By Christine Jordan Sexton, August 29, 2011 http://www.thefloridacurrent.com/ A merger negotiated behind closed doors between a private hospital and public facility spawned a controversy in the Florida Legislature last year and helped lead to the creation of a gubernatorial committee on taxpayer-funded hospital districts. Now the failed merger has...

Effective June 25, 2011, the U.S. Social Security Administration is changing the way Social Security Numbers (SSNs) are issued. This change is referred to as "randomization." The SSA is developing this new method to help protect the integrity of the SSN. SSN Randomization will also extend the longevity of the nine-digit SSN nationwide.The SSA began...

Layoffs hit some county health units harder than others By Carol Gentry8/24/11 © Health News FloridaDepartment of Health lists of employee layoffs by county show a big difference in the effect on local health units of the Legislature's funding cuts.Some counties are laying off...

Mom and Son Sentenced in Medicare Fraud Pair will have to pay back $1.5 million taken in scheme By Brian Hamacher Tuesday, Aug 23, 2011 | Updated 12:25 PM EDT A Miami mother and son Medicare fraud duo were sentenced Monday in a scheme that bilked the program out of over $1.5...

Posted on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 Jury convicts Miami woman of Medicare fraud involving mental-health clinicsBY JAY WEAVER jweaver@MiamiHerald.com A business woman accused of conspiring with the owners of a Miami-based company in the nation’s biggest mental-health billing racket...

State Rep. Mike Callton, who is also a chiropractor, is pleased that the state has eased regulations that will allow him more latitude in treating patients. The next step, he says, is to get more reimbursement from insurers and government health plans. / Photos by JESSICA J. TREVINO/Detroit...

Florida fines Humana $3.3 million for slow reports of suspected Medicaid fraud By Bob LaMendola, Sun Sentinel Friday, August 19, 2011 The state has fined health insurance giant Humana Inc. $3.3 million for failing to promptly report Medicaid fraud or abuse to state investigators, as the law requires.The company did not disclose what it knew about suspected...

Infographic: Aging in Florida From The Florida Current www.thefloridacurrent.com According to figures released by the U.S. Census, Florida’s population will steadily get older over the next 20 years. By 2030, projected figures show that 27% of Florida’s population could be over...

  Senior Boom Creates A Demand For Home Health Workers Reprinted from Kaiser Health News:  www.kaiserhealthnews.org var addthis_pub = "kaiserfamily"; var addthis_hover_delay = 200; var addthis_options = 'buzz, delicious, digg, facebook, google, myspace, reddit'; By...

To view this article online, go to http://www.nytimes.com/ at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/realestate/elderly-friendly-manhattan.html Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times Above:  Harold and Phyllis VanderMalle, both in their 80s, plan to stay put in Penn South,...

The August 16, 2011 meeting materials for the Florida Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts have been posted.  To access each document, click on the hyperlinks below: Agenda [269kb pdf] Meeting Materials: Tab A July 20th Draft Minutes [160kb pdf] Tab B Dept. of Community Affairs Presentation Tab C Marion County...