Physicians Face Pressures From Increased Patient Loads, Looming Payment Cuts

Investor’s Business Daily: Two provisions of the new health overhaul law “may accelerate a trend” of doctors leaving their profession. It points to parts of the legislation that would ask physicians to accept new administrative chores and standards, although some of them might result in better reimbursement rates from insurers and the government…

Health Industry Will See More Patients With Reform; Physicians Give Mixed Reviews

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The health care plan aims to send a wave of paying patients to hospitals, doctors and pharmacists.” Expanded coverage will mean less uncompensated care, a boon to traditional safety-net hospitals, but also more Medicaid patients. Hospitals say Medicaid fees don’t cover their costs, so that influx could hurt the bottom line…

Massachusetts Hospital Costs Not Connected To Quality Of Care, Report Finds

A new report from Massachusetts finds that the price of hospital care there is not necessarily related to quality. “When it comes to getting high quality medical care in Massachusetts, the bigger hospitals aren’t always better. But they tend to be a lot more expensive, according to a new report by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office,” The Boston Herald reports…

Study Finds Efforts To Steer Patients To Lower-Cost Physicians May Be Based On Misleading Rankings

Increasingly common insurance plans that encourage patients to receive care from physicians who keep medical costs lower are based on unreliable estimates of doctor performance and may not achieve the intended savings, according to a new RAND Corporation study…

Poll: Americans’ Health Reform Fears Eased In January

“With President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul in limbo, Americans’ fears about its effect on them eased in January, according to a poll released as the president tries to revive sweeping Democratic legislation,” The Associated Press/MSNBC reports…

As Health Care Reform Approaches Many Questions Remain Unanswered

Arthur Feldman, M.D., Ph.D, Magee Professor and Chairman, Department of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College, has written a new book, Pursuing Excellence In Healthcare: Preserving America’s Academic Medical Centers, one of the first textbooks since the works of Abraham Flexnor in 1910 to take a comprehensive look at the issues facing academic medicine. Dr…

Community Health Centers Step In To Provide Care For Newly Uninsured

Community Health Centers are providing a growing number of newly uninsured people with primary and preventive care. These centers are being tested by the growing patient load, MarketWatch reports…

State Health Policy Developments: Doctor Shortages, California Insurance Crackdown

News outlets across the country report on state health policy developments. The Los Angeles Times: “At a time when nearly 7 million Californians are uninsured, state regulators are trying to rein in discount health and dental plans that officials say frequently overstate benefits, offer little if any savings and promise access to doctors who aren’t part of the system…

Congress Faces One-Month Deadline On Doctor Payment Fix

The doctor payment fix and several marketplace issues, such as insurance red tape and malpractice cases, continue to loom while health care reform efforts stall. The Hill: “At the end of February, a short-term measure enacted late last year will expire, exposing doctors who treat Medicare patients to a 21 percent reduction in their fees…

Congress Faces One-Month Deadline On Doctor Payment Fix

The doctor payment fix and several marketplace issues, such as insurance red tape and malpractice cases, continue to loom while health care reform efforts stall. The Hill: “At the end of February, a short-term measure enacted late last year will expire, exposing doctors who treat Medicare patients to a 21 percent reduction in their fees…