The push to prevent impending Medicare physician pay cuts is being advanced by a new bill that would block such reductions for 18 months.
The legislation, called the Save Medicare Act of 2008, would continue a 0.5% physician pay update for the last six months of 2008 and would institute a 1.8% update for 2009. Physicians are slated to receive a 10.6% cut starting July 1 and an additional cut of about 5% in 2009.
Medicare pay bill: Raises to replace cuts through 2009 [Via American Medical News]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on Medicare/Medicaid ...
The case of entertainer Britney Spears and her peeked-at digital chart illustrates the value of an EHR audit trail.
Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times reported that UCLA Medical Center was set to fire at least 13 employees and suspend six more for perusing the electronic record of the pop star during a recent psychiatric hospitalization. Six physicians also got in trouble for taking an unauthorized look. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on EHR ...
Certifying EHRs is supposed to help doctors pick the best products. But small medical practices generally don’t put much stock in this stamp of approval, according to KLAS, a firm that researches healthcare information technology.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services contracts with the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology—a private industry group—to certify EHRs that meet criteria deemed fundamental for digital medicine. So far, CCHIT has blessed more than 90 programs. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on EHR ...
Your choice of EHRs is slowly narrowing down as the number of vendors shrinks. That makes shopping easier.
The merger of Allscripts and Misys Healthcare, announced March 18, is one more sign of EHR industry consolidation as vendors acquire each other or fall by the wayside. Right now, there are almost 390 companies in this market, according to Mark Anderson, president of the AC Group, a healthcare IT firm in Montgomery, TX. “I see less than 50 in 2012,” says Anderson. “If you’re not a strong vendor, you won’t survive” continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on EHR ...
The announcement last month that New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo was getting ready to sue UnitedHealth Group and its subsidiaries over “fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal business practices” drew a flurry of media and other attention.
At issue was the system the insurer has been using to set reimbursement rates for out-of-network services. The AG’s office alleges that the system incorporates intentionally flawed data, thereby yielding “unduly low reimbursements to members.” UnitedHealth Group, which has promised to cooperate fully with the AG, has defended its rate-setting methodology, adding that it’s “committed to fair and appropriate payment for physicians, the state’s other healthcare providers, and consumers.” continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on organized medicine ...
The simple transition of a patient from one caretaker to another represents a gap that is “considered especially vulnerable to error.” As Quality and Safety in Health Care (QSHC), a publication of the British Medical Journal, noted in January, even the most common hand-off — your standard referral from primary care physician to specialist — is not risk-free. As Dr. Bob Wachter says in his blog, “in more than two-thirds of outpatient subspecialty referrals, the specialist received no information from the primary care physician to guide the consultation.”
21st Century Medicine Wrought with Miscommunication and Human Error [Via AlterNet]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on clinical practice ...
While patients want a doctor whom they like and can talk to easily, what’s most critical to them—especially if they’re very ill—is the doctor’s medical competence, according to a recent study of almost 1,200 patients. Patients were willing to pay more for a thorough physical examination and continuity of care than they were for simply a friendly physician and reduced waiting time.
What Patients Want From Primary Care Consultations: A Discrete Choice Experiment to Identify Patients’ Priorities [Via Annals of Family Medicine]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on patient relations ...
The recent closing of a maternity ward in northern New Hampshire leaves residents with just one hospital for prenatal and maternity care in an 1,830-square-mile county. Women living in the northernmost town, will be forced to drive more than 60 miles for such crucial medical care, Sen. Judd Gregg (R) writes in The Eagle-Tribune. That’s unacceptable, he says.
This closing is a snapshot, reflecting the significant shortage of doctors who provide prenatal care and deliver babies in America today, Gregg writes. This shortage is due in large part to the nationwide medical liability crisis that has made it difficult for many doctors to continue to practice, brought on by the predatory practices of trial lawyers and their supporters in Congress.
Doctors’ insurance costs put mothers, babies at risk [Via The Eagle-Tribune]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on malpractice ...
In the nearly four decades since North Carolina last expanded its system of public medical education, Charlotte has become the largest city in the nation without a campus that trains doctors. That could change as soon as 2009, providing the NC General Assembly goes along with bold plans to expand enrollment at the state’s two public medical campuses. That would be an important step for the Charlotte region and a sensible way to meet the state’s increasing need for physicians, according to an editorial posted on the web site of The Charlotte Observer.
N.C. needs doctors [Via The Charlotte Observer]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on physician shortage ...
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the biggest insurer in the state, was all set to publish data on the performance of the state’s doctors. But the insurer gave the doctors a chance to review the data first — and the docs caught enough mistakes to make the company hold off, the Nashville Tennessean reports. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on P4P ...
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