Beginning in 2009, doctors can earn additional money from Medicare if they use electronic prescribing systems, U.S. health officials have announced. The bonus program will continue for four years, and is designed to streamline the prescription process and cut down on errors. In 2009 and 2010, Medicare will give doctors an additional 2% bonus on top of their fee for e-prescribing. In 2011 and 2012, the bonus will drop to 1%, and in 2013, the bonus will drop again to 0.5%, officials said.
General Motors retirees facing the loss of their health coverage should shop around aggressively to save money on Medicare coverage, say Ford retirees who went through the same thing in 2007. They say it's actually possible to save money, despite losing a generous, company-backed health plan and having to pay to supplement Medicare coverage. A big part of the reason is a payment the auto companies are giving retirees in place of their coverage. John Pottow, an associate professor specializing in bankruptcy law at the University of Michigan Law School, said many other retirees could face the same choices in the coming years.
Doctors at Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center contend that few patients who could benefit from implantable defibrillators are getting the devices because their family doctors might not know when to recommend them. Studies have shown that as many as 80% of patients satisfying current guidelines for having an ICD implanted are not getting them, said Kara Quan, MD, director of cardiac electrophysiology at MetroHealth and lead author on the study.
Quan sent out surveys to primary-care physicians in nine Northeast Ohio counties, asking specific questions about when to refer a patient for an ICD. She found that only one-quarter to one-third of family-practice physicians who responded were aware of the guidelines for referring their patients to have an ICD implanted.
Cincinnati-based Deaconess Hospital will become a joint venture with physicians, the only general, acute-care hospital in Ohio with such a structure. Doctors will hold 40% of the institution, and Deaconess Associations Inc., its current parent organization, will hold 60%. The 273-bed facility's new name likely will be the Doctors' Hospital at Deaconess. The arrangement will likely appeal to doctors who feel left out in a market where primary-care physicians are increasingly becoming employed by large health systems.
Seneca Investments has begun construction on a two story, 32,596-square-foot medical office project located near North Dallas' Medical City hospital. Unlike similar developments, the project kicked off without preleasing. But given the need for medical space in North Dallas, developers think that won't be a problem. Other medical projects are under way in that same area: East of Seneca Investments' new building, a specialty hospital and medical building is under construction in the Westmount Health Campus.
In the 1990s, big hospital systems in Pennsylvania engaged in an arms race for doctors' practices and rushed to buy or affiliate with independent hospitals. Then, the competitive frenzy produced a $2 billion statewide colossus called Allegheny Health & Education Research Foundation, but Allegheny filed for bankruptcy in Pittsburgh a decade ago. Moody's Investor Service has marked the anniversary by issuing a report that asks, "What have we learned?" Allegheny's collapse remains the nation's biggest bankruptcy by a nonprofit health system and in several ways, Philadelphia is still dealing with the fallout, according to this blog posting published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.