Although physicians who invest in their own hospitals caught a break when Congress declined to pass a bill that included a series of controversial restrictions, supporters of physician-owned hospitals say the battle is far from over. The supporters are urging physician entrepreneurs to prepare to fight for their survival in 2008. The failed bill called for a closure of a loophole in a law that allows physicians to self-refer to their own hospitals and the ability for existing physician-owned hospitals to expand.
Although they say it is hard to reflect on the positives of our healthcare system, Angelena Labella, MD, and Devika Singh, MD, mustered a list of the top 10 things for which they are most grateful. Labella,is a resident in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Washington. Singh is a MPH Fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UW.
Training more doctors to serve an aging population could drive up already crippling healthcare costs, say researchers at Dartmouth Medical School. The influx of doctors will only increase costs on what is already a financially troubled Medicare system, the researchers contend.
The New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners must decide if Dr. Philip B. Eatough, 60, overprescribed pain medications and should have his license to practice medicine temporarily suspended until an administrative law judge can determine whether or not it should be permanently revoked or suspended. An investigation by detectives and federal agents resulted in an 11-count federal indictment that has charged the doctor with prescribing the painkillers oxycodone and morphine sulfate to some of his patients illegally.
Half of the state's hospitals lost money or recorded margins of less than 1 percent in 2006, according to a recent analysis by the Healthcare Association of New York State. The average profit-margin for hospitals nationwide is 4 percent.
As part of the facility's 100-year celebration, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center has launched Story Project, a historical archive of inspiring personal narratives written by patients, families, friends and Children's staff members and volunteers. The hospital hopes to gather 1,000 stories for the public to read.