Thursday, May 27, 2010

Health Informatics News

Health Informatics News

HMA to take over 3 Shands hospitals

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5/27/2010 © HealthLeaders Media Health Management Associates, a corporate hospital chain based in Naples, has agreed to acquire a 60% interest in three rural Florida hospitals operated by Shands HealthCare in Gainesville. In other news, Halifax Health is fighting Florida Hospital's takeover of a public hospital in Daytona Beach.

FMA protests worker's comp measure

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5/26/2010 © Florida Tribune A state-employee union and doctors are asking Gov. Charlie Crist to veto a measure that would cap how much physicians can be paid for dispensing drugs to injured workers.

Feds arrest pain clinic doctor

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5/25/2010 © South Florida Sun Sentinel Dr. Michael Shook, who ran an Oakland Park pain clinic, was a key supplier of addictive pills to patients in Kentucky, officials said.  In an unrelated case, police raided a pain clinic run by a faculty member at Florida International's medical school.

'Your generation will transform medicine'

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5/23/2010 © Gainesville Sun Dr. David Blumenthal, charged with implementing health IT nationwide, told the University of Florida's 130 graduating doctors this weekend that their generation will bring the changes that the system has needed for a long time. In a profile, Blumenthal says he was reluctant to adapt until the day the computer flagged something he'd missed. 

FL starts waiting list for AIDS drug program

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5/21/2010 © South Florida Sun Sentinel The number of HIV-positive patients applying to the $93-million AIDS Drugs Assistance Program (ADAP) has increased, while funding hasn't. 

Over-billing: just FL culture?

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By Cynthia Washam 2/16/2010 © Health News Florida Brevard County’s largest medical group is close to settling a complaint that it overbilled Medicare $8 million by giving cancer patients more expensive treatments than they needed. Is this a case of fraud, as the Justice Department maintains, or an example of Florida's overheated style of medical treatment?

Patients decry C-section rate

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2/12/2010 © Health News Florida Advocates for women's health are hosting a seminar today and Saturday on the alarming rate of unnecessary Cesarean sections in Miami, where the surgery accounts for more than half of births. Meanwhile, the Orlando Sentinel reports on another patient-education effort: on the dangers of MRIs for pacemaker patients.

State agencies on trial today

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By Sammy Mack 2/9/2010 © Health News Florida A landmark lawsuit that seeks to rewrite Florida's Medicaid policy resumed today in Miami, with plaintiffs charging that state agencies' low pay for doctors and dentists and tendency to switch plans without notice often leave children with no access to care. A related story in Florida Today shows the struggle of dentists who take Medicaid. 

Some defend DOH secrecy

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By Carol Gentry 2/8/2010 © Health News Florida  The state Department of Health's decision to withhold information on its consumer web site about pending actions against health professionals -- including arrests --- is entirely appropriate, say attorneys who defend doctors. The public's reaction was different. As one woman said, "I was horrified."

Uninsured Mexicans find care

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2/2/2010 © Orlando Sentinel When Josefina de la Rosa was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, she could not afford treatment. In stepped nonprofit Casa de Mexico, which finds doctors to help.

Patient or fetus -- whose rights prevail?

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1/26/2010 © Associated Press The case of Samantha Burton, who was forced to remain in the hospital for the welfare of her fetus, is drawing attention to the question of whether pregnancy deprives patients of their rights.

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.
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