News in brief - May 2, 2011

Hospital layoffs down slightly in first quarter

The first quarter of 2011 saw fewer mass layoffs at hospitals than the first quarter of 2010. Mass layoffs are defined as at least 50 people losing their jobs from one company.

Ten mass layoffs occurred at hospitals in March, bringing the total for the first three months of 2011 to 33, according to data released April 22 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov/news.release/mmls.nr0.htm). At least 2,118 jobs were lost during the quarter.

Twelve mass layoffs occurred at hospitals in March 2010, with 798 jobs lost. Thirty-six mass layoffs occurred in the first three months of 2010, with 2,516 people claiming unemployment benefits.

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California regulators ask health plans to justify rate hikes

The California Dept. of Managed Health Care, which regulates the state's HMOs, has asked Anthem Blue Cross of California and Blue Shield of California to explain why they have raised premiums dramatically for thousands of customers in recent months.

The state's Dept. of Insurance already has required both companies to justify the recent increases, but neither agency has the authority to block rate hikes unless a plan violates the state's minimum medical spending ratio.

Blue Shield of California has raised rates on about 70,000 individual subscribers twice since October 2010, first by 18.8% on Oct. 1, 2010, then an additional 15.8% on Jan. 1, 2011. In an April 19 letter, the DMHC asked for justification of the large cumulative increase.

An April 8 letter from the DMHC to Anthem Blue Cross asked the company why it plans to raise rates higher in May for its 121,408 HMO customers than it did for its 69,327 PPO customers.

The insurers have said they stand by their rates and that they are losing money in the individual market despite the increases.

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EMR data can speed genetic research

Data recorded in electronic medical records during routine office visits can be used to speed genetic research on various diseases, according to a study in the April 20 issue of Science Translational Medicine (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21508311).

Researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago examined data from five EMR systems. They used data fields such as diagnosis, laboratory tests and medications to see if they could identify certain disease phenotypes, which they did with an accuracy rate between 73% and 98%.

The five conditions identified were cardiac conduction, cataracts, dementia, peripheral arterial disease and type 2 diabetes. The study authors say an increase in interoperable EMR adoption would improve the availability of data for genomic research.

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