Prime Healthcare Services has turned around the finances of more than a dozen struggling California hospitals by focusing on emergency room operations. Some chain critics say the changes have come with a cost. + read more
The following FAQ addresses the guidelines doctors consider when deciding whether to admit patients to a hospital, options for patients who wind up in emergency rooms, and oversight measures by Medicare. + read more
Prime Healthcare Services, California's largest for-profit hospital chain, has had private grudges and public disputes over health insurers paying bottom dollar and managing patient care from business offices. Managed care firms, in turn, say Prime captures its patients in the interest of profit.... + read more
A Southern California hospital chain has transferred an unusually high number of patients from its emergency rooms to its hospital beds, gaining hundreds of millions of dollars by targeting people with Medicare, a California Watch investigation has found. + read more
The Prime Healthcare Services Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Prime Healthcare Services, is seeking judicial approval to buy Victor Valley Community Hospital in bankruptcy court tomorrow, a move that, if successful, might expand the reach of the controversial hospital chain. Prime added one... + read more
A California hospital chain under investigation for allegations of overbilling the Medicare system has inaccurately diagnosed patients with a blood infection known as septicemia – a complex and deadly condition that hospitals are paid a premium to treat, a state investigation has found. + read more
Citing a California Watch story, a state Senate leader has called for a public health investigation into "alarming" malnutrition rates among Medicare patients at the Prime Healthcare hospital chain. Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, who is chair of the Senate Health Committee, says... + read more
The chairman of the Senate health committee announced a bill yesterday that would close a "loophole" that allows hospitals and nursing homes to change hands without applying for a new license. When evaluating whether a health facility owner should be awarded a license, state... + read more
Diagnosing patients with certain types of malnutrition and a rare form called kwashiorkor can help earn bonus payments for hospitals billing for Medicare. + read more
Patients covered by Medicare do not tend to see the diagnostic codes that form the basis for government payment to hospitals. Here's how it works. + read more
