Physicians and other healthcare providers need to be especially careful when using social media. The use—or potential misuse—of social media by workers is becoming a bigger and bigger issue across all kind of jobs and industries. However, there?s one profession where the use of social media is particularly rife with potential for trouble: physicians and medical professionals.
A Southern California surgery center charged teacher Lynne Nielsen $87,500 for a routine, 20-minute knee operation that normally costs about $3,000. The 61-year-old is the latest patient caught up in a growing battle nationwide over billing by outpatient surgery centers. Industry experts say some of these surgery centers seek out well-insured patients such as Nielsen, sometimes by waiving their copays and deductibles, and then bill their insurers exorbitant amounts for out-of-network care.
Legislators may struggle to build political consensus or popular support for Medicare reform, but as of Wednesday, they won?t stumble because of a lack of policy options. On Wednesday morning, the Kaiser Family Foundation released its most ambitious Medicare reform document: 150 cost-cutting policies that span 216 pages. If you enacted all of them in one fell swoop, you would cut $9.4 trillion in Medicare spending over the course of the next decade.
The Mayo Clinic has proposed a $5 billion investment in Rochester and surrounding communities designed to make the region a "Destination Medical Center" and create up to 45,000 jobs statewide. The plan calls for $3.5 billion in capital investments at its Rochester campus over the next 20 years. Mayo Clinic officials also say they expect an estimated $2.1 billion in additional private investment.
When a ferry crashed in lower Manhattan earlier this month, ambulances took dozens of people to hospitals around Manhattan. Bellevue Hospital took in 31 passengers who all had minor injuries. Despite their bruises and bandages, something was missing: the most seriously hurt patients from the crash. Dr. Suzi Vassallo said that's because Bellevue currently can't handle serious traumatic injuries. Hurricane Sandy closed Bellevue, and it re-opened in December, but doing only partial duty.
As workers open their W-2 forms this month, many will see a new box with information on the total cost of employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. To some, it will be a surprise, perhaps even a shock. The disclosures, required by the 2010 health care law, are meant to make workers more cost-conscious. Health benefits are still tax-free. But labor unions and employer groups say it could be easier to tax them in the future, now that employers must report their value to the government.