An increasing number of Texas doctors are opting out of Medicare, weary of the perennial fights over cuts in reimbursement. Only 58% of doctors in the state now accept new Medicare patients, according to a survey by the Texas Medical Association. That number is down from an estimated 90% before 1990. Among primary-care doctors, the percentage that now accept Medicare patients is 38%. Leaders of the Texas Medical Assocation now predict the percentage will continue to plummet if Congress doesn't arrive at a long-term solution soon.
Better known for its scenery and for offering tourists adventure, New Zealand also has fine private hospitals that, unlike their public counterparts, are not full to overflowing. But the major advantage, and the biggest selling point for Medtral, a New Zealand company set up to attract refugees from the U.S. healthcare system, is cost. Medtral representatives say it can offer procedures at boutique hospitals with follow-up personal nursing care at a fraction of the cost of the same surgery in the United States.
A Southern California doctor has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for billing health insurance companies more than $9 million in unnecessary surgical procedures. William Hampton, MD, 53, was also ordered to pay nearly $2.5 million in restitution to defrauded health insurance companies by U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins. Hampton was convicted in November 2007 of healthcare fraud. He performed more than 400 unnecessary procedures at several medical clinics and submitted fraudulent bills to insurance companies.
Grady Memorial Hospital officials have announced the four finalists to take the helm of the long-distressed Atlanta hospital that is struggling to rebuild itself under new leadership. The leaders of Grady said they are pleased with the caliber of candidates and hope to select the new CEO in a few weeks. That person should be on board in September, officials added.
The former Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia will officially reopen with a new medical mission and a more upscale name. Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse houses a 38-bed, long-term acute-care hospital, a 58-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility, a hospice unit, an ambulatory-surgery center, a pain-management center, and a radiology suite. The facility, formerly owned by Tenet Healthcare, underwent $70 million in renovations. It is a joint project of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network.
Richard F. Salluzzo, MD, the new chief executive of Massachusetts-based Cape Cod Healthcare, is already putting his mark on the ailing system. Salluzzo has tapped Michael Lauf, chief operating officer of Bristol Regional Medical Center in Bristol, TN, to become chief operating officer of the Cape system. Lauf was a longtime executive from Salluzzo's former company, Kingsport, TN-based Wellmont Health System. Cape Cod Healthcare doctors and other employees say they anticipate additional top level changes at the system, which includes Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis and Falmouth Hospital.