Big changes under way to Valley hospital record-keeping 
POSTED: Friday, July 23, 2010 at 11:14 AM PTBY: Anne Wallace Allen
Tags: Health Care, Saint Alphonsus, St. Luke's
Changes in the way medical records are recorded and stored will affect thousands of providers and patients in the Treasure Valley.
St. Luke’s Health System trustees are voting July 27 on an electronic medical records system that is expected to streamline the way health providers manage the information of 650,000 St. Luke’s patients.
Meanwhile, Saint Alphonsus Regional [...]
Regence launches Spanish-language site
POSTED: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 06:20 AM PTBY: Anne Wallace Allen
Tags: Health Care, Regence BlueShield
Regence BlueShield has launched an all-Spanish Web site hoping to make a closer connection to Idaho’s largest minority group.
Like its English-language site, Regence BlueShield’s Spanish site includes information about health and wellness issues important to the Latino community, information about insurance benefits, and contact information for bilingual and bicultural customer service and support.
The site also [...]
Saint Alphonsus recognized for its imaging center
POSTED: Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 06:33 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: Health Care, Saint Alphonsus
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical has received recognition for its imaging center.
Following a survey by the American College of Radiology, the ultrasound department and Breast Care Center was cited as the highest, most accredited ultrasound facilities in the state of Idaho. Achieving an unsurpassed 98 percent overall score demonstrates that Saint Alphonsus is meeting the highest [...]
St. Luke’s opens cardiac rehabilitation center
POSTED: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 10:40 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: Health Care, St. Luke's
St. Luke’s Health System opened a $1.8 million new cardiac rehabilitation center in Meridian June 2 that will help keep heart patients in the Treasure Valley.
Cardiac rehabilitation is a physician-supervised program for patients who have had a heart attack or other heart problems. It includes exercise, nutrition and other lifestyle changes designed to increase healing [...]
PacificSource acquires Clear One Health Plans
POSTED: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 08:51 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: Clear One Health, Health Care, PacificSource
PacificSource Health Plans has completed the acquisition of Clear One Health Plans, making Clear One a wholly owned subsidiary of PacificSource.
Included in the acquisition are Clear One subsidiaries Central Oregon Individual Health Solutions Inc., Trusteed Plans Service Corp., Clear Choice Properties LLC and Clear One Life and Health LLC.
The purchase advances PacificSource’s strategy to expand [...]
Idaho Home Health and Hospice joins LHC Group
POSTED: Monday, May 24, 2010 at 11:46 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: City of Twin Falls, Health Care, Idaho Home Health and Hospice, LHC Group
Twin Falls-based Idaho Home Health and Hospice has entered a definitive agreement with LHC Group Inc., Lafayette, La.-based LHC said in a release. Financial details were not disclosed.
Gary Thietten in 1977 founded Idaho Home Health and Hospice, which fields nine locations serving 28 counties in Idaho.
LHC Group CEO Keith Myers said Idaho Home Health and [...]
State: small businesses may be reimbursed for retiree health care
POSTED: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 12:07 PM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: Health Care, Idaho Department of Insurance
The Idaho Department of Insurance wants small businesses to know that they may be eligible for reimbursement for the medical costs incurred by retirees age 55 and older who do not qualify for Medicare starting on June 1, when a provision of the new federal health care reform law kicks in.
The Patient Protection and Affordable [...]
Otter: Idaho will not create new high-risk health insurance pool
POSTED: Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 10:33 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: C.L. "Butch" Otter, Health Care, Idaho Department of Insurance
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter says Idaho will not create a new high-risk insurance pool for people with preexisting health conditions, forcing the federal government to create one for the state.
Otter notified U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius that Idaho would opt out of that provision of the new federal healthcare reform law, [...]
The Ensign Group buys Meridian-based Idaho Home Health and Hospice Agency
POSTED: Monday, May 3, 2010 at 07:38 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: Ensign Group, Health Care
The Ensign Group, Inc. completed the purchase of the operating assets of Horizon Home Health and Hospice, a well-regarded home health and hospice agency based in Meridian, on May 1.
Founded in 1993 by Marcie Little, a fixture in Southwestern Idaho’s healthcare community, Horizon will be led by CEO Daniel Walker, a longtime Ensign leader and [...]
St. Luke’s MSTI receives $5M in federal funds
POSTED: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 09:07 AM PTBY: IBR Staff
Tags: cancer treatment, Health Care, St. Luke's
St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute will receive $5 million in federal funding over the next two years to improve cancer care for Idaho’s underserved populations.
Boise-based St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute (MSTI) is among 14 cancer centers chosen by the National Cancer Institute to join a national network of community cancer centers with a [...]
