By Derrick DePledge http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com Working under a tight budget, state House and Senate lawmakers have tentatively agreed to appoint a working group to study ways to lure doctors to rural and underserved areas. The group would discuss the idea of a student loan repayment program this year and report to lawmakers next year on how […]

by George Lauer http://www.ihealthbeat.org/ Virtual house calls — or virtual visits to the doctor, depending on your perspective — are making major strides toward the mainstream in North America. In the United States, two large insurers recently announced plans to reimburse physicians for online consultations with patients. Aetna expanded a three-state pilot project to the […]

By Halimah Abdullah http://www.macon.com/ Macon physician Harvey Jones makes less than $60,000 a year, drives a 14-year-old Cadillac and says continued cuts to Medicare reimbursements to physicians mean he is unable to afford medical insurance for himself or his employees. “All I do is pray. I try to take care of myself. I buy my […]

by The Times-Picayune http://www.nola.com/  The Louisiana Medical Mutual Insurance Company, a medical malpractice insurer, will pay a $10.5 million dividend to qualifying policyholders during the second quarter of 2008, LAMMICO President/CEO Thomas H. Grimstad, M.D. announced. This is the first time in LAMMICO’s 26-year history that the company will return a dividend to its policyholders. […]

By John Gardner http://www.postindependent.com/ GARFIELD COUNTY — The nursing shortage around the nation is a very real thing, according to Daniel Biggs, administrative director of human resources at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs. But the hospitals in Garfield County are better off than many. “I believe that the nursing shortage is a matter of […]

BY DARRELL COLE http://www.amherstdaily.com/ PUGWASH – For the sixth time in a month the emergency department at the North Cumberland Memorial Hospital is being forced to close because of a physician shortage, but officials with the Cumberland Health Authority are hoping those closures will end soon. “It’s something we continue to work on,â€? health authority […]

By Rianne Pangelinan-Brown http://www.saipantribune.com Medical malpractice insurance from reputable U.S.-based insurance companies is not readily available to the CNMI because the islands’ risk pool is too small, according to the Commonwealth Health Center’s litigation counsel, David Lochabay. “There aren’t enough doctors [on the islands] to spread the risk of malpractice claims for an insurance company […]

By Patty Pensa http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ It’s been nine years since Rita Wax’s son died on the operating room table, yet the lawsuit alleging malpractice continues. Wax hasn’t lost any resolve. She’s as convinced as she was on Day 1: Gary Wax shouldn’t have died. At age 37, he was healthy and the procedure, a hernia repair, […]

Civility Mutual http://www.earthtimes.org SANTA FE, N.M., April 15 /PRNewswire/ — Civility Mutual, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, launches today as the first and only membership organization to offer education, training and CMEs for physician – patient communication effectiveness, and provides residency directors with the educational tools and assessments their residents need to fulfill the […]