Florida's second-highest court has ruled in favor of Tampa Bay's longtime trauma hospitals in a high-profile fight over who treats the most critically injured. Bayfront Medical Center, Tampa General Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital challenged the state's decision to allow the HCA hospital chain to open trauma centers at hospitals in Pasco and Manatee counties. They argued that the new centers siphoned away patients, hurting the quality and finances of their existing programs. That case is now bolstered by the 1st District Court of Appeal's finding that a 20-year-old state rule used to justify the new trauma programs is out of date and invalid.
The University of Virginia Medical Center has lost an on-call pharmacist's unencrypted handheld device containing sensitive medical records for more than 1,500 people, officials said Friday. The medical center learned Oct. 5 that the device, used by its Continuum Home Infusion Service, was missing, officials said. Handheld devices commonly are used in the industry, particularly by on-call workers, but the information should be encrypted, Robert "Bo" Cofield, associate vice president for hospital and clinics operations said. "The error was that it was unencrypted," he said.
Nurses and other UMass Memorial Medical Center staff members who have not been vaccinated against the flu have been told that they must wear a mask on the job to protect patients from being infected during a hospital stay. The change at UMass Memorial has angered some nurses who say the hospital is trying to shame them into getting a flu shot. "They're just bullying people," said Ellen Smith, who works in intensive care at the health system's university campus. Smith, who was wearing a mask Friday, said she has not gotten a flu shot during 20 years as a nurse.
Competition, when it comes to group health insurance, remains pretty much Blue Cross Blue Shield of N.C.—and the rest of the pack in the Triad and statewide. Blue Cross holds a 48 percent market share in the state for all commercial health products, according to a 2012 study by the American Medical Association on health insurance competition. UnitedHealthcare is second at 18 percent. The AMA said it determined, as it has in the past, "a significant absence of health insurer competition" in 70 percent of the 385 metropolitan areas it surveyed nationwide.
It was a pretty routine visit. But what happens next for Dr. Bob Murrow, getting paid by Medicare, the government-run health insurance program for the elderly, is suddenly sort of a big deal. Included in the fiscal cliff is a 30 percent pay cut to doctors who treat Medicare patients. It's set to kick in on Jan. 1. Lawmakers from both parties say they want to prevent the cut. But the cut is part of a plan Congress put in place 15 years ago to contain healthcare costs, then proceeded to postpone again and again. After he sees the patient, Dr. Murrow writes what he did on a form and then sends it to his billing guy, who turns the form into codes. The codes are what the doctor needs to get paid by Medicare.
Federal investigators Thursday released a report charging that the Medicare electronic medical records (EMR) program lacks effective fiscal oversight. The report, issued by the Inspector General's office of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), states that the Medicare EMR program may be paying incentives to healthcare providers and hospitals that do not fully meet the quality standards known as "meaningful use". The report stated that the program's self-reporting format lacks audit oversight requirements so it's impossible to prove whether reports from physicians and hospitals are accurate.