New York-based Lindsay Goldberg has invested $75 million in Ambulatory Services of America, Inc. to help close several acquisitions and fuel the Brentwood, TN-based medical company's further expansion. Ambulatory Services of America provides alternate-site healthcare services in partnership with physicians, and operates dialysis and cancer treatment centers in several states.
A volunteer effort to link health professionals in war-torn areas of the world with specialized physicians who can provide consultations via the Internet is set to be unveiled. The alliance is led by the Chicago-based Center for International Rehabilitation, and hopes to sign up 300 volunteer doctors who will do 1,000 consultations in the first year. The group initially plans to target areas beset by violence and suffering from poverty in Middle Eastern countries.
A congressional panel said it has bipartisan support for a bill requiring health insurers to pay for a minimum 48-hour hospital stay after breast cancer treatment. The bill is designed to combat what critics call "drive-through" surgeries, and about 20 states have such a minimum insurance requirement for mastectomies or lumpectomies. America's Health Insurance Plans called the bill unnecessary, saying some women are satisfied with a shorter hospital stay.
The Massachusetts Medical Society, which represents the state's doctors, have filed a lawsuit alleging the Group Insurance Commission plan to rank physicians on cost and quality measures hurts both physicians and patients. The Group Insurance Commission oversees health insurance for thousands of public employees at state and local levels. The suit claims doctors ranked lower have been defamed, and that patients who have to pay higher copayments based on their doctor's ranking have been defrauded. To compile the rankings, the insurance commission uses a database of claims from six insurance companies, and applies computer analytic tools to compare the performance of physicians.
The Congressional Budget Office has discounted earlier projections of large cost savings that could result from the adoption of technology such as digital health records, and questioned an estimate of $77 billion a year that appeared in a RAND Corp. analysis. The CBO found the potential for savings under certain circumstances, such as when IT was combined with broader reforms, but said the technology by itself was typically unlikely to generate sizable financial benefits. The findings challenge advocates of health-information technology, who have argued that it will improve patient safety and achieve significant efficiencies that will cut fast-growing healthcare expenses.
President Bush has signed legislation to protect people from losing their jobs or health insurance when genetic testing reveals they are susceptible to costly diseases. The measure aims to ensure that advances in DNA testing won't end up being used against people, and
forbids employers and insurance companies from denying employment, promotions or health coverage to people when genetic tests show they have a predisposition to cancer, heart disease or other ailments.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is touting a bill aimed at providing low-cost health coverage to uninsured state residents by allowing the sale of stripped-down insurance policies. While some say the new law will not make much of a dent in Florida's growing rate of uninsured residents, Crist says the best part of the bill is that the law "doesn't cost taxpayers a dime." In many states across the country, governors and lawmakers are struggling to respond to anxiety about healthcare despite the limitations of deeply strained budgets. Bold ideas on healthcare reform have been overtaken by the worrisome economy, and lawmakers have been forced to proceed with caution.
Intensive care unit doctors are less comfortable discussing prognoses and end-of-life issues and do it less frequently with black patients than with white patients, according to U.S. researchers who analyzed interviews with ICU physicians at five major medical centers. The interviews revealed that the doctors discussed prognoses with 58% of their white patients and 41% of their black patients, and the ICU doctors were less than half as likely to report feeling comfortable during these conversations with their black patients.
Heart failure patients admitted to the hospital on Thursdays or Fridays have longer hospital stays than those admitted on other days of the week, according to a report, and those admitted on Tuesdays have the shortest stays. The day of admission does not seem to effect death rates for heart failure patients, however, the report found. The findings could lead to changes in hospital procedures, which could lead to shorter hospital stays and reduced costs, said the study's authors.
The board of trustees for Des Moines, IA-based Broadlawns Medical Center took the first step toward a $44 million renovation of the hospital. The board voted 6-0 to set a public hearing on the sale of up to $30 million worth of bonds over three years. The bonds would pay for the first phase of a project that would include expansion and improvement of the emergency room and patient waiting areas; creation of an MRI department; and increased space for clinic and rehabilitation areas.
