Finances, rankings confront Maine hospitals

While lawmakers battle over ways to reimburse Maine hospitals for $484 million owed for Medicaid care, there has been more tangible news for Maine's 39 hospitals. Here's a sampling:

A national hospital watchdog group has ranked Maine first in the nation for hospital safety, giving an 'A' safety score to 16 of the 20 Maine hospitals surveyed. The Morning Sentinel reported that the Leapfrog Group, a Maryland-based coalition of public and private purchasers of health coverage, gave Maine Medical Center in Portland, Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and MaineGeneral Medical Center's Augusta campus each a 'B' ranking. York Hospital of Maine received a 'C.' The rest of the state's hospitals received an 'A' grade. Leapfrog's report noted that of the 2,500 hospitals nationwide that received safety grades, only 31% got A's.

Prices for the 100 most common hospital procedures vary widely across different Maine hospitals, according to recent data released by the federal government. The Bangor Daily News reported data from the U.S. Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services revealing what 3,300 U.S. hospitals are charging Medicare for those procedures and how much Medicare, in turn, paid out. The release is part of an effort to provide greater transparency to hospital pricing as a way to reduce costs. But critics say the data doesn't provide the whole picture because it doesn't evaluate hospital quality and that more information is required for patients to effectively negotiate lower prices.

In a move that is expected to save The Aroostook Medical Center up to $500,000 a year, the Presque Isle hospital became the first facility in the state and only second in the nation to convert to compressed natural gas for heating and cooling. According to the Bangor Daily News, total startup costs for the compressed natural gas conversion project are approximately $300,000, allowing for a return on investment to occur in less than one year. TAMC officials told the newspaper they also intend to expand the use of compressed natural gas to include powering the hospital's clothes dryers and cooking ovens.