LOOKING IN ON: HEALTH CARE
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006 | 7:14 a.m.
Everybody loves an underdog, but there may not be one in the contract standoff between Sierra Health Services and HCA Inc., a national chain of hospitals.
If the contract impasse between the two companies continues, Sierra patients will no longer be reimbursed after Dec. 31 for nonemergency visits to local HCA facilities: MountainView Hospital, Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center, Sunrise Children's Hospital and Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
Both companies say the stakes are high, but consumers might have the most to lose in the dispute. About 200 Sierra patients a day receive care - some of it specialized - at Sunrise facilities. These patients would have to go to other hospitals, which could become overcrowded.
Consumers have no voice in the negotiations, nor can they be certain about what's going on in a dispute in which there has been little transparency but plenty of public posturing by both companies.
Sierra insures about 600,000 Southern Nevadans, making it the local health care giant. But Sierra Vice President Peter O'Neill says his company is the little guy in a David vs. Goliath battle against HCA.
He may be right, according to financial information about each company. Sierra boasted $1.56 billion in revenue for the 12 months through June 30, a figure dwarfed by HCA's $25 billion in revenue for the same period.
Despite his firm's lopsided economic advantage, Brian Robinson, president of the Las Vegas market for HCA, sees his company as disadvantaged. He called Sierra the "800-pound gorilla" in the Las Vegas market.
Sierra reimburses HCA hospitals according to a 17-year-old contract that needs to be radically restructured, Robinson said.
The current rates pay the hospitals at a per-day rate, which does not take costly procedures into account, he said. In 1988, patients may have taken a week to recover, so the per-day rate was more reasonable. Now, robotic technology allows patients to recover rapidly, which means they're discharged quickly even though the cost to the hospital might be higher, Robinson said.
Sierra Chief Executive Tony Marlon said he thought a deal was coming together several weeks ago, but it fell through. He contends HCA is asking for unreasonable rate increases that would force massive premium increases for all Sierra customers. But HCA officials claim that Sierra left the bargaining table so early that no specific numbers were even discussed.
Leaders from both health care companies say they want to end the standoff. Marlon said he'll reach out again to HCA officials in the next week. But neither company is willing to bring a third party into negotiations.
Ross Brough has trapped rats, flooded them from trees with a garden hose, poisoned them, bludgeoned them with a putter and electrocuted them.
The body count is mounting - over the past two years, he has killed at least 50 - but the rats are winning.
"They're pretty durable little animals," Brough said.
Brough lives in Rhodes Ranch, near the intersection of Warm Springs Road and Durango Drive. His back yard is a tropical paradise - lush foliage, palm trees and rock waterfalls trickling into a lagoon swimming pool. It's the perfect habitat for man - or beast.
After working all day at his plastics distribution company, Brough returns home and watches the rats streak across the walls and leap between trees.
Roof rats are a nuisance - and possible health hazard - throughout Las Vegas. County health officials are monitoring the rodents to ensure that the urban roof rats don't pick up the plague from their rural cousin, the desert wood rat. If residents throughout neighborhoods don't team up on the rats, they'll continue to multiply, health officials said.
The rats have become an obsession for Brough and his dogs, Radar and Harley. Sometimes the canines corner the critters until Brough can club them. The poison worked so well the rats "ate it like it was candy," Brough said.
But after Radar almost died when he, too, consumed some poison, Brough decided to stick with rat traps.
For more information about handling roof rats, go to the Southern Nevada Health District Web site cchd.org. To report roof rats, call the district at 759-1000.
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Ensign moves out of home on C Street
- Cada and Moon emerge as Main Event’s final two
- Fight snapshot: Reviewing “24/7 Pacquiao/Cotto,” episode 3
- Life in the Limelight: Wayne Newton
- Cities, county find buying valley homes isn’t easy
- Motorcyclist dies in Summerlin crash
- UNLV wins hoops scrimmage at Long Beach State
- Six people share their stories of what led them to jobs at CityCenter
- Fedor Emelianenko TKOs Brett Rogers in second round
- Two injured in shooting in central valley
Blogs
Elsewhere
Findlay Prep's Bradley fitting in at Texas
Now and Then
I went to a hockey game and a New Mexico women's soccer match broke out
Politics: The Early Line
Attention in D.C. focuses on health care proposals
Elsewhere
Fedor v. Rogers delivers solid ratings on CBS (4 Comments)
Bloggity, Bloggity, Bloggity
If you can rebuild the whole car, then why not allow an engine change? (1 Comment)
Sports: Upon Further Review
Fight snapshot: Pacquiao is a hit with Jimmy Kimmel, and vice versa (2 Comments)
The Greene Room
MWC Winners and Losers: Week 10 (1 Comment)
Calendar »
- 9 Mon
- 10 Tue
- 11 Wed
- 12 Thu
- 13 Fri
-
Jo Dee Messina at the House of Blues
House of Blues | 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
-
The Revival Tour at Beauty Bar
Beauty Bar | 9 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
DJ Tina T at Prive
Prive | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
The Automatic Tour at The Square Apple
The Square Apple
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati









Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Full comments policy.