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Medicare auditor still paid millions despite reversals
Increasingly, it's looking like rehab hospitals dogged by Medicare auditor PRG-Schultz are going to get money back, thanks to new rulings by administrative law judges. The auditor, which has been... Read more...
Study: Wrong-site surgeries, close calls common
Wrong-site surgeries happen or almost happen every other day in Pennsylvania healthcare organizations, says a new study. And, researchers suggest, those findings mirror what's taking place in other states.
Officials of the Pennsylvania Safety Authority, which conducted the survey, said in a 30-month time period stretching from June 2004 to December 2006, they received 427 near misses or reports of wrong-site surgeries. Of those, 253 were near misses. Of the remaining surgeries, …
... Read more...Glaxo: Avandia critic should pay for stock drop
A researcher and early critic of Avandia told Congress yesterday that a GlaxoSmithKline executive threatened him with dire financial consequences when he raised concerns about the drug. Dr. John Buse, who testified before a House panel yesterday, told investigators that Glaxo executive Dr. Tadataka Yamada suggested that he should be responsible for the $4 billion drop in stock value Glaxo suffered after Avandia safety concerns came to light. In light of similar findings by …
... Read more...Healthcare spending slowed in 2005
According to CMS, healthcare spending in 2005 grew 6.9 percent to $2 trillion--the slowest growth pace in 6 years. CMS credits less expensive generic drugs as a reason for the slower growth rate. In addition, states had a hand in lowering costs, as they worked together to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs covered by Medicaid. Hospital spending, however, increased by 7.9 percent in 2005, which is roughly the same as other years. In addition, spending on nursing home care care …
... Read more...Study: Heart attack patients often not compliant
In the healthcare community, a lot of attention is focused on what physicians can do to improve patient outcomes. The growing pay-for-performance trend reflects the theory that if physicians follow a set of guidelines for treating certain diseases, it will better manage those diseases and cut down on costs. But what if a doctor does everything he or she is supposed to and the patient isn't cooperative? A study published in American Health Journal found that more than half of people …
... Read more...Study: Residents work too many hours
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association underscores the danger of overworking medical students. The study found that first year residents routinely work more than the maximum duty-hours recommended by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The council requires that physicians-in-training work no more than 80 hours a week averaged over the course of four weeks, have one day off a week and not work more than 24 hours straight. …
... Read more...Report: Medicaid study wasted $275M
In 2005, a yearlong federal government study paid cancer doctors a combined $275 million for assessing their patient's side effects from chemotherapy. Now many other doctors and lawmakers feel that the study was a waste of money and that its findings will be of no real use to healthcare providers. Chemotherapy providers were given $130 every time they reported their patients' side effects. But HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson noted, "we identified numerous anomalies and gaps in the …
... Read more...Consumers reluctant to use outcomes, cost data
Apparently, Americans don't like having to do homework any more than they did when they were children. A study of 1,000 adults, which was commissioned by Destiny Health and conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, has found that despite our concerns about healthcare costs, most people are reluctant to research cost and quality data even if it's readily available. Health officials have made a lot of noise about increasing transparency in the healthcare system, though two recent …
... Read more...Report: Logging errors improves care quality
Researchers at Johns Hopkins released a study that concludes requiring doctors and nurses to report medication errors and log them in a database improves care quality and decreases the chances that providers will make mistakes. The research, which appears in the June issue of the journal Quality & Safety in Healthcare, looked at mistakes at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. In the study, researchers found errors occur during every step of the medication process …
... Read more...Surgeon pay rates vary within hospitals
A new study finds that surgeons operating in the same hospitals and conducting the same procedures often end up incurring very different costs. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis looked at the expenses of surgeons working within the same hospital and conclude their findings could have "broad implications" for the healthcare system.
"If it's truly the case that one doctor generates lower costs for the same outcomes as another doctor, then it's fair to say there is …
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