A typical primary care physician who treats elderly Medicare patients must coordinate care with 229 other physicians working in 117 different practices, according to a study by researchers at the Center for Studying Health System Change, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "The logistical challenges to care coordination are daunting given the fragmentation of care and the large number of peers that physicians must interact with when treating Medicare patients," said Hoangmai H. Pham, MD, MPH, the study's lead author and an HSC senior health researcher.
In Canada, the economic crisis is forcing some physicians to delay retirement plans or work longer hours than they had planned, according to this blog posting. According to Manfred Purtzki, a Vancouver financial adviser, the average physician-held portfolio has shrunk by approximately 30% in the last year, the blogger notes.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas is emerging as President Obama's top choice for secretary of health and human services, advisers said. Should she be nominated, Sebelius would bring eight years of experience as her state's insurance commissioner as well as six years as a governor running a state Medicaid program. But with President Obama about to begin a drive to expand health coverage, her strongest asset may be her record of navigating partisan politics as a Democrat in one of the country's most Republican states.
The Washington State Medical Association, which represents more than 9,000 physicians, is fighting a bill that would require doctors to screen vulnerable patients for a potentially deadly germ called MRSA. The number of hospital patients infected with MRSA has skyrocketed in Washington, but the medical association opposes any attempt by lawmakers to dictate how doctors attack the pathogen, said spokeswoman Jennifer Hanscom. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, said the evidence is clear that doctors and hospitals have repeatedly failed to protect patients from the antibiotic-resistant germ MRSA.
The Loudoun (VA) Board of Supervisors has laid to rest seven years of debate over a proposed 164-bed hospital in Broadlands, voting 5 to 4 against a motion to reconsider its Feb. 3 rejection of the project. The vote came a day after Inova Health System had moved forward with plans to build an 80-bed hospital in the county. Inova officials announced that they had filed a letter of intent with Virginia officials to build the facility and will seek the required certificate of public need from the state health commissioner. The Broadlands hospital, proposed by HCA Virginia, had a certificate of public need from the state but could not win zoning approval from county supervisors.
The Commonwealth Fund has proposed creating a major new public health program and government-operated insurance exchange as part of a plan to expand coverage and rein in healthcare costs. The health policy research group unveiled a comprehensive plan for changing a U.S. healthcare system, and they hope the Obama administration and lawmakers consider the ideas as they move forward this year with plans for major changes in the healthcare system.