Briefs

A yearlong investigation of HCA-operated trauma centers in Florida found that the company charges the highest rates, on average, for trauma facilities in the state, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The newspaper’s investigation comes as more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed in Florida to prevent HCA from operating trauma centers at three facilities: Blake Medical Center in Bradenton; Regional Medical Center-Bayonet Point in Hudson; and Ocala (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, according to news reports. Both houses of Florida’s Legislature are advancing their own versions of a bill that would codify how many trauma centers should be allowed across the state.

Castlight Health went public with a bang Friday, with its shares opening at $16 a share only to soar to a closing price of $39.80, up 149% for the day. The quick runup demonstrates investors’ expectations for vast profit potential in the type of price transparency software that Castlight is offering, market analysts said. Castlight’s market valuation of roughly $3 billion after its first day of trading “reflects a lot of optimistic assumptions about the company,” said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida who analyzes initial public offering valuations. The San Franciscobased company, which counts WalMart Stores and Microsoft Corp. as customers, lost $62 million in 2013.

Federal officials intend to relax the healthcare reform law’s medical loss-ratio rules requiring carriers to spend at least 80% of premiums on medical costs because insurance companies were compelled to spend heavily to help HHS recover from the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov. “We intend to propose standardized methodologies to take into account the special circumstances of issuers associated with the initial open enrollment and other changes to the market in 2014, including incurred costs due to technical problems during the launch of the state and federal exchanges,” HHS said in a notice in the Federal Register.