Home health care industry faces leaner growth 
POSTED: Monday, May 6, 2013 at 11:49 AM PTBY: Sean Olson
If the growth of the senior citizen population is any indication, the home health care industry should be poised for success. There are more Americans age 65 and older now than ever. Their population has grown 5.3 percent over the past decade, up to about 40 million, according to the Census Bureau. About 30 million [...]
House Calls brings doctors back to doorsteps
POSTED: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 09:39 AM PTBY: Sean Olson
Tags: assisted living, Health Care, House Calls, Medicare
Most people see the physician’s house call as an anachronism. Steven Fuller sees the house call as his ticket into the ballooning health care industry. Fuller, a physician who took care of open heart surgery patients in Washington, D.C., and Idaho for two decades, quit his practice a year and a half ago to design [...]
Clinic appeals decision to end Medicaid payments
POSTED: Monday, April 29, 2013 at 11:51 AM PTBY: The Associated Press
An Eastern Idaho mental health clinic that was suspended from getting Medicaid payments in March filed an appeal late April 24 contesting the state Department of Health and Welfare’s decision to revoke its Medicaid provider status. Health and Welfare spokesman Tom Shanahan said the department can’t yet release the Chubbuck-based Seasons of Hope clinic’s appeal [...]
Idaho: No plan to shift part-timers to exchange
POSTED: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 03:38 PM PTBY: The Associated Press
Idaho government officials haven’t discussed mimicking Washington lawmakers who are considering shifting part-time state employees who work less than 30 hours a week to insurance exchanges. The Legislature in Idaho just passed the exchange only a month ago, and Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal says all his efforts are directed at making sure it’s [...]
Changing times and sentiments spell profits for pet insurance companies
POSTED: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 03:30 PM PTBY: Sean Olson
Tags: American Pet Products Association, Jack Stephens, Pet insurance
It took Jack Stephens 15 years to make money after opening his first pet insurance company in 1982. In his second attempt, the Boise-based Pets Best Insurance that he started in 2005, it took him only four. Times had changed. The second company came out after Hollywood, the pet industry, and a flurry of other [...]
Medical groups file lawsuit over tax status
POSTED: Monday, April 15, 2013 at 09:42 AM PTBY: The Associated Press
Two Boise-based health care organizations formed by St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center and the Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital have filed a lawsuit against the Idaho Tax Commission disputing the state agency’s determination they aren’t tax-exempt and owe $400,000. The Idaho Statesman reports that St. Luke’s-Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Services and the Center for Wound Healing and [...]
Tele-psychiatry program saves money on care
POSTED: Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 12:50 PM PTBY: Sean Olson
Tags: Clearwater Valley Hospital, Health Care, PacificSource Health Insurance, Saint Alphonsus, tele-psychiatry
Clearwater Valley Hospital’s nearly two-year-old tele-psychiatry program has managed to cut down the yearly health care costs for its patients by more than half, but those savings might not save the initiative from the chopping block. Started with the help of grant funding, the program allows patients living in rural Idaho to see psychiatrists based [...]
Idaho businesses support lawmakers’ health exchange decision
POSTED: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 11:54 AM PTBY: Sean Olson
Tags: Affordable Care Act, Ataraxis, Balihoo, D&B Supply, Health Care, health exchange, Rocky Mountain River Tours
Idaho lawmakers weren’t enthusiastic about passing legislation that will authorize the state to create its own health care exchange in place of a federally run model, but they got it done. Idaho businesses in various industries appear to be having the same reaction. The lawmakers said repeatedly that they were making the best of a federally [...]
Lawmakers unsure about tackling Medicaid in 2013
POSTED: Friday, March 22, 2013 at 04:11 PM PTBY: The Associated Press
Tags: Idaho Health and Welfare, Idaho Medicaid Expansion
Expanding Medicaid to cover more low-income Idaho residents could save state and local taxpayers tens of millions, according to a state-financed report released the week of March 18. But lawmakers aren’t sure if there’s time or political will to tackle the issue during the 2013 session. House Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Fred Wood, R-Burley, [...]
Another hospital accused of creating a monopoly in southeastern Idaho
POSTED: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 08:41 AM PTBY: Sean Olson
Tags: Anesthesia Associates of Pocatello, antitrust, lawsuit, Portneuf Medical Center
Another Idaho hospital is facing allegations it has created a monopoly in the health care world. A lawsuit claims Pocatello’s Portneuf Medical Center forced out potential competition in the form of a private surgical center by controlling the area’s anesthesiologists. Terry Elquist, who sold an outpatient surgical center to the hospital in 2009 and subsequently worked [...]
