House Democratic leaders said that they would insist on changes to the Senate healthcare legislation to make coverage more affordable for middle-class Americans and to tighten control over the insurance industry, the New York Times reports. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, met with her top lieutenants and the three committee chairmen directly responsible for the healthcare bill, as they prepared for negotiations to begin in earnest this week.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, responding to Republican criticism of closed-door meetings on healthcare legislation, said that she would strive for transparency as Democrats began their final push for a bill. President Barack Obama met with top House and Senate Democrats and urged them to move quickly in blending the healthcare bills passed by each chamber late last year. White House staff plan to meet as soon as Wednesday with House and Senate staff to begin discussin key differences, and House leaders plan to return to the White House Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Hill Physicians Medical Group announced that UCSF Medical Group's physicians are now affiliated with Hill, following the successful completion of a transition plan announced last August. The affiliation took effect Jan. 1, and added more than 500 doctors to Hill's previous roster of 300 primary care doctors in San Francisco. The affiliation came after UCSF Medical Group and San Francisco's Brown & Toland Medical Group ended a long-running partnership in 2009.
Mount Sinai Medical Center's cardiovascular program has entered into a collaborative partnership with New York City-based Columbia University Medical Center. Seven physicians at Mount Sinai, in Miami Beach, have become faculty members at Columbia. Physicians from Mount Sinai and Columbia are regularly traveling for visits and engaged in conferences about patient care, clinical trials, improving operations and training residents, Mount Sinai President and CEO Steven Sonenreich told the South Florida Business Journal.
The Philadelphia-based American Board of Internal Medicine announced that it has filed a suit against a North Jersey company that provided test preparation for doctors. The suit, alleging copyright infringement and theft of trade secrets, accuses the company of stealing test questions with help from doctors taking the certification tests. The suit was filed against Arora Board Review in Livingston, NJ, its principal Rajender K. Arora, and Anise K. Kachadourian, a practicing physician.
After searching nationwide for a new leader, Boston Medical Center tapped a high-ranking executive from Brigham and Women's Hospital to become its next president and chief executive. Kate Walsh, who has been executive vice president and chief operating officer at Brigham for the past five years, will take over at Boston Medical on March 1. She succeeds Elaine Ullian, who will step down Jan. 29 after running Boston Medical for 14 years.