May 15, 2017 Recent News

Healthcare

Hospitals

Insurers

Physicians

Healthcare

MGMA states that 11% of medical practices do nothing with their EHR junk.  About 22% use some analytics and the rest either use their own analytics or farm them out.

In another important study it is shown that bystander CPR or AED use is beneficial to the patient not only in terms of restoring life but also lower the risk of death from any cause for one year and decreases brain damage and nursing home care for the year.  This again shows the need to train the population in the techniques and have AEDs available in more public areas.

The VA is considering shutting some facilities and allowing the vets to get care in the privates sector.  

How much should one believe medical journals?  Not much.  John McCool, a cool name, is the senior editor of Precision Scientific Editing, and he wrote a case study of a fake urological condition "uromycitisis" under the pseudonym of Martin van Nostrand. This is based on a Seinfeld episode and the name id the alter ego of Cosmos.  The idiots at MedCave Urology & Nephrology Open Access Journal published it.  They also asked for money to print the article.

Aetna is continuing its exit and is now out of all Ocare exchanges.  It pulled the plug on Nebraska and Virginia, its last two states.  The insurer joins Humana and United in pulling out.  The insurers state the uncertainty along with the poor ratio of sick to well individuals are the cause.  There are one insurer left in Virginia and one in Nebraska.        Top

Hospitals

The CEO of the University of Utah Health Care has quit due to pressure after firing the director of the university cancer center.  Dr. Lee will remain as a radiology professor.  The pressure came form Jon Huntsman who threatened to withhold a $250 million gift. The cancer director was reinstated.

The Ohio State University College of Medicine, never a great bastion of fairness by the administration, has a mutiny.  Twenty-five physicians and professors have signed a letter of no-confidence regarding the CEO of the Wexner Medical Center.  They accuse Dr. Sheldon Retchin of creating unrealistic clinical effort and research expectations.  They accuse also Dr. Craig Kent, the Dean of the College of Medicine of the same thing at Retchin.  They state there not only has been no hiring but staff has left.  The University, as usual, is stonewalling.  

Several days after the letter became public, Dr. Retchin resigned as CEO.  He is staying at The University of Ohio as a researcher.

The VA continues to disappoint.  This time it is the Washington, DC VA who reported that investigators, not the hospital, found problems with sterilization of instruments.  One patient was already under anesthesia when the problems was found and the surgery was cancelled.  One month prior the VA investigators found problems and the head of the hospital was removed and replaced.  The inspector's recommendations have not been done in the month.        Top

Insurers

Molina Healthcare, is not that profitable so the board has fired the brothers Molina.  They were the CEO and CFO of the Medicaid insurance organization.        Top

Physicians

What goes around comes around.  KentuckyOne Health in Louisville purchased a lot of physician practices in the past five years.  Now the organization is not doing so well financially (could they have lost money on physicians?).  So, they are cutting their employment of 25 physicians along with 250 corporate staff members.  The patients will have a choice of staying with their physicians or staying with the organization.  Some of the physicians are "of a certain age" and are not interested in re-starting a new private practice.  They will retire, leaving less physicians to care for the patient load.        Top

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 DISCLAIMER: Although this article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the information presented.