financially

> Interesting implications for the growth of the medical tourism industry. Apollo Hospitals, a chain which is getting a healthy piece of the U.S. medical tourism business, may acquire a U.K. hospital chain for $2.3 billion. Article

> Five health systems are looking to buy the Detroit-areas …

This week, a commission created under New York law should release a plan for shrinking the state's hospital and nursing home industries. The plan will itself become law unless the governor or legislature reject it next month. The commission's plan has developed after a year of meetings and public hearings. Observers expect the commission to require the closing of underused, financially struggling hospitals, but otherwise don't know what it will do. The state's industry is waiting with …

> A recent survey found that while general surgeons made more this year than last year, they're still quite frustrated with the administrative side of their work. Release

> Ambulance company American Medical Response has settled with the Department of Justice on charges that it systematically offered discounts in return for referrals. …

One Georgia consultant argues that cheap generic drugs a la Wal-Mart and retail clinics will lead to "chaos" in the healthcare system. With many hospitals, particularly rural hospitals, on the edge financially, changes in consumer health services uptake could doom some hospitals to extinction, he suggests. Article

Diabetes and other conditions such as obesity have become some of this nation's most pressing medical concerns. But in Philadelphia--and across the nation--there's a serious lack of endocrinologists available to treat these diseases. A study by the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania found that there are 22 percent too few endocrinologists to treat the state's diabetes patients; that number is …

Last year former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy avoided a conviction related to HealthSouth's $2.64 billion fraud scandal. But as a result of the accounting irregularities, Scrushy walked off with $47.8 million in bonus payments. Now the Alabama Supreme Court has upheld an order requiring him to repay the company $51.5 million--the bonus payment plus interest totaling $15,500 a day. In their opinion, the Court stated, "Scrushy was unjustly enriched by the payment of the bonuses, which …

Traditionally, retail clinics have been used as a convenient, simple way to avoid the hassle of visiting a doctor or the emergency room. But state and local officials in Texas are in talks with Intrepid Holdings to bring its Healthy Access clinics to poor and underserved communities as an alternative to overcrowded urban ERs. The clinics will offer care for easily-treatable illnesses such as infections and colds but it will also provide patients with flu shots, health screenings and a …

In June, a botched gallbladder surgery at Massachusetts's Milford Regional medical Center cost a woman her kidney. Since then, the five members of Surgical Associates of Milford have publicly distanced themselves from the hospital because the hospital's CEO has declined to name the doctor who made the mistake. The Surgical Associates of Milford say that since the incident, several patients have canceled surgery because they were concerned about the error. "This surgeon who was involved in …

A study in this week's Physicians Practice finds that Doctors are being hurt financially by slow claims processing by insurers. Researchers used data collected in the fourth quarter of 2005 by Athenahealth to grade insurers on how quickly they payed legitimate claims and how often they rejected. Humana responded the most quickly, averaging 29 days from the date of service to payment. Among commercial insurers, UnitedHealth was the slowest, taking on average 37.4 days to pay claims. …

The San Francisco Business Times runs what looks like an article written by the PR department at Catholic Healthcare West. The 40-hospital chain is apparently an outstanding place to work, gives all its employees health care benefits, pays for college classes and in 2005 it did so well financially that all employees got a bonus. Well, at least someone's benefiting from the continual increase in health care costs. Article