physician groups

Physician retail clinic protests miss the point
Wow, the AMA is steamed about retail clinics. In my nearly 20 years of healthcare reporting, I can't think of an issue which has gotten members more worked up and ready …

If they're big enough to carry the costs, it's making increasing sense for physician groups to create their own captive medical malpractice insurer. A growing number are looking at pooling their malpractice premiums, creating a new med mal "risk retention" insurer which they can control. The groups, which rely on the Federal Liability Risk Retention Act, are fighting to control an aspect of their business which has been a tremendous source of pain the past.

One recent example comes …

As if state healthcare administrators weren't facing enough problems already, they're now battling a lawsuit over free care provided after Hurricane Katrina. Doctors at a New Orleans-area hospital, West Jefferson Medical Center, have sued the state for $100 million. The 381 physicians bringing the suit argue that state officials should reimburse them for treating indigent patients, which they've done since August 2005 in the wake of the hurricane. The physicians estimate that 30 percent …

Working with physician groups, AstraZeneca has begun an initiative intended to bring more minority doctors on board for drug trials. Right now, African-American doctors account for about 3 percent of U.S. doctors, and Hispanic doctors a smaller percentage. About 13 percent of American doctors participate in drug trials, according to the drugmaker. AstraZeneca said that it intends to collaborate with an African-American physician group, the National Medical Association, and the …

While most patients enter the healthcare system through the offices of small providers--such as one- and two-physician groups--those providers are more likely than others to be behind on getting their new National Provider Identifier number from CMS. These groups need help, and extra time to comply, experts suggest. Article

It's always nice to see that there's light at the other end of the pay for performance tunnel, namely, a big fat pile of cash. In this case, a group of seven California health plans has paid big bonuses to high performers on their roster, which includes 35,000 physicians working in 210 medical practices. This year's $55 million payout, as in previous years, went to physician groups who performed best on clinical care, patient satisfaction and smart use of IT during 2005. Among the most …

With physicians and hospitals offering only lukewarm support to proposed FDA reforms of its drug safety policy and communications with the public and providers, Congress is likely to push ahead with plans of its own to regulate the agency, experts say. Physician groups like the AMA and Medical Group Management Association said they were pleased with the FDA's plans to notify physicians more quickly about drug safety concerns, though as MGMA president noted, the FDA still has little …

Now that the battle over the 5 percent Medicare fee cut is finished, evidence continues to filter in that physicians aren't so thrilled with the compromise that spared them the cut. When the House Ways and Means Committee reached out to physician groups to ask for letters of support, only a few agreed to do so. In particular, the American Medical Association conspicuously declined to issue the letter of support, and what's more, rejected an offer from Ways and Means Chairman …

While consumers may assume that high-touch smaller practices can provide better care, a new study suggests that larger integrated physician groups perform better on a series of standard quality measures. The study, which appears in the current issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, examined three preventative care measures and three chronic disease management measures. The researchers based their findings on data collected from 119 California groups contracting with PacifiCare …

Press Release: Larger Physician Practices May Provide Higher-Quality Care