In the Headlines

Editor’s note: The following news has been compiled by Major Accounts Exchange (The MAX), health care’s leading provider of real-world intelligence for the supply chain. The MAX serves as a Supply Chain “Community” where senior-level executives can easily Find, Digest, and Act on vital business and market intelligence. For the latest news impacting the supply chains of over 1,200 IDNs and all the GPOs, visit http://www.uslifeline.com.


Pennsylvania: PinnacleHealth partners with Giant Food Stores to open two retail clinics
PinnacleHealth System (Harrisburg, PA) formed an agreement with Giant Food Stores (Carlisle, PA) to open two FastCare Clinics in Camp Hill and Enola. The retail healthcare offices will be located within the Giant stores and provide walk-in care every day with evening hours. Other services will include health screenings, immunizations, and physicals. Both clinics will open by the end of 2014.

Washington D.C.: Deputy chief procurement officer among those fired by VA
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (Washington, DC) fired Susan Taylor, deputy chief procurement officer with the Veterans Health Administration, which oversees $15 billion a year in federal contracts. A report by the VA’s Office of Inspector General found that Taylor helped steer contracts to a private company that championed so-called reverse auctions, in which sellers compete with each other to offer the lowest bids. Also fired were Terry Gerigk Wolf, director of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (Pittsburgh, PA), who was let go for unspecified “conduct unbecoming a senior executive,” and James Talton, director of the Central Alabama VA Healthcare System West Campus (Montgomery, AL) after an investigation by the VA’s Office of Accountability Review substantiated allegations of neglect of duty. VA Pittsburgh is a part of VISN 04 Stars and Stripes Healthcare (Pittsburgh, PA) and Central Alabama VA is a part of VISN 07 Southeast Network (Duluth, GA).

Arkansas: Wal-Mart to offer one-stop health insurance shopping
Wal-Mart (Little Rock, AR) plans to work with DirectHealth.com (Fort Lee, NJ), an online health insurance comparison site and agency, to allow shoppers to compare coverage options and enroll in Medicare plans or the public exchange plans created under the Affordable Care Act. Starting October 10, 2014, customers can enroll online, by phone, or at 2,700 of Wal-Mart’s more than 4,000 stores. Wal-Mart won’t receive commissions on health coverage sales and hopes to benefit partly by luring customers into stores. DirectHealth is absorbing most of the costs to operate the program. For customers over age 65, DirectHealth will offer access to more than 1,700 plans from 12 carriers during the Medicare open enrollment period from October 15 through December 7, 2014. For customers under age 65, the website will offer access to thousands of health exchange plans from more than 300 carriers during an open enrollment period from November 15, 2014 to February 15, 2015.

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