News
David G. Daniel, Chief executive officer, Lakeland Surgical & Diagnostic Center, Lakeland Fla.
The Integrated Healthcare Association, which promotes quality improvement, accountability and affordability of healthcare in California, has named its top 45 performing physician organizations for 2009, based on the IHA’s statewide Pay for Performance program measures.
Healthcare organizations are using locum tenens physicians when they need to maintain services/revenue while permanent candidates are sought, according to a recent National Association of Community Health Centers Web seminar.
Peter Christensen Health Center, part of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation in north-central Wisconsin, has seen a 35 percent jump in revenue over five years, thanks in part to its EHR and billing system.
The Dinwiddie Nursing & Rehabilitation Center recently became the first healthcare facility in Virginia to embrace clean energy technology with the addition of a solar energy system.
One in three healthcare practices expects to increase IT spending by more than 5 percent over the next year, according to CompTIA. Purchases will range from core IT products to mobile devices and consumer electronics.
The Medagate Corporation, a provider of healthcare benefit services, has announced a partnership with pre-paid card and transaction processing company InComm to launch the OTCNetwork, a national over-the-counter benefits disbursement and redemption network for Medicare Advantage plan members.
"Consumers are searching for plans that do more than just pay their medical bills," says an official with Wisconsin's Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which has launched Anthem Blue Rewards.
A national study of physician wages conducted by the UC Davis Health System has found that specialists are paid as much as 52 percent more than primary care doctors, even though primary care doctors see far more patients.
Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, says improvements in healthcare access may come at the expense of cost containment and quality as reform moves forward.