Daily news & Analysis

• Prospects Dim for Public Plan
• Don't Expect Obama to Lead Malpractice Reform
• Public Plan Could Slow Healthcare Cost Increases
• Health Reform Calls for Preventive Care, But Questions Persist About Savings
• RAC Complex Reviews to Arrive as Soon as August
• Hospitals Should Review Their HIPAA Sanctions Policy
• Medical Education May Soon Change
• Physician Advisors and RACs: Saving Grace, Defending Dollars
• Egyptian Mummies Visit Hospital for CT Scan
• Handicapping Healthcare Reform Is a Fool's Errand

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Prospects Dim for Public Plan

By: Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, June 26, 2009

The public option may be in danger of winding up in the healthcare reform scrapheap—next to Hillarycare.

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Don't Expect Obama to Lead Malpractice Reform

By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, June 26, 2009

Malpractice reform probably won't come out of Washington as part of healthcare reform this year. President Barack Obama would rather focus on patient safety and evidence-based medicine to reduce instances of malpractice.

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Public Plan Could Slow Healthcare Cost Increases

By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, June 29, 2009

While a public insurance plan option simultaneously has been one of the most hotly contested healthcare reform proposals, a recent report noted that a public plan as part of a comprehensive healthcare reform approach could slow healthcare cost increases more quickly over a 10-year period.

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Health Reform Calls for Preventive Care, But Questions Persist About Savings

By: Les Masterson, for HealthLeaders Media, June 29, 2009

Supporters say prevention will save the nation billions in averted long-term healthcare costs, and recent studies show that Americans support investing in prevention. But questions persist—most notably from the Congressional Budget Office.

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RAC Complex Reviews to Arrive as Soon as August

By: Andrea Kraynak, for HealthLeaders Media, June 26, 2009

CMS released further information Wednesday letting healthcare providers know when they can expect RACs to begin auditing.

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Hospitals Should Review Their HIPAA Sanctions Policy

By: Dom Nicastro, for HealthLeaders Media, June 29, 2009

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinic Health Act changed the ballgame for sanctions related to HIPAA violations. The Act provides a tiered system for assessing the level and penalty of each violation.

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Medical Education May Soon Change

By: Julie McCoy, June 26, 2009

Graduate medical educators in all specialties got a glimpse of the future of residency and fellowship education when two organizations released a draft of the milestone framework for internal medicine on behalf of the internal medicine milestones taskforce.

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Physician Advisors and RACs: Saving Grace, Defending Dollars

By: Andrea Kraynak, for HealthLeaders Media, June 26, 2009

Effective physician advisors can be a "saving grace" when it comes to surviving Recovery Audit Contractors, but an ineffective program just won't do.

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Egyptian Mummies Visit Hospital for CT Scan

By: Marianne Aiello, June 29, 2009

Four very different patients underwent a CT scan at North Shore University Hospital this week. They each hail from the Middle East, are well-to-do, and, oh, died thousands of years ago. Four ancient Egyptian mummies, dating as far back as 1188 BC, journeyed from their display at the Brooklyn Museum to the Manhasset, NY, hospital so that the museum's Egyptologists could learn more about their lives—and deaths.

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Handicapping Healthcare Reform Is a Fool's Errand

By: Philip Betbeze, for HealthLeaders Media, June 26, 2009

Hospital leaders are spending a lot of time and effort focusing on the goings-on in Washington surrounding healthcare reform. But handicapping the multitude of proposals is a fool's errand.

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