Healthcare reform is poised to increase the number of people with health insurance, but the newly insured may have a hard time finding a doctor, according to a survey of primary care physicians by the Connecticut State Medical Society. The survey found that 28% of internists and 26% of family physicians are not accepting new patients. Those who are taking new patients often have waiting periods of more than two weeks before a patient can get in to see the doctor for a routine visit, the Hartford Courant reports.
Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, MA is accelerating construction of a new emergency room. The new emergency room will include private rooms and designated areas for pediatrics, trauma, infection control, and behavioral health. The existing ER will remain open while the new one is built, said Samaritan officials. Good Samaritan is part of Caritas Christi hospital chain, which is being bought by Cerberus Capital Management. As part of the sales agreement, Cerberus agreed to spend about $400 million on capital projects at the six Caritas hospitals in Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reports.
A hearing panel from the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia recommended denial of two proposals for hospitals in Prince William County's western end until the two healthcare companies vying for approval can provide more information on their projects. The panel's decision followed more than four hours of testimony from Sentara Healthcare and Prince William Health System officials as well as from dozens of the roughly 250 doctors, volunteers, and Prince William residents, most of whom supported Prince William Health System's proposal because the company already has a presence in the area.
The Illinois Hospital Association on Wednesday will debut an information-packed Web site, the first of its kind in the U.S., with extensive data about quality of care, patients' satisfaction and the type and volume of services hospitals provide. A good deal of the information will be available for the first time at 8 a.m. through the hospital site, http://www.illinoishospitals.org. The site brings it together in one place, in considerable detail and with profiles of Illinois medical institutions. "We want to tell hospitals' story and open our doors to the community," said Patricia Merryweather, the hospital association's senior vice president of quality.
CVS Caremark Corp. will double the number of in-store medical clinics it operates within five years because of new healthcare legislation and the aging U.S. population. CVS is adding clinics in response to baby boomers reaching Medicare age and 32 million individuals being added to insurance rolls following passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last month, CVS Chief Financial Officer Dave Denton said. In addition, there are fewer primary-care physicians, he added.
Congress has already missed the deadline for new legislation to block cuts of 21% in Medicare payments to doctors. The pay reduction officially took effect April 1, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put a hold on processing physician payments for 10 business days, effectively pushing off the bite on payments for physicians' services until April 15. A recent vote saw four Republican senators join with Democrats and independents to move ahead with the extension legislation. But some doctor groups are warning that there still may not be enough time to adopt final legislation approving a delay before April 15, the Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports.