Though its plans for a 56-bed hospital here were defeated, HCA Health Services of Tennessee now is seeking the authority to build a $9.2 million emergency room at the same site in Spring Hill, TN. It would be a satellite emergency department associated with Centennial Hospital, which has a physician office in Campbell Station, said Tim Scarvey, vice president for HCA TriStar's strategic planning and development. HCA expects to file a certificate of need application next week with the state Health Services Development Agency.
Children's Hospital Boston has designed a new genetic research project so information gleaned from DNA submitted by patients and their families can benefit not only science, but potentially participants themselves. No decisions have been made on what will be passed on to families, but research has already identified genes associated with conditions such as autism, diabetes, and obesity. Families who learn they are at genetic risk might seek medical intervention sooner. Others may adopt lifestyle changes to try to lower their risk, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The medical profession has been curtailing financial ties to drug makers in response to criticism over possible conflicts of interest. Now doctor groups are facing budget shortfalls and cuts in services, and they are struggling to find new sources of revenue. The American Psychiatric Association has seen a $7.5 million decrease in pharmaceutical-industry dollars over the past year—a more than 10% cut in revenue. The decrease in revenue means having to cut back on some activities, such as lobbying on behalf of doctors and the mentally ill, and running educational programs in schools and for returning veterans, said Alan Schatzberg, immediate past-president of the APA, who convened a task force to develop conflict-of-interest guidelines that are expected to be unveiled today.
Hospitals have renovated facilities and purchased specialized medical products to handle their obese patients, a survey shows. The market research report by Novation, a healthcare group purchasing company, included responses from about 300 hospitals and health organizations. It found that 61% of respondents had seen a slight or significant increase in admissions of the morbidly obese since 2008.
Even if a patient does want to comparison-shop for healthcare, there is no easy way to obtain complete and useful information. But a start-up financed by venture capitalists and the Cleveland Clinic, Castlight Health, aims to change that by building a search engine for healthcare prices. Patients using Castlight could search for doctors that offer a service nearby and find out how much they will charge, depending on their insurance coverage. A few others are starting to publish healthcare prices, including Thomson Reuters, a Tennessee start-up called Change:healthcare, the New Hampshire government, which created a comparison shopping tool for residents, and health insurers. Aetna, for example, has built tools to help patients estimate prices and may build more advanced tools, the New York Times reports.
One hundred thirty-nine physicians have had their status with the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) suspended or revoked as a result of cheating on their board certification exams. The offending physicians participated in Arora Board Review, New Jersey-based test-preparation course. The director of the course encouraged physicians who took the exam to write down the questions and report them back. According to Arora's website, the company has temporarily suspended business until it reaches a settlement with the ABIM.
"There were reams of emails between the doctor who ran the course and the individuals telling him what they were doing. They were contacting dozens of other colleagues who were taking the exam, writing things down during breaks, dictating notes, and memorizing the questions and sending them to [the director]," says Christine K. Cassel, MD, ABIM's president and CEO.
The ABIM discovered that many of the questions posted on Arora's website were verbatim, copyright-protected ABIM exam questions. Other physicians who took the course alerted the ABIM of the suspicious behavior, which sparked the ABIM to launch a months-long investigation.
Thousands of physicians took Arora's course, but after a thorough investigation, the ABIM narrowed it down to 139 who actively helped the test preparation course provider gather questions. "Some of them were up to 100 questions. The other thing is that some people purchased batches of ABIM exam questions just before they were about to take the exam. There was a whole range of these kinds of behaviors," says Cassel.
As of June 8, the board suspended or revoked the offending physicians' board statuses. This black mark on their records may pose obstacles for them down the road as they try to gain employment with hospitals or medical groups or grow independent practices. "Many hospitals, medical groups, and health plans require or strongly prefer that physicians be board certified, so there will be consequences for some of these folks," Cassel says.
To prevent cases like this from arising in the future, Cassel says that the ABIM has several employees dedicated to scanning websites dedicated to test preparation to detect infringements. In addition, Cassel seeks to send a message to physicians who want to become board certified: cheating on the board examination is unethical and physicians who engage in such behavior will be held accountable.
"The board expects physicians to be held to a high ethical standard, and they have a written agreement to not violate intellectual property copyright. As a public facing organization, the most important thing for us is that the ethics and professionalism of the board certified standard be just as rigorous as the rest of the standards," Cassel says.