Federal health officials came to New Jersey recently to push a plan that would encourage doctors to adopt electronic medical records as a way of improving patient care, The Star-Ledger reports. Under the government’s five-year demonstration program, as many as 1,200 primary care practices nationwide would receive financial incentives to embrace the technology, Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Tevi Troy said during a stop at Rutgers University’s Newark campus.
Doctors urged to adopt electronic record-keeping [Via The Star-Ledger]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on EHR ...
Physicians seeking careers in primary care had as many job offers as specialists for the first time in years, according to the latest survey of physicians finishing training in New York and moving into the work force. Primary care doctors received an average of 3.7 job offers, compared to 2.7 in 2002, the Albany (NY) Times Union reports, based on a study conducted by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany. Job offers for specialists declined slightly to 3.6, compared to 4.3 in 2002.
Primary care doctors find better job market [Via Times Union (Albany, NY)]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on primary care ...
Private physicians with dropping income have a few options. First, they can take fewer vacations and work longer hours. Second, they can supplement their income by joining the military reserves or the National Guard (this option is less popular lately). Third, they can restrict their practice to patients with higher-paying types of insurance. Fourth, they can market expensive, high-tech services and cosmetic services to this small population of well-insured and high-income individuals. These last two strategies will work in areas with sufficient numbers of higher income individuals, but fails in communities with high numbers of poorly insured individuals. Finally, as physician income shrinks, they look at what they can earn as salaried employees in a large physician group like Kaiser Permanente or Sutter Health Care, or a state institution like the Veterans Home or the state prison system.
Dysfunction within the medical system [Via Napa Valley Register]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on primary care ...
Benjamin Brewer, a family physician and online columnist, is up to his ears in patients, yet nearly every day he finds himself idled by patient no-shows.Brewer writes in his latest column that a recent study found doctors increase the efficiency of their practice by double-booking appointments, in the same way that airlines oversell seats. Just as a commercial jet flies even when some passengers don’t check in, the “overhead meter for the office keeps running whether patients show up or not.”
Of course, double-booking would mean he’d usually be running late, because most patients do show up for their appointments. Other options have their downsides as well — billing patients for missed appointments isn’t allowed for Medicare and Medicaid patients, and calling to remind patients they’re supposed to come in ties up Brewer’s receptionist.
No-Show Patients Exact a Daily Toll [Via The Doctor’s Office - The Wall Street Journal]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on scheduling ...
Physicians deserve higher Medicare fees, but they may have to keep enduring annual statutory pay cuts restored at the last second by congressional action, says Neera Tanden, the chief policy director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. That pattern won’t end, Tanden adds, until universal coverage is achieved. “Hillary has supported the annual increases in pay when they come before Congress and is a strong advocate of better reimbursement for providers. She hasn’t proposed any specific steps to deal with the sustainable growth rate, but believes that universal health coverage will relieve some of the pressure on Medicare and physicians.”
Clinton’s health plan, which she estimates would cost $110 billion a year, would require all Americans to have health insurance. She would pay for the plan by eliminating waste and inefficiencies and rolling back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy.
Clinton Believes Physicians Deserve Higher Medicare Fees [Via MedPage Today]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on Medicare/Medicaid ...
If a bill recently introduced in Delaware passes, state residents who suffer cardiac or brain death will become potential organ donors, whether that’s what they intended or not.
Earlier this year, Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, a Democrat from Rehoboth Beach, co-sponsored legislation in which residents would automatically be enrolled as an organ and tissue donor when applying for or renewing their driver’s license—unless they check a box indicating that they do not wish to participate.
This opt-out model for organ donations, known as Presumed Consent, bucks the spirit of our current voluntary opt-in (Informed Consent) system. Presumed Consent changes the nature of the consumer’s decision. It’s more guilt-inducing—and harder—for consumers to actively choose not to help others in need than to passively let the opportunity to help slip by. Legislating an opt-out approach also implies that donating organs is the sanctioned social norm. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on informed consent ...
Locum tenens may extend the medical careers of physicians and help them avoid burn-out, according to a survey commissioned in January 2008 by VISTA Staffing Solutions. Physicians surveyed indicated that locum tenens would be most attractive to physicians considering semi-retirement, those making a professional transition from one position to another, and residents completing training who want to try out diverse geographic settings and practice types before settling down.
Locum tenens practice option may extend careers in medicine, help physicians avoid burn-out [Via VISTA Staffing Solutions]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on locum tenens ...
It’s one thing to get physicians in private practice to adopt electronic solutions for handling their healthcare information. It’s quite another to make it possible for these individual providers to exchange data with one another, as well as with hospitals, labs, and pharmacies. But an initiative announced last week by Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell aims to do just that. The Pennsylvania Health Information Exchange, as it’s known, promises to give health care providers improved access to clinical data. It also promises to lead to safer and more efficient patient-centered care. Learn more about the initiative, which is part of the Governor’s Prescription for Pennsylvania health care reform plan.
Pennsylvania Creates Health Information Exchange [Via Government Technology]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on technology ...
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 ...
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