The House healthcare bill would repeal an exemption from federal antitrust oversight that the health-insurance industry has enjoyed for decades, but the move alone might not make local insurance markets more competitive. The repeal is necessary to inject competition into regional insurance markets, according to Rep. Diana DeGette (D., CO), one of several members of Congress behind a push to repeal the exemption. She cited American Medical Association figures showing that 94% of those markets are highly concentrated.
The business world found plenty to complain about as it assessed the House bill that would make sweeping changes in the healthcare system and extend insurance coverage to millions more Americans, the New York Times reports. Insurers do not like the provision to create a new government-run insurance program. Drug makers oppose billions of dollars in rebates they would have to give to the government over 10 years. Medical devices are not happy about the proposed 2.5% tax on their products. And employers oppose rules that, for many of them, would make healthcare coverage a federally mandated obligation.
Ensuring the physicians at your hospital hold specialty certifications can be a great marketing tool. It shows patients that your physicians meet national competency standards. The problem is that not all medical specialties offer certification; although new certifications are offered each year.
Child abuse pediatricians are the latest group of practitioners to gain their own certification. The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) approved the new child abuse pediatrics specialty in 2006 and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) issued the first certification exams this month. Medical staffs can begin verifying practitioner certification status on the ABP Web site in February 2010.
"Board certification is really necessary in a field like this, not just for the legal reasons, not just so you can go to court and be an expert [witness], because a lot of us were already doing that," says Ann S. Botash, MD, professor of pediatrics at the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University and director of the University Hospital's Child Abuse Referral and Evaluation (CARE) program in Syracuse, NY.
Rather, Botash says it's helpful in the medical setting when she's working with other pediatricians who are good practitioners, but don't have the same experience in child abuse treatment that she has. The certification may be a deciding factor in a disagreement between two practitioners, one a specialist and the other a generalist, about a diagnosis of child abuse. It's also a helpful indicator for parents who are looking for a specialist in child abuse treatment.
"If you had a child with a heart murmur, do you want the child to see me, a general pediatrician, or do you want the child with the heart murmur to go see the specialist?" Botash says.
As president of the Helfer Society, an honorary society of physicians specializing in child abuse treatment, Botash has been working toward developing a certification in child abuse pediatrics for years. Although the new certification will not change her privileges because the certification is not procedurally based, the new specialty might someday affect finances.
"It may change how we're able to bill, because I'll be able to bill as an expert," she says. "But that takes longer because the insurance companies have to recognize it. That's the next step."
On the heels of the ABMS certification, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is in the final stages of reviewing standards for residency fellowship programs in child abuse pediatrics. ACGME plans to vote on the standards in early 2010.
Emily Berry is an associate editor for Briefings on Credentialing and Credentialing Resource Center Connection, and manages CredentialingResourceCenter.com. You can reach her at eberry@hcpro.com.
The shootings at Fort Hood in Texas severely taxed local hospitals as they struggled to cope with the flood of victims, and left them scrambling for blood donations as the casualties came into their emergency rooms. Victims were sent as far away as Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, about 30 miles away, since it has the only Level 1 trauma center in central Texas, so designated because it is capable of handling the most serious injuries. The hospital reported receiving 10 shooting victims from Fort Hood, and called for blood donations to keep up with the demands of treating all the wounded. The hospital closed to the public in the wake of the shootings "as we focus our attention upon the victims and their families and to insure the safety of our patients and staff," a hospital statement said.
An Army psychiatrist facing deployment to one of America's war zones killed 13 people and wounded 30 others on Thursday in a shooting rampage with two handguns at the sprawling Fort Hood Army post in central Texas, military officials said. It was one of the worst mass shootings ever at a military base in the United States. The gunman, who was still alive after being shot four times, was identified by law enforcement authorities as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, who had been in the service since 1995. Major Hasan was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas. The victims, nearly all military personnel but including two civilians, were cut down in clusters, the officials said. Witnesses told military investigators that medics working at the center tore open the clothing of the dead and wounded to get at the wounds and administer first aid.
Kaiser Permanente unveiled plans for a $10-million medical office building that will offer primary care, some specialty care and other services to 80,000 South Los Angeles residents who are members of Kaiser's healthcare plan. Kaiser's 15,000-square-foot South Los Angeles medical offices are expected to open in 2011. A vacant building on the site will be torn down to make way for the new facility and construction is scheduled to begin soon. In recent years, a series of public and private hospitals across South Los Angeles have closed or been scaled back, compounding what civic leaders call South L.A.'s inadequate access to healthcare. About 80,000 of the 3.3 million Kaiser members in Southern California live in South L.A.