Michael K. Butler, a former chief executive of Louisiana's charity hospitals, has started work as chief medical officer of Miami-based Jackson Health System, replacing Gerard Kaiser, 77, who retired as leader of the system's doctors for more than 20 years. With more than 20 years of healthcare administration experience, Butler, 54, served as head of Louisiana state's Health Care Services Division from 2007 to 2009, overseeing seven hospitals, including Charity in New Orleans, and 7,200 employees.
Less than three months after the American Medical Association endorsed the health reform plan that became law, some within the nation's largest doctors group want a new prescription for healthcare, the Chicago Tribune reports. Several influential delegations at the AMA annual policymaking meeting said they would like the group to revise its stance to push for eliminating a 21% cut in Medicare payments, raise doctor pay from state Medicaid programs, and advocate for sweeping liability reform.
Partners HealthCare System Inc. will try to slow the rise of medical costs in the coming year by trimming hospital budgets, working with payers to find shared savings, and applying for federal pilot programs that offer innovative ways to provide and pay for healthcare, its new chief executive told the Boston Globe. The focus on lowering costs will be part of a larger campaign by the hospital and doctors network to boost quality and efficiency and make healthcare less "transactional," said Gary L. Gottlieb, MD.
One-third to one-half of all patients do not take medication as prescribed, and up to one-quarter never fill prescriptions at all, experts say. Such lapses fuel more than $100 billion dollars in health costs annually because those patients often get sicker. Now, a controversial effort to tackle the problem is gaining ground: paying people money to take medicine or to comply with prescribed treatment. The idea, which is being embraced by doctors, pharmacy companies, insurers, and researchers, is that paying modest financial incentives up front can save much larger costs of hospitalization, the New York Times reports.
California health regulators have fined Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center $95,000 for allowing unauthorized employees to view a patient's medical records, a breach that sources indicated targeted the files of Michael Jackson. The fine, one of six privacy-related penalties state officials announced, stems from multiple violations that led to the firing of two hospital employees. Two hospital contract workers were also fired for accessing the same patient's information, UCLA officials said.
Sioux Falls, SD-based Sanford Health will build children's clinics in Oregon and Ireland and switch to a shorter corporate name, officials announced. The growth will give Sanford a total of five children's clinics outside of its home region as the network tries to establish itself as a national and international force in healthcare. The Irish clinic will be in Dublin, said CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft. He would not give the city for the Oregon clinic or discuss a building schedule. He also confirmed that the health system would go by the name Sanford alone and drop MeritCare from its title. The network had been Sanford-MeritCare since a merger last fall.