Shots previously reported that one center in Maine was trying to lure medical students to the countryside for their final two years with the hope that they stick around. The Ashland Health Clinic, a tiny hospital in southwest Kansas, is trying a different tack—a reverse-recruitment model. It's called mission-focused medicine, and it's based on serving problems most commonly found in third-world countries.
Jindal administration cuts to the LSU hospital system will have a negative financial impact on private hospitals in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and elsewhere because they would get more indigent patients, according to a new Moody's Weekly Credit Outlook report. Louisiana's health chief disputed Moody's conclusion. "It doesn't look like they have done a lot of their homework," state Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein said Monday.
Physicians are starting to embrace electronic health records en masse, according to a new survey by the Medical Group Management Association. The poll found that around half of the EHRs used by their members lacked many key functions. For example, only 56% of MGMA survey respondents with EHRs said their system could generate problem lists; 49% had EHRs that provided drug interaction warnings. However, with the advent of Meaningful Use, many physicians are switching to more capable EHRs to qualify for government financial incentives.
Horizon Healthcare Innovations announced Wednesday the formation of an educational partnership with Duke University School of Nursing and Rutgers University College of Nursing for a new type of training for nurses. The 12-week course, which involves face-to-face and online sessions, trains nurses to become population-care coordinators, the cornerstone of patient-centered medical homes.
Rochester General Health System will be using only registered nurses in acute-care inpatient hospital settings and moving licensed practical nurses into other roles. The health system announced the plan Wednesday and said it affects about 40 LPNs at Rochester General Hospital and about five at Newark-Wayne Community Hospital. No LPNs are being laid off.
Here's a bold prediction for the new year. By 2020, the American health insurance industry will be extinct. Insurance companies will be replaced by accountable care organizations—groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers who come together to provide the full range of medical care for patients.