Good Samaritan paying premium for stability.JUST a few years ago registered nurses at Good Samaritan Hospital Good Samaritan Hospital may refer to: In the United States:
Nurses at the downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or medical center approved a three-year contract this month that will pay nurse practitioners who are able to prescribe medication as much as $46.35 per hour--that's nearly $97,000 annually--while experienced registered nurses will make nearly $81,000, according to the union. The hospital should actually save money on the pact since it has spent $27 million on temporary nurses over the past three years to fill its ranks, said Diane Hirsch-Garcia, a lead union labor negotiator. "They had tremendous difficulty in retention. It was the worse turnover rate I had seen anywhere," she said. "They were wasting money on contracted folks who don't care about the hospital." Hospital negotiator Marta M. Fernandez, an attorney with Jeffer Mangles Mangles is the name of several people and things: People Mangles is the name of a wealthy English family whose members had amongst other things, interests in the Swan River Colony. Prominent members and interests include:
The contract also increases the hospital's contribution to the nurses' retirement package, bumps up paid education leave and provides for binding arbitration of unresolved staffing disputes. Disappointing Earnings SCPIE SCPIE Southern California Physicians Insurance Exchange Holdings Inc., the struggling medical malpractice Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional. insurer, has been downgraded again following worse-than-expected third-quarter results. The Los Angeles-based company reported a loss of $14.8 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $11.4 million for the like period a year ago, despite efforts to cut back on money-losing, non-core business outside California and Delaware. The cutback cut·back n. 1. A decrease; a curtailment: "The political effects of food cutbacks could be devastating" New York Times. 2. was reflected in quarterly revenues that fell to $35.6 million from $75.5 million. The loss prompted A.M. Best Co. to lower the insurer's overall financial strength rating to B (Fair) from B+ (Very Good) with a negative outlook. The company has been downgraded previously and just last year was A-rated. The financial strength ratings provide an opinion on the ability to meet its obligations to policyholders. Company officials declined to discuss the agency's move but during a conference call this month Chief Executive Donald J. Zuk acknowledged SCPIE had results that were "clearly a disappointment." Zuk blamed the numbers largely on an unexpected $8.5 million loss experienced by the company's reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. business, which it is in the process of exiting. It has also stopped writing malpractice policies outside of California and Delaware. Still, SCPIE saw losses at its core malpractice business in Southern California increase to $3.2 million from $900,000 a year ago. Zuk maintained that the company was on target for turning itself around, noting it had received approval from the California Department of Insurance The California Department of Insurance (CDI), established in 1868, is the angency charged with overseeing the regulation of insurance regulations, enforcing statutes mandating consumer protections, educating consumers, and fostering the stability of insurance markets in the state to raise its rates 9.8 percent as of Oct. 1. It also is seeking another 8.9 percent rate hike in California for next year. In issuing its downgrade, A.M. Best noted that the company's losses had cut into surplus capital. However, the agency also cited management's encouraging projections for the fourth quarter. "If these operating results are achieved, the company will improve its overall capitalization, but at a level that is still vulnerable," said A.M. Best analyst Angela Quinn. Pregnant Pause Efforts by midwives to deliver babies at home without a physician present have been derailed by the California Medical Association and other opponents. Licensed in California to assist women in childbirth, midwives are unable to perform home births by themselves because of the inability of physicians who oversee them to get malpractice insurance for such births. The Medical Board of California entertained a proposal this month to get around that difficulty by lifting the requirement for direct physician oversight of midwives, but was fought by the CMA CMA - Concert Multithread Architecture from DEC. , which generally opposes expanding the scope of practice of allied health professionals. The issue is now under further review by the board's staff. Staff reporter Laurence Darmiento can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 237 or at ldarmiento@labusinessjournal.com. |
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