Friday, March 26, 2010

Health Informatics News

Health Informatics News


As records go digital, cultures clash

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By Sammy Mack 1/21/2010 © Health News Florida The switch to electronic medical records has been rocky for doctors in Broward who refused to pay what they called unwarranted charges and were turned over to collections. More disputes are arising as midcareer physicians bump up against the world of high-tech software sales.

Doctor wrote 1,000 scripts/week

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By Carol Gentry 1/15/2010 © Health News Florida Since 2004, a Miami psychiatrist has prescribed almost 14 million pills to Medicaid patients at a cost to taxpayers of $43 million, a feverish pace of 1,000 prescriptions a week. A state senator says the doctor should be the "poster boy for tougher enforcement actions."

Medics overwhelmed by injured

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 1/14/2010 © New York Times First aid responders and doctors tried to triage the massive number of injured in Haiti as the death toll estimate rose to 45,000. They didn't even have aspirin, much less anesthesia.

Insurers, state reach pact on cancer

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By Christine Jordan Sexton 1/13/2010 © Health News Florida The state’s largest insurance companies on Wednesday said they have signed a voluntary pact committing them to cover routine medical treatments for cancer patients who enroll in clinical trials. 

Latest outrage: home-care scams

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12/7/2009 © Associated Press A new report says scams in Miami- Dade brought half a billion dollars in Medicare payments for home health-care into the county last year, more than the entire rest of the nation combined. Many "patients" got big-screen TVs or free maid service.

Medicaid to launch huge data project

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By Christine Jordan Sexton 11/13/2009 © Health News Florida  Florida is preparing to make the health histories of more than 1 million Medicaid patients accessible to 80,000 doctors, clinics and hospitals in the state on a secured-access system, the project director said Thursday. The aims: improve patient care, avoid duplication.

Insurer rethinking rules after chat

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By Christine Jordan Sexton 11/4/2009 © Health News Florida Following a meeting with Sen. Don Gaetz, the state’s largest health insurer is examining its policies for providing health insurance to cancer patients who undergo clinical trials.

Ban balance-billing, advocate says

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By Carol Gentry and Mary Jo Melone 11/3/2009 © Health News Florida  Sean Shaw, Florida's Insurance Consumer Advocate, is shopping around for a lawmaker brave enough to take on the medical lobby. He wants to outlaw balance-billing, a common practice that sticks patients with big bills their plan won't cover.

Public option finds favor even in FL

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10/29/2009 © Miami Herald From the house staff at Jackson Memorial to the president-elect of the AMA, Florida doctors and nurses in quite different venues expressed support Wednesday for health-reform legislation that includes a public option, although there's disagreement on some details.

FL Medicare patients 'overserved'

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10/6/2009 ©  Fort Myers News-Press Every area of Florida except Daytona Beach and Tallahassee showed above-average billing for doctors' services in Medicare last year, according to a GAO report. The state was already a national outlier by 2000, yet recorded a big jump in billings per patient by 2008.

Doctor accused of fondling gives up license

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By Carol Gentry 10/2/2009 © Health News Florida A Bradenton woman who agreed to wear a wire into the office of the doctor she said sexually accosted her -- Bradenton internist Gangadhara Rao Chapalamadugu -- told the Board of Medicine today that Rao should go to jail, and board members agreed after seeing complaints from six other patients. But their jurisdiction involves only medical practice; they accepted voluntary relinquishment  to keep him from ever practicing medicine in Florida again.

State clears doctors, parents protest

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By Carol Gentry 9/25/2009 © Health News Florida Two doctors who are being sued over the high-profile death of Boca Raton teen-ager Stephanie Kuleba will not have to worry about the Board of Medicine. Confidential state documents show the state dropped its investigation months ago, and that the girl's parents were turned away when they tried to offer evidence.

Lawyer wants all records? All?

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By Mary Jo Melone 9/24/2009 Health News Florida Florida patients have a right to ask for hospital records about past mistakes. But do they have the right to every report, every x-ray, every single piece of paper for the last 75 years?  Tampa’s largest hospital says no and has gone to court to fight it.

Today's call for action began in FL

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By Ruth Morris 9/17/2009 © Health News Florida In Washington, D.C. today, 400 of the country’s most prominent healthcare experts unveiled a letter to Congress demanding action on the uninsured and rising costs. And it was all the brainchild of a professor who lives on quiet Anna Maria Island.   

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