Cincinnati-based Deaconess Hospital will become a joint venture with physicians, the only general, acute-care hospital in Ohio with such a structure. Doctors will hold 40% of the institution, and Deaconess Associations Inc., its current parent organization, will hold 60%. The 273-bed facility's new name likely will be the Doctors' Hospital at Deaconess. The arrangement will likely appeal to doctors who feel left out in a market where primary-care physicians are increasingly becoming employed by large health systems.
Seneca Investments has begun construction on a two story, 32,596-square-foot medical office project located near North Dallas' Medical City hospital. Unlike similar developments, the project kicked off without preleasing. But given the need for medical space in North Dallas, developers think that won't be a problem. Other medical projects are under way in that same area: East of Seneca Investments' new building, a specialty hospital and medical building is under construction in the Westmount Health Campus.
In the 1990s, big hospital systems in Pennsylvania engaged in an arms race for doctors' practices and rushed to buy or affiliate with independent hospitals. Then, the competitive frenzy produced a $2 billion statewide colossus called Allegheny Health & Education Research Foundation, but Allegheny filed for bankruptcy in Pittsburgh a decade ago. Moody's Investor Service has marked the anniversary by issuing a report that asks, "What have we learned?" Allegheny's collapse remains the nation's biggest bankruptcy by a nonprofit health system and in several ways, Philadelphia is still dealing with the fallout, according to this blog posting published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Illinois and federal authorities are close to settling a lawsuit with a former Illinois health-insurance provider that was found liable for fraud for intentionally not enrolling pregnant women and other high-risk patients in its Medicaid plan. In 2006, a federal jury ordered Virginia-based Amerigroup Corp. to pay $144 million in damages to Illinois and the federal government. A federal judge later levied $190 million in civil fines against Amerigroup for filing more than 18,000 false Medicaid claims. Amerigroup appealed the verdict but earlier this year the parties entered settlement talks, court documents show.
The U.S. medical industry generates more than 2 million tons of waste per year, and some of that waste makes its way to incinerators. When burned, the waste releases dioxin, mercury and other toxins. In recent years, however, some providers have begun to think greener. Most efforts focus on reducing toxic waste, cutting back on water, and energy conservation. But some doctors and health workers are also considering changes in their practices that could enhance environmental and patient health.
Federal and state government agencies, as well as many insurers around the country, are experimenting with trying to cut health costs by paying doctors more. The idea is that by paying physicians to devote more time and attention to their patients, insurers and patients can save thousands of dollars on unnecessary tests, visits to expensive specialists, and avoidable trips to the hospital. A Medicaid experiment already under way in North Carolina saved the government program in that state about $162 million in 2006.
Tired of facing perennial cuts in reimbursement for Medicare services, Tennessee doctors say they can no longer afford to take on new Medicare patients, especially as the costs of providing services and operating a practice increase. Some are beginning to think about cutting current Medicare patients from their roster. The challenges are acute in Tennessee, which has an above-average number of Medicare patients and a below-average number of doctors who treat them. The ratio of physicians to patients is sure to drop, as further reimbursement cuts are inevitable.
A new report from a free-market think tank argues that Florida's Medicaid pilot program has had "numerous accomplishments" and should be expanded across the state. The report further contends that previous studies critical of the program were flawed. While it's too soon to tell whether quality of care has improved over the pre-reform days of Medicaid, it's clear that beneficiaries have more services and products available to them and that doctors are sticking with the program, said Cleveland State University finance professor Michael Bond.
In the spring, 385 students graduated from Georgia's medical schools, but only two of them chose to remain in the state to pursue a family medicine residency. Overall, 20 students, or 5%, chose to go into family medicine—half the number that it was five years ago. More than one-third of Georgia's counties, many of them rural, are officially designated as primary-care health professional shortage areas. This designation means that, on average, there is less than 1 doctor for 3,500 people. About 1.5 million people in the state are affected by the shortage of doctors.
Under a proposal being discussed at the Imperial College Healthcare Trust in London, doctors would be paid every time a patient survives the operating table or leaves hospital without picking up an infection. Patients groups oppose the proposals, saying it will deter doctors from carrying out complex operations or taking on high-risk patients such as the elderly. The Trust runs five hospitals including Charing Cross, Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte's. It has already started measuring the performance of its doctors ready for the proposal, which could start later this year.
