Island Mayor Domingo Vargas told ABC 7 Chicago he is working with Quo- rum to secure a new owner for the hospital. According to an agreement obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, Mr. Vargas agreed to withdraw the city's request to delay the closure of the hospital and present Quo- rum in a "positive" light at the state review board meeting in exchange for a $2 million payment to Blue Island if the review board approved the closure. He told the publication the $2 million would have been used for new equipment and training. A Quorum spokes- person described the payment as a "transi- tion fee" to address short-term costs. n 9 physicians charged in $2.1B healthcare fraud scheme By Ayla Ellison T hirty-five people, including nine physicians, associated with dozens of telemedicine companies and cancer ge- netic testing laboratories were charged for their alleged roles in one of the largest healthcare fraud schemes ever, ac- cording to the Department of Justice. The defendants allegedly submitted more than $2.1 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare through the scheme. According to federal prosecutors, the laboratories paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to medical professionals working with fraudulent telemedicine companies to refer Medicare beneficiaries for cancer genetic tests that weren't medically necessary. The physicians were allegedly paid to prescribe the testing without any patient interaction or with only a brief telephone call with patients they had never met. The results of the tests were often not provided to Medicare beneficiaries or were worthless to their actual physicians, according to the Justice Department. "Unfortunately, audacious schemes such as those alleged in the indictments are pervasive and exploit the promise of new medical technologies such as genetic testing and telemedi- cine for financial gain, not patient care," Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Gary L. Cantrell of HHS' OIG said in a press release. "Instead of receiving quality care, Medicare beneficiaries may be victimized in the form of scare tactics, identity theft, and in some cases, left to pay out of pocket. We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to investigate those who steal from federal healthcare programs and protect the millions of Americans who rely on them." n 2 New York hospitals will share CEO in cost-cutting move By Alia Paavola T wo community hospitals in New York are shar- ing a CEO as a way to save money, according to local news network WWNY. Carthage (N.Y.) Area Hospital CEO Rich Duvall be- came the CEO of Ogdensburg, N.Y.-based Claxton- Hepburn Medical Center, effective Oct. 15. Mr. Duvall replaced Claxton-Hepburn's interim CEO Charles Gijanto, who retired. The community hospitals said that the decision [had] to happen for the financial health of both hospitals. In addition to sharing a CEO, the two hospitals affili- ated. Mr. Duvall said he expects the affiliation and shared CEO role to save about $5 million in two years, ac- cording to the report. "I think this is an incredible opportunity for us to develop a regional system in the north country where the two facilities, Claxton and Carthage Area Hospital can work together to enhance the quality of healthcare delivered while trying to reduce costs," Mr. Duvall told WWNY. The hospital said it does not expect to lay off em- ployees. n