The Obama administration is forging ahead with a multi-billion dollar plan to shift from paper to electronic medical records, despite continuing concerns the program may be prompting some doctors and hospitals to improperly bill higher fees to Medicare. An investigation into those billing questions—which convened a hearing Wednesday—has yet to produce much in the way of results, and critics are questioning the seriousness of the efforts. Some digital records software marketed to medical professionals may be encouraging use of elevated billing codes that pay fatter fees, according to the nation’s top health information technology official. That could undermine cost savings the government expects to achieve by adopting the digital systems.
There's a powerful force working against the spread of health IT: physician anger, as doctors resist adopting workflows that can feel to them more like manufacturing than traditional treatment. This was one of several big ideas explored during a panel discussion at the eHealth Initiatives annual conference in Orlando, Fla. Anger within the physician community is creating "significant backlash" in furthering the use of health IT within an accountable care environment, said Simeon Schwartz, MD, president and CEO at Westmed Medical Group, one of the panelists.
Jackson Health System announced Thursday it has filed a notice to voluntarily dismiss its petition for a state hearing that included a suggestion that the state revoke the provisional license for the trauma center at the Kendall Regional Medical Center. The Florida Health Department is trying to craft a new statewide standard for determining how many trauma centers an area needs. In a memo to county political leaders, Jackson Chief Executive Carlos Migoya called it "a strategic decision on the future," meaning it will focus instead on the Florida Health Department's plan to craft a new statewide standard for determining how many trauma centers an area needs.
A woman walked into Providence St. Peter Hospital last week in search of her husband, brought in earlier by ambulance. The woman couldn't speak English. Hospital staff called for a bilingual chaplain, who was unfamiliar with her dialect. Although the woman was eventually assisted, the hospital has gone to new lengths to ensure patients can be helped immediately. Cue Martti, a mobile translation unit that with a push of a button connects hospital staff and patients to call centers in Ohio and California, according to hospital spokesperson Chris Thomas. The call centers are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week with translators fluent in 208 languages, including American Sign Language.
I was not the only doctor that he confided to. But what I quickly learned was that none of us was eager to broach the topic of stopping treatment with his primary cancer doctor. That doctor was a rising superstar in the world of oncology, a brilliant physician-researcher who had helped discover treatments for other cancers and who had been recruited to lead our hospital's then lackluster cancer center. Within a few months of the doctor's arrival, the once sleepy department began offering a dazzling array of experimental drugs. Calls came in from outside doctors eager to send their patients in for treatment, and every patient who was seen was promptly enrolled in one of more than a dozen well-documented treatment protocols. But now, no doctors felt comfortable suggesting anything but the most cutting-edge, aggressive treatments.
Working within healthcare appeals to our society in a way virtually no other professional sector does. Our attraction to this industry will probably always be well-matched with the necessity to educate and employ more qualified healthcare professionals—especially right now, as a substantial portion of our population is aging and requiring more medical care. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that there will be more employment growth within the healthcare and social assistance sector than in any others this decade. Here's a snapshot of the 24 healthcare professions that we at U.S. News have labelled the best to break into, either this year or in the years to come.