Morning Headlines 7/31/13

Community Health Agrees to Buy H.M.A. for $3.6 Billion

Community Health Systems agrees to buy Health Management Associates for about $3.6 billion. Including the assumption of debt, the merger is valued at about $7.6 billion.

Catholic Health Initiatives Optimizes Nursing Care Delivery in Collaboration With Cerner Clairvia

Catholic Health Initiatives has increased patient satisfaction scores, saved $1.5 million from reduced overtime, and and saved another $3 million from reduced length of stay after completing a three-year project that included analyzing nurse processes and implementing Cerner Clairvia to measure and streamline them.

Give the public access to the Medicare database

Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Wyden call for the release of Medicare’s claims database, arguing that research potential and transparency trumps both the privacy concerns of the patients receiving care and the business concerns of providers uncomfortable with their reimbursement rates being made public.

Fitch Rates Catholic Health Services of Long Island, NY’s 2013 Revs ‘BBB+’; Outlook to Negative

Catholic Health Services of Long Island, NY has its bond rating downgraded and outlook revised to "negative" due in part to a $144 million Epic implementation that led to a $18 million operating loss for the interim period.