Nevada's Republican governor and Democratic attorney general are prime examples of the partisan bickering over the new healthcare law in recent weeks, with the pair publicly warring over whether the state should join a lawsuit attempting to thwart the legislation, the Los Angeles Times reports. Gov. Jim Gibbons announced he would sidestep Atty. Gen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who had declined to join more than a dozen states in challenging the healthcare law's constitutionality, and retain private counsel for the effort.
Temple University Hospital brass and a subcommittee of negotiators with the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals will attend an "exploratory meeting" that could lead to a contract bargaining session, said Jerry Silberman, a union staff representative. PASNAP and Temple negotiators met yesterday with a state-appointed mediator, said Temple spokeswoman Rebecca Harmon. The meeting was "ambiguous," and did not include any negotiations, Silberman said. With contract talks stalled, 1,500 nurses and other medical professionals who are represented by PASNAP went on strike beginning March 31.
Obese and overweight patients are just as likely to get recommended preventive medical care as normal-weight patients, and in some cases, treatment of the heavyset is more likely to meet standard guidelines for care, a new study shows. Previous research has shown that some physicians find it awkward to work with obese patients and have low expectations for success. And heavy patients have reported feeling that doctors are biased and disrespectful because of their extra weight, USA Today reports.
A Trumbull, CT-based pediatric medical practice has agreed to pay the federal government $74,644 to settle a complaint that it overbilled Medicaid for services it provided to patients. Pediatric Healthcare Associates, with seven offices in and around Fairfield County, CT, was accused of charging patients for after-hours visits, even though the patient visits took place during normal business hours, U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy said. The payment was the result of a civil settlement between the government and the medical practice.
Nearly two months after being acquired by Kroger supermarkets, The Little Clinic has closed 20 locations. Little Clinic locations in Kroger stores in Indianapolis; Houston; Toledo, OH; Richmond, VA; and Detroit have closed, as have three storefronts in Columbus, OH, and one in Phoenix. The walk-up health clinics generally keep longer hours than most doctors' offices and charge about $60 to treat common complaints.
The federal government is now starting to build the institutions that will try to reduce the soaring growth of healthcare costs. There will be a group to compare the effectiveness of different treatments, a Medicare innovation center, and a Medicare oversight board that can set payment rates. But all these groups will face the same basic problem, the New York Times reports: Deep down, Americans tend to believe that more care is better care, and recoil from efforts to restrict care.