Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Health Informatics News

Health Informatics News

United Healthcare FL Hospital reach deal

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9/15/2010 © Orlando Sentinel The new plan will allow patients insured by United Healthcare to continue using the hospital and its affiliates at in-network rates without a lapse in coverage.

Specialists dominate care in Miami

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9/14/2010 © Miami Herald People in Miami tend to have fewer visits to primary care doctors, but plenty of visits to high-priced specialists, which may explain why Medicare spends so much per person there.

Kids' mental health program in trouble again

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9/14/2010 © St. Petersburg Times Florida Department of Children and Families is responding to reports of violence between patients at Tampa Bay Academy, which lost its license for a time in 2008.

Lawsuits down but defensive medicine lives on

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9/11/2010 © Fort Myers News-Press Florida's restrictions on malpractice lawsuits have made it financially daunting to bring most legitimate cases to court, legal scholars say, while at the same time, Florida doctors continue to practice defensive medicine. One case against Lee Memorial Hospital has been in pre-trial disputes for over a decade; it asserts that the hospital lied to cover up a fatal mistake.  

Rural hospital was fraud center police say

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9/10/2010 © Gainesville Sun Eight people, including the top executives of HC Healthcare and a physician, have been arrested on suspicion of committing fraud at a hospital in Jasper. Meanwhile in Miami, two men were sentenced in a home-health scam and a woman who owned a clinic pleaded guilty to $23 million in Medicare fraud.

Dr. Zachariah obsessed day-trader

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9/8/2010 © Broward Bulldog Fort Lauderdale cardiologist Zachariah P. Zachariah, a former chair of the Board of Medicine, testified that he did not engage in insider-trading. He described himself as a "gambler," buying and selling online between patients.

In the hospital but off the books

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By Susan Jaffe 9/7/2010 © Kaiser Health News  A pilot auditing project on unnecessary Medicare hospitalizations in six states -- including Florida -- has led hospitals to bring patients in but keep them officially on "observation." That has led some to suffer serious financial hits.

Bad nursing homes live on and on

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9/6/2010 © Florida Times-Union, Tampa Tribune The Agency for Health Care Administration filed petitions to revoke the licenses of 22 of the state's nursing homes in the past 10 years, but the action never happened in 20 of those. It's also quite difficult to shut down pill-mill doctors, as a recent Tampa case illustrates.

Mayo urges hepatitis test for 3000

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9/3/2010 © Florida Times-Union Mayo Clinic will send letters to more than 3,000 patients who may have come into contact with Steven Beumel, a radiology tech who was fired after admitting to using patients' painkiller shots on himself and reusing the needles to inject saline.

Patients kept in dark

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9/3/2010 © Orlando Sentinel Last month when health-care giants Florida Hospital and United Healthcare were working out a contract dispute, they failed to tell patients they could continue to see their doctors at in-network prices until Oct. 14. Instead, they were left in limbo.

Fraud brings U.S. gift: 42-ft.yacht

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9/2/2010 Florida Times-Union Three people, including a Miami couple, pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud; doctors' identifications were stolen and used to bill Medicare for expensive infusion therapy.

Drop in Medicaid patients hurts Jackson

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9/2/2010 © Miami Herald In July alone, Jackson Health System saw a drop of about 500 Medicaid patients and lost $11.4 million in Medicaid income from April through July.

Dentist accused of fraud negligence

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9/1/2010 © Ocala Star-Banner Dr. Ben Spivey's ads said he could recreate smiles and restore youth. Instead, a state complaint alleges, patients ended up with dentures that didn't fit or charged for services they didn't authorize. In other news, a Jacksonville doctor's sentence was cut from 20 years to 10 in a child-sex sting.

Fund to aid health-care start-ups

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9/1/2010 © Miami Herald A venture capital fund of veteran healthcare entrepreneur Miguel "Mike" Fernandez announced the start of a $20 million angel fund to help small health-care start-ups in Florida. 

Jackson forfeits $310M in uncollected claims

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9/1/2010 © Miami Herald To settle a lawsuit, cash-strapped Jackson Health System has been forced to give a Pennsylvania collections agency  $310 million in uninsured patients' billings that it has never tried to collect. 

Patients in billing disputes get help

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8/31/2010 © Miami Herald Nelly Gonzalez was shocked when she saw a $3,000 bill from a specialist she had thought was in her health network. Fortunately her employer offers help through Health Advocate, a company that provides muscle for patients in disputes.

Non-profits not acting like charities

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8/29/2010 Orlando Sentinel/Washington Post Florida Hospital System, with 18 facilities already, is on a buying binge for half a dozen more hospitals, doctors' practices and labs. Competitor Orlando Health is trying to catch up. The turf wars have triggered a medical arms race.

ER substitutes for Medicaid doctors

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8/28/2010 © St. Petersburg Times Visits to emergency rooms by Medicaid patients, not just the uninsured, go up as physicians increasingly refuse to accept the low pay the state offers.

Mayo: We'll be 'candid' about outbreak

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8/28/2010 © Florida Times-Union  The leaders of Mayo Clinic say they have a system that tracks controlled drugs, but admit that somehow a radiology tech defeated the system -- and infected at least three patients with hepatitis C.

Mayo: worker used patients' syringes

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8/26/2010 © Florida Times-Union Officials at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville say at least one patient has died from the hepatitis C outbreak caused by a former radiology tech injecting himself with drugs the patients were supposed to get.

Mayo fires tech in hepatitis outbreak

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8/25/2010 © Florida Times-Union Three patients who had undergone invasive procedures at the clinic's interventional radiology unit were found to have hepatitis C. A radiology technologist was fired after admitting to "diverting drugs," according to a written statement from the clinic.

Workers' comp co. funds McCollum ads

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8/20/2010 © Florida Independent The largest spender among health-care interests on behalf of Bill McCollum's campaign is Automated Healthcare of Miramar, a workers' compensation business. In other news, the candidates offered outlines of what they'd do about Medicaid spending.

Chain brings a bottom-line focus

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8/22/2010 © Florida Today Health Management Associates is scheduled to take over two Brevard County hospitals with 406 beds, a hospice center, a nursing home and an adult living facility on Oct. 1. Based on the company's track record, local patients can expect changes.

Officials probe dialysis unit infections

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8/20/2010 © The St. Petersburg Times A second internal investigation is being conducted at Bay Pines VA Medical Center after five dialysis patients contracted infections beginning in May; officials have yet to determine the cause of the infections and say that no common variables between the patients could be found.

Employers shift health-care costs

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8/19/2010 © The Hill Many businesses are planning to hike premiums and cost-sharing measures on their employees next year in an attempt to remain profitable in the face of  healthcare reform.

Move to e-records under way

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8/16/2010 © Orlando Sentinel Florida doctors and hospitals are making the shift to the electronic documents, which advocates say will save lives, reduce waste and prevent errors. The change comes as a result of new federal standards unveiled last month and is not without opposition.

Psychologist suspended for sexual misconduct

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8/16/2010 © Florida Times-Union Johann Nicholas Prewett has been disciplined before because of bizarre behavior with patients. This time, state officials decided, he crossed the line.

'That we should have caught'

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8/17/2010 © Miami Herald Medicare officials say two Florida companies submitted $2 million in phony claims for medical equipment, including $395 penis-pumps for patients who turned out to be women. 

Hospital chain paid kickbacks: suit

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By Mike Wells 8/10/2010 © Health News Florida Health Management Associates, a hospital chain based in Naples, offered doctors money, free rent, and even jet trips to a golf tournament in return for referring Medicare patients, a former HMA executive says. Editor's note: corrections added.

Health execs offer 'solutions'

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By Nancy McVicar 8/4/2010 © Health News Florida A state senator's "Health Care Solutions Tour" kicked off in Miami today with a slide show that hit the major Republican talking points, including warnings about the cost of "Obamacare" and growth in Medicaid. Public officials and health-industry executives spoke, but no patients or advocates were there.

Keys hospital unhappy with HMA

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7/30/2010 © Miami Herald What to do with Fisherman's Hospital, a facility that has only a handful of beds filled and flies all its chest-pain patients to Miami? 

Insurers stop writing for kids

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7/24/2010 © Associated Press In Florida, UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have stopped issuing new policies that cover children as individuals, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty says, because they worry that only the sick will sign up. 

Doctor riles family with gun question

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7/24/2010 © Ocala Star-Banner One mother who refused to answer when pediatrician Chris Okonkwo asked whether the family has a gun says it's none of his business. He says the safety of his patients is his business.

Hopkins' chief-to-be reassures

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By Carol Gentry 7/22/2010 © Health News Florida Jonathan Ellen, the Johns Hopkins professor in line to become physician-in-chief at All Children’s Hospital, says local doctors and USF faculty and residents should not be concerned. But confusion abounds.

Shands eyes special session

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By Jim Saunders 7/13/2010 © Health News Florida Warning that it will otherwise have to cut services, Shands HealthCare wants to use a special legislative session next week to reverse Gov. Charlie Crist's veto of $9.7 million for the University of Florida teaching hospital. 

Double-CT radiation a concern

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By Dave Gulliver 7/9/2010 © Health News Florida A type of medical scan that delivers a double dose of radiation to the patient is recommended for only a small number of conditions. But some Florida hospitals perform the scans on more than half of their patients, a new study shows. 

Medicare bids save 1/3 on costs

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By Jim Saunders 7/2/2010 © Health News Florida Medicare patients and taxpayers will save more than one-third on home-health equipment costs in South and Central Florida next year because of a new competitive-bidding program, officials said Thursday. But the industry is trying to kill it, with the help of a Florida Congressman. 

This is an order: Do not resuscitate!

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7/2/2010 © Kaiser Health News Too often, nursing homes or hospitals ignore patients' Living Wills, resuscitating and intubating against the patient's and family's wishes. It helps to have a physician's order in the medical file. FSU is leading an effort in Florida to spread the news.

Hospital charges remain mystery

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6/30/2010 © Kaiser Health News More than 30 states, including Florida, make hospital prices public. But that doesn't mean patients can figure out what a procedure will cost ahead of time, let alone get a binding estimate.

Unsealed complaint slams WellCare

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By Carol Gentry and Mike Wells 6/28/2010 © Health News Florida The whistleblower complaint that launched a federal investigation of WellCare Health Plans four years ago has now been unsealed, portraying a company so heartless it rewarded employees who dumped hundreds of sick newborns and terminally ill patients from the membership rolls.
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