Everyone has heard about the looming shortages in primary care, especially in family medicine. At the root of the problem are the lower reimbursements PCPs receive, as compared to their specialist and surgical colleagues. Now, in order to make primary care more attractive, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Montana) has proposed boosting Medicare rates for PCPs. But some physicians see this as a robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul approach. To read why, see this provocative entry from American Medical News.

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From Medical Economics magazine, more on physician shortage ...

Aetna, WellPoint, and other big insurers are moving to ban payments for care resulting from serious errors, including operating on the wrong limb or giving a patient incompatible blood. The companies are following the lead of Medicare, which announced last summer that starting this October, it will no longer pay the extra cost of treating bed sores, falls, and six other preventable injuries and infections that occur while a patient is in a hospital. continues…

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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health plans ...