physician practices

It's a good time for the Henry Ford Health System, which is coming back strong after suffering major losses a few years ago. The nonprofit system has done well again this year, reporting a 2006 net income of $134.9 million on revenues of $3.25 billion. Revenues are up 6.6 percent from 2005, and net income a whopping 20 percent. Revenue sources included $1.5 billion from the system's Health Alliance Plan and $1 billion from its 920-bed Detroit hospital, physician practices and behavioral …

> A Pennsylvania health reform plan backed aggressively by Gov. Ed Rendell (D) may not pass this year. Article

> Following peers elsewhere, a Jacksonville, FL hospital has developed a bloodless medicine and surgery program aimed at patients who reject transfusions. …

Like it or not, retail clinics are gradually becoming a mainstream concept. As this market gathers steam--and it is, despite some initial problems--it's going to change consumer perception of what outpatient care should be. …

The federal Office of the Inspector General has released a work plan for 2007--among the most detailed in recent years--that targets a wide range of activities and reimbursement areas important to hospitals, home care services, laboratories, rehab providers and psych facilities. Two important issues to be studied include:

• Supplemental payments to hospitals: The OIG is taking a closer look at adjustments for graduate medical education permits, nursing and allied …

> An IBM-backed study suggests that most of the world's health systems will begin to fall apart by the year 2015. Release

> In a speech to a cardiology group, Schering-Plough's CEO puts forth his own set of cost-busting criteria for a managed care scorecard. (Sure, it's health plan mismanagement, not drug prices, which is driving up healthcare costs). …

Shands HealthCare--a health systems in the southeast that includes nine hospitals and more than 80 affiliated physician practices--announced that it will roll out it's own Medicaid offering in an attempt to attract 80,000 possible enrollees in the Jacksonville, FL area. "We have essentially had to develop all the core functions of an insurance company--claims processing, provider relations, benefits plan design, utilization management, disease management," Doug Chaet, vice president of …

A Florida law has made it a felony for physicians to refer patients to an imaging center at which the doctor serves as a medical director. While there are laws that prevent doctors from receiving kickbacks for imaging clinic referrals, a loophole allowed doctors to be salaried medical directors for imaging centers--making self-referrals legal if not completely kosher. Lawmakers hope the provision will cut down on fraud. There have been a number of insurance investigations related to the …

GE, which has been expanding its role in the healthcare IT industry in recent years--especially with last year's purchase of IDX--will begin remote hosting EMRs on a pilot basis in Texas and Wisconsin. The service, called Centricity Enterprise Remote Services, will first be used by Heart Hospital Baylor Plano in January 2007. GE will offer computerized order processing, nursing and physician documentation, electronic medication administration records (MAR), and patient management to …

A growing number of insurers and state agencies are offering online tools that allow consumers to evaluate health care costs, The Wall Street Journal reports. Aetna started the trend last year with a pilot project that is now expanding. A number of major insurers including Cigna, UnitedHealth and Humana have followed suit, offering tools that allow consumers to compare costs for common procedures at hospitals and physician practices.

Early adopters are finding that the …

At the TEPR (Towards the Electronic Patient Record) conference this week, EMR fans were reminded that this movement is now more than a quarter of a century old, yet hasn't exactly seen great success in the U.S. Attendees were also warned that spending money without planning and without involving doctors may lead to great disappointment. A senior representative of the AMA said that …