legislators

> A group of legislators and private companies is lobbying to see additional laws enacted to protect the privacy of medical information. Read more...

New research from the state of Florida suggests hospitals are not providing enough charity care to impress regulators. Right now, legislators are considering new rules which would require charity... Read more...

Turning over fee-for-service Medicare dollars to health plans was supposed to save money. But it's beginning to look like this isn't the case. To date, in fact, CMS has paid 12 percent more for... Read more...

> The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) may not have the clout of the AMA, but it's doing what it can on the lobbying front nonetheless. It's meeting with legislators on Capitol Hill to ask them to stop the planned 10 percent Medicare reimbursement cut. Article

> Tenet has struck a deal with Aetna which extends the Aetna network to all of the chain's 60 subsidiary-owned or operated hospitals. …

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At one time, being a cardiothoracic surgeon was one of the highest-status specialties a physician could practice--and many students responded by taking up the arduous training needed to become one. Today, however, it seems that status alone isn't enough. Increasingly, surgeons-in-training are refusing to undergo the 12-year training program needed to become a cardiothoracic specialist. Students are afraid they won't be able to pay back the huge student loans needed to fund this training, …

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> Cardiac deaths are dropping, thanks largely to better treatments and reductions in risk factors. Article

> In Saint Louis, doctors and hospitals are gradually getting used to the idea of having outsiders rate the quality of care they provide. …

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So what's the story with Dr. Steven Nissen? The cardiologist who chairs the Cleveland Clinic's department of cardiovascular medicine made international headlines when he released a study suggesting that blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia posed greater heart health risks than expected. But this isn't the first time that Nissen has had a major impact on the drug industry. For years, Nissen has been an influential watchdog, respected by legislators on Capitol Hill and feared by pharmas. Article

> A South Florida health plan is cutting premium costs by leaving out hospital coverage entirely. Article

> Legislation which would have changed Tennessee's Certificate of Need process has been put on the shelf until 2008. Article

> As they invest in new …

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A new California bill which would allow psychologists with special training to prescribe drugs has drawn angry protests from a state psychiatric group. The bill, which is being considered by the state Senate, would give psychologists the option of becoming "prescribing psychologists" after taking a year of courses and getting additional supervised clinical experience. (They would be required to have this training because unlike psychiatrists, they don't have MD degrees.) The California …

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Alabama legislators are looking at a new measure which could reshape the way the state handles trauma care. In an effort to streamline the trauma system, a new bill has been filed which would create a 24-hour trauma dispatch center serving the entire state. The bill would also create a trauma registry which would gather information on critical injuries. The center, which would be managed by the state's Health Department, would monitor the status of the state's hospitals and keep …

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