News stories tagged with "hudson-headwaters"

(11/13/08) North Country Public Radio is airing a new series of interviews called "A Fresh Start." We've asked some of the country's most compelling thinkers to make recommendations for president-elect Barack Obama. Healthcare is one of the top items on the national agenda. There are tens of millions of Americans without insurance. Many experts say skyrocketing healthcare costs are crippling the country's industries. Dr. John Rugge is head of the Hudson Headwaters Health Network, based in Glens Falls. He told Brian Mann that the government will have to play a bigger role in healthcare, reinventing the industry and picking up more of the costs.

(11/02/07) Hudson Headwaters Health Network announced this week that four major private insurers have agreed to boost reimbursement rates for basic medical care. Dr. John Rugge is CEO of Hudson Headwaters, which operates clinics throughout the southern and eastern Adirondacks, as well as the Champlain Valley. He says his organization is still struggling to end a shortage of primary care doctors. Rugge also told Brian Mann that this settlement with insurance companies won't help other hospitals and clinics in the region, but could serve as first step toward broader reform.

(10/09/07) One of the Adirondacks' biggest health care providers says two private insurance companies have agreed to pay more for basic health services in the region. Hudson Headwaters CEO John Rugge says the deal was reached on Monday. Healthcare experts have blamed the low reimbursement rates for a growing doctor shortage in the North Country. But according to Rugge, at least three other companies are still holding out for lower rates. If an agreement isn't reached this week, Hudson Headwaters clinics across the Adirondacks could stop accepting patients covered by certain brands of private insurance. Rugge told Brian Mann that the impasse could affect hundreds of people, some with serious medical conditions.

(08/31/07) Governor Eliot Spitzer says he'll hold a public hearing on health care next week at the Glens Falls Civic Center. According to the Department of Health, the gathering on Wednesday will be the first of a series of statewide hearings meant to focus attention on expanding insurance coverage and improving the health care system. Governor Spitzer and Health Commissioner Richard Daines will both attend. Health experts in the North Country say they hope to focus attention on this region's desperate doctor shortage. Some of the region's best physicians and administrators held their own summit yesterday in Lake George. They warned that the North Country's network of quality health care is beginning to unravel. Brian Mann reports.

(11/29/06) Despite the fierce opposition to some of the state health commission's recommendations, nobody contests that changes are needed to the state's health care system. Many of New York's hospitals are in bankruptcy, and a majority of the nursing homes operate at a loss. Dr. John Rugge, of the Hudson Headwaters system of community-based clinics, has been appointed to serve on a panel advising Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer's transition team. He's one of three physicians serving on Spitzer's 26-person health care advisory committee.
Martha Foley talked with him about the commission's recommendations. He welcomed the revolutionary scope of the report, but he said it'll take many years to "fix" health care in the state.