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It's not often that you see a hospital CEO walk away from the lucrative, high-profile job to take on the backbreaking work of nursing. But that's just what former respiratory therapist and Milton Hospital CEO George Geary did. At age 56, he went to nursing school, and now, at age 59, is working overnight shifts at a Boston-area hospital as a green recruit. It's not that Geary failed at being a CEO--Milton Hospital has run in the black for 14 years--it's because he wants to be closer to patients. Article

Getting new executives fully up to speed is tough. But if you've recruited a chief medical officer, it's a particularly trying process for both the candidate and the organization, says David Shabot, managing director with executive search firm …

In a Q&A with UPI, William Plested III, president of the AMA, discusses the impact of Medicare reimbursement rate cuts on physicians. He says that their primary concern is that physicians--particularly geriatricians--won't be able to afford taking on more elderly patients if Medicare doesn't reimburse them properly. According to an AMA study, 45 percent of physicians say the cuts will …

The former administrator of Kaiser Permanente's troubled Northern California kidney-transplant unit, David Merlin, has filed a $5 million wrongful termination lawsuit. Merlin alleges he was terminated after two months on the job for raising concerns about the transplant program. Kaiser had brought kidney transplant services in-house in late 2004, and Merlin started his job in December 2005. The suit states that he "discovered that the program was so poorly organized and unprofessionally …

A new Merritt Hawkins study reports that most family practitioners, internists and pediatricians are unhappy with their salary, which averages $150,000 annually. Sixty-eight percent of physicians reported that they were satisfied with their jobs, but the remainder said they "somewhat dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied." Despite the fact that most primary care physicians like their job, however, only 37.6 said they would choose to go into primary care again if they had a second chance. …

Research by IDC Health Insights finds that personal health records are "barely on the radar" for consumers. Even among consumers who frequently use computers and the Internet, usage rates are low. More than fifty percent of the respondents researchers talked to were "unaware" of the PHR concept. Author Marc Holland notes, "PHR software is a high-potential market, but for it to truly flourish, the industry needs to do a better job of educating consumers about what these products are and …

> The Financial Times reports that the heads of GM, Ford and Chrysler have been unsuccessfully attempting to arrange a meeting with President Bush since before the last election. Article

> FierceHealthcare editor Matthew Holt was at the fabled PARC Research Center last week to deliver a talk on "Healthcare, IT and why your doc may be stuck in the 90s...the 1890s."  …

Flu season is pretty much over, the CDC said this week. Overall flu and pneumonia deaths this year were far below an average year. Officials say that's partly because this year's season was a mild one but also because the vaccines on the market did a better job than usual. The CDC reports active influenza in less than half of the states. There was less positive news in the fine print. Authorities say this year's Type A virus is resistant to both rimantadine and amantadine. Also of …

Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach, the acting head of the FDA, is continuing his work at the National Cancer Institute despite assurances from the administration that he would step down to concentrate on his work at the regulatory agency. The political daily The Hill reports that von Eschenbach remained on the job at the National Cancer Institute as of last week and continues to be quoted in official announcements as the agency's director. Following von Eschenbach's appointment in …

As order returns to New Orleans after last week's devastation, the grim job of collecting and identifying the dead has begun. One Houston-based company is at the center of the effort. Kenyon International Emergency Services is the sole contractor retained by the government to help clean up following catastrophic events. The disaster management specialist has plenty of expertise; it led the ID efforts following the Asian Tsunamis. Thus far, Kenyon is handling collection only and not the identification effort. Story