specialists

The number of U.S. medical students choosing primary care work is falling like a stone, largely because primary care doctors make so much less than specialists do, according to a new study by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The study offers a similar cautionary note as a PCP study released last year by the American College of Physicians (ACP). The ACP found that the number of internal medicine trainees planning on PCP work fell from 54 percent in 1998 to 25 percent in …

Roanoke-based non-profit Carilion Health System is facing significant resistance from doctors as execs move ahead with plans to substantially reorganize operations. The non-profit currently runs eight hospitals, as well as Carilion Medical Group, a 200-clinician practice with 70 offices. Despite creating a system-wide EMR and instituting other initiatives to coordinate care, the health system model isn't working effectively, according Carilion's CEO, Dr. Edward Murphy. He and his board …

Diabetes and other conditions such as obesity have become some of this nation's most pressing medical concerns. But in Philadelphia--and across the nation--there's a serious lack of endocrinologists available to treat these diseases. A study by the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania found that there are 22 percent too few endocrinologists to treat the state's diabetes patients; that number is …

As employers struggle with the cost of insuring their workers, a new trend has taken hold: Many employers are opening up their own on-site clinics for employees. The clinics save employers money in several ways. First, employees like the convenience of an easily-accessible clinic and are likely to visit the clinic for minor health issues. This saves employers the cost of paying for an employee's full-blown doctor visit, and the patient may not even have to pay a copay to use the clinic. …

The dangers of a corporate practice
In response to rising healthcare costs, lower salaries and increased demands on their time, many doctors have turned their offices into corporate practices. In this model nurses and assistants spend more time with the patients, giving patients less access to the doctors. Columnist Saul Friedman as well as many physicians say that the corporate practice has many flaws, including incorrect diagnoses, unnecessary trips to specialists and lower overall quality of care. Column

How do your surgeons get trained to work with new medical implants? Once they're out of residency, they may depend on professional societies or vendor training programs that aren't consistently regulated for quality and effectiveness. And vendor-sponsored programs may create a conflict of interest by tying free training to purchase of their implants. The federal government has started collecting data on cardiac implants, comparing implant specialists with general cardiac surgeons who …

A new study finds that physician pay rates have fallen 7 percent over the last decade, even as compensation for lawyers and other professionals rose. The research, conducted by the Center for the Study of Health System Change, confirms what many doctors have been arguing for years. According to the group, the average physician salary is now $202,982. The study indicates that primary care physicians have taken the hardest hit with salaries dropping on average 10 percent to $146,405. The …

New York's Mount Sinai has crafted a creative deal with the state that supporters say is helping New York keep Medicaid costs down and reducing ER visits to the hospital at the same time. Mount Sinai is offering residents in some areas of Harlem free preventative care in return for increased Medicaid reimbursement rates. The pilot project, which has the support of a $2.3 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, provides chronically ill patients suffering from …

The Institute of Medicine released a closely-watched report warning that U.S. emergency rooms are dangerously overworked. According to researchers, demand for emergency department services has increased 26 percent over the past decade. That's put a strain on the ability of hospitals to handle the most important cases. Researchers found that 500,000 ambulances a year are diverted because emergency departments are too crowded to accept them. The authors also warn that most emergency rooms …

Legislators in Tallahassee will take up a bill that would impose strict limits on the number of offices that Florida physicians can operate. The proposed legislation, which moved forward through committee yesterday, would cap the number of satellite offices that primary care physicians can operate at four for general practitioners and two for specialists. The law was prompted by reports that some doctors were opening offices and leaving them largely in the hands of nurse practitioners and …