Doctors, pharmacists and other health care professionals in Montana received $692,983 in payments and perks from drug companies between 2009 and early 2011, according to a database that includes disclosure information from a dozen pharmaceutical firms. Nearly 200 of the doctors and health care professionals who received payments in Montana are from Billings, and some received upwards of $60,000, a Billings Gazette analysis shows. The payments were for travel, meals, research, consulting and speaking engagements, the data show. Nationally, the 12 drug companies disclosed $761.3 million in payments to promotional speakers, researchers and consultants for their products. The most popular speakers included doctors who specialize in cancer treatment or diabetes.
For a minimum $22,000 a month, The Ridge promises privacy and luxury surroundings for people completing a 28-day recovery program for alcohol or drug abuse. Touted as "The Betty Ford Clinic of Cincinnati," it's the only treatment center of its kind in the region. Treatment takes place inside a remodeled, 13-room estate on 50 wooded acres. Executives with Health Care Venture Partners, which owns The Ridge, acknowledge that price excludes all but the wealthiest of patients. But they defend against criticism that the center is elitist. It simply offers a treatment standard that had been lacking in the region, they say.
At five Bon Secours Health System hospitals on the East Coast, giving fewer blood transfusions during heart surgeries has had some counterintuitive results: Not only did costs fall, but care improved, officials say. Bon Secours' campaign to reduce blood transfusions during heart bypass and valve replacement surgeries is part of a growing national trend to standardize care and rein in differences in how doctors and hospitals practice medicine.
In Georgia, like many other Southern states, opposition to the new federal health-care law runs deep. Yet a conservative committee of experts has, without rancor, outlined a plan to give the state a health insurance exchange, a cornerstone of the legislation enacted last year. The panel had the blessing of Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, a former congressman who describes himself as the first House member to denounce the health-care law as unconstitutional. Georgia has joined 25 other states in a legal challenge to the legislation that is now on the Supreme Court's schedule. But if the law is not overturned by the court or repealed, states will have two choices: to comply with it or wait for the federal government to force it on them.
The theft of a computer containing information on more than 4 million patients of a major Northern California health care provider may be among the largest breaches of healthcare data in recent years, but it's far from the only incident of its kind. Over the last two years, healthcare organizations have reported 364 incidents involving the loss or theft of information ranging from names and addresses to social security numbers and medical diagnoses on nearly 18 million patients _ equivalent to the population of Florida. A thief stole medical information on more than 4 million patients of Sacramento-based Sutter Health last month by the simple act of breaking a window with a rock at the affiliated Sutter Medical Foundation. Stolen over the weekend of Oct. 15 were monitors, keyboards and a desktop computer containing patient information dating to 1995.
Few large employers plan to stop offering health benefits once key provisions in federal health care reform kick in. Health plans that pair high deductibles with savings accounts are becoming more common. And health benefits on average now cost more than $10,000 per employee. Those are some of findings from an annual survey released Wednesday by Mercer, a benefits consulting company. The cost of providing health benefits in the Milwaukee area increased to $10,441 per employee this year, up 6.7% from last year, according to the survey. That was slightly higher than the national average of $10,146 for each employee, a 6.1% increase from last year. The survey includes the employee's share of the premium but not out-of-pocket expenses, such as deductibles and co-pays.