Category: Consumer Protection
-
Scandal in Plain Sight – Virginia’s Failed Regulation of Law-Avoiding Nursing Home Owners
by James C. Sherlock One of the most important and heart-wrenching decisions families make for their elderly loved ones is whether they are able to keep them in their homes as they get older and sicker. Sometimes that is not feasible for a long list of reasons in each case. More than 30,000 Virginians live…
-
Note to Hybrid and EV Owners and Those in Collisions with Them – Don’t Try to Extinguish a Battery Fire
by James C. Sherlock CNBC reported today as breaking news a concern about hybrid and electric vehicle fires that professional firefighters have known about for some time. Vehicles with lithium-ion batteries can be especially dangerous when they catch fire. CNBC offers a video showing smoke billowing from three electric pickups parked tightly together. Moments later,…
-
The More Things Remain the Same
by Joe Fitzgerald Stop me if you’ve heard this one. The Hopewell chemical plant where Kepone was born and raised has been cited 66 times over the past eight years for releasing toxic chemicals into the air and into the James River. The Richmond Times-Dispatch tells the story better than I do. What makes this…
-
Virginia Hospital Profits Soared Far Above National Averages – Again – in 2021
by James C. Sherlock The predictions for hospital finances in 2021 forecast Armageddon. Then the actual financial data from 5,600 U.S. hospitals in 2021 were assessed. Based on those data the median operating margin for U.S. hospitals in 2021 was actually a loss of 1.5%. Meanwhile, the average operating margin for hospitals was a loss of…
-
Continuing Turmoil at Danville and Martinsville Hospitals Raises Questions of Oversight – Again
by James C. Sherlock Beckers Hospital Review reports that Sovah Health hospitals in Danville and Martinsville have eliminated the Chief Operating Officer (COO) positions at both hospitals. Sovah announced that the responsibilities of those two positions will now be absorbed by “other members of the existing team.” Whatever that may mean. Management turmoil at Sovah…
-
Virginia’s Community Banks, Under Stress, are Crucial to the Economy, Small Business and Small Communities
by James C. Sherlock In general, I do not write enough about Virginia small businesses. Small business is both the heart and soul of the Virginia economy. I have no personal financial interest in Virginia’s community banks, but all of us need them to be healthy. Because community banks disproportionately fund small business. The Federal…
-
Virginia Hospitals Under Pressure on Finances and Personnel
By James C. Sherlock I have written for years about Virginia hospitals and their state oversight, including Virginia’s monopolistic Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law and its administration by the Department of Health. Virginia hospitals, and indeed those across the nation, are now under more stress than in generations. Hospitals nationally are under financial pressures…
-
East Coast Ocean Wind Projects Faltering
by Steve Haner In recent days several proposed offshore wind projects, which unlike Virginia’s are not guaranteed by captive ratepayers, are showing cracks in their pylons. Multinational developer Avangrid recently told Massachusetts regulators that its proposed 1.2 gigawatt Commonwealth Wind project is no longer economically viable. It seems to be seeking to renegotiate the power…
-
Hospital Quality Matters – A Lot
by James C. Sherlock A recent note from a reader brought up the issue of emergency room quality. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that Virginians made 423 ER visits per 1,000 population in 2017 (the most recent data available). That number doesn’t have to be current to be attention-grabbing. VDH’s vhi.org does not report on quality…
-
Legislators MIA on Wind Performance Standard
by Steve Haner In the ongoing debate over Dominion Energy Virginia’s proposed $10 billion offshore wind project, focus should remain on the people truly responsible for undercutting State Corporation Commission authority to protect consumers: the legislators who passed provisions in the code the utility interprets as a rubber stamp for its proposals.
-
Coalition Exploring Lawsuit to Challenge CVOW
The following news release has been issued by the Thomas Jefferson Institute along with other coalition partners. A coalition of public interest groups – The Heartland Institute, the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and the American Coalition for Ocean Protection (ACOP) – announced in late September that it has hired counsel to explore a…
-
New Fed Policy Would Hide CMS Data on Patient Safety Records of Hospitals
by James C. Sherlock One of the most disturbing commentaries I have read in a long time relating to federal efforts to improve hospital patient safety reports a major step backwards in that program. I have written here many times of the power of the hospitals over Virginia’s politics. A proposed new federal rule shows…
-
Personnel Shortages that Plague Virginia’s Health Facilities Inspection Staff in the Hands of Budget Negotiators
by James C. Sherlock One of the most important responsibilities of Virginia state government is to inspect medical facilities and home care providers to ensure we are safe when we enter their care. It continues to fail in that responsibility thanks to years of Virginia budgets that have consciously ignored the need for increased inspector…
-
Miyares Wins Partial Transparency Victory
by Steve Haner Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) was partially successful in his efforts to challenge much of the secrecy shielding key data in Dominion Energy Virginia’s application to build its planned offshore wind facility, with some useful precedents set for the future. Just before the hearings on the application began last week, a State…
-
Fix the Virginia Department of Health
by James C. Sherlock Governor Youngkin and his new administration have an opportunity to fix crucial problems in the Department of Health that have been festering for decades. The issues: How can Virginia regulate effectively its state-created healthcare monopolies? In a directly related matter, how can we fix the failures, famously demonstrated during COVID, of…