Doctors’ justified distrust of medical justice (which has an error rate of 25 percent) leads them to prescribe and perform treatments for no other reason than to prevent lawsuits. This “defensive medicine” is estimated to cost anywhere from $45 billion to more than $200 billion a year. Fortunately, a growing bipartisan consensus is pointing the way to a solution. There is widespread public support for the creation of special health courts, according to a nationwide poll, conducted in April by the Clarus Research Group for Common Good. Moreover, despite the highly polarized nature of American politics today, there is consistent support across political parties.
Exeter Hospital officials insist they're not trying to hide anything, arguing that New Hampshire is illegally seeking “unfettered” access to patient medical records as an investigation into a hepatitis C scare continues.The news conference was called a day after the state Attorney General's Office filed a motion objecting to a protective order sought by the hospital to prevent the release of some patient medical information.The state wants to see more medical records as it investigates the outbreak that infected 32 former patients. Former hospital medical technician David Kwiatkowski, 33, is accused of infecting unsuspecting patients by using syringes filled with the painkiller Fentanyl on himself and then returning the contaminated needles for use on patients.
Although former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama have granted tens of billions of dollars in federal subsidies to hospitals that implement electronic medical records to increase hospital efficiency and patient safety, these records may be contributing to increased billings, according to Medicare data analyzed by The New York Times. While the Justice Department and other federal regulatory agencies are investigating instances of potential fraud, analysts at the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care — a research group run through The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice that analyzes variations in health care delivery — say that this correlation likely reflects underlying flaws in Medicare’s fee-for-service payment system.
Doctors in Massachusetts may be looking a bit more favorably on new payment methods created under state and federal laws, according to a survey of 1,095 practicing physicians by the Massachusetts Medical Society. About 49 percent of respondents said they are likely to participate in a voluntary global payment system. That’s up from 42 percent in 2011, the first year that questions about the new payment methods were included in the annual survey. Sixty percent of respondents, up from about half last year, said they are likely to participate in voluntary accountable care organizations.
A first-ever U.S News analysis of nearly 6,000 health insurance plans marketed to individuals and families reveals that many of the consumers who enroll in these plans may confront budget-wrecking out-of-pocket costs that deplete their savings. Large numbers of plans severely limit coverage for such services as prescription drugs, maternity coverage, mental health treatment, and rehabilitation therapy. U.S. News spent several months working with data obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. but does not rate or rank plans against each other.
San Antonio-based Texas MedClinic, which operates a chain of urgent care clinics, announced Tuesday it's severing ties with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas following a dispute over reimbursement rates. The decision means that at least in Bexar County, 273,000 residents won't be able to use their Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) insurance at any of Texas MedClinic's 14 locations starting Oct. 18. Texas MedClinic has been a network provider with BCBS, the state's largest health insurer, since 2007. BCBS has about 4.8 million members in Texas. Texas MedClinic is the largest San Antonio-based urgent care clinic. BCBS said in a statement that Texas MedClinic was seeking a significant rate increase that exceeded “what other urgent care clinics find acceptable for the San Antonio market.”