California company finalizes agreement to buy two KC-area hospitals

The operator of two local Catholic hospitals has finalized their sale to a for-profit company based in Ontario, Calif. Ascension, the nation’s largest Catholic health system, said in a statement Tuesday that it had reached a definitive agreement to sell St. Joseph Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., and St. Mary’s Medical Center in Blue…

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The University of Kansas Hospital: Patient admitted Monday does not have Ebola

Dr. Lee Norman during a press conference.

UPDATE 10/14/14 4:10 pm:  A man who was admitted Monday to The University of Kansas Hospital suffering from diarrhea and who worked recently near Africa’s west coast does not have Ebola, the hospital said Tuesday afternoon. Results of blood tests showed the patient has not contracted the virus, which has killed more than 4,000 people in the…

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Doctor running for lieutenant governor swears by ‘direct primary care’ model

Kevin Brown Josh Umbehr has operated a direct medical care practice in Wichita since 2010. Rather than bill insurance companies for his services, he charges a monthly membership fee of $10 for kids and $50 for adults for unlimited visits, texts, phone calls, discounted prescription medications and in-office services.

Wichita physician Josh Umbehr has never understood the traditional model of health care reimbursement — the one in which doctors and hospitals fill out pages of forms to bill a patient’s insurance company for everything from a $3 test to a $30,000 surgery. “You don’t have car insurance for gasoline,” Umbehr said in a recent phone interview. “Why would…

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Ex-employees of KC-area hospitals sold to Prime Healthcare sue over severance pay

Exterior image of Providence Medical Center facilities

Just days after Prime Healthcare Services agreed to buy two Kansas City-area hospitals, laid-off employees of two other area hospitals owned by Prime sued the company, claiming they were not provided with promised severance benefits. The suit seeks class-action status on behalf of other terminated employees. It says 49 workers were let go immediately after…

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