http://health.cch.com/ Congress on December 19 passed legislation that will stop a 10 percent decrease in payments to physicians that was to go into effect Jan. 1, 2008, and also extends the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) until March 31, 2009. The Bush administration praised the legislation for extending the SCHIP program without raising taxes. […]

by Barbara Kram, Editor http://www.dotmed.com The American College of Physicians has agreed to integrate its PIER (Physicians’ Information and Education Resource) content into DocSite patient registry applications and point-of-care decision support systems. The combined offering will enable physicians to review evidence-based medical content and guidelines within their normal clinical workflow. Rapid access to the latest […]

Heading into retirement, longtime local physician fears he may have been part of a vanishing species By Judy Benson http://www.theday.com For 30 years, Dr. Robert Linden has been taking care of his friends and neighbors from offices in a modest, gray ranch house on Main Street a few miles from his home in another part […]

By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer http://www.sptimes.com TAMPA – Dr. Jack Brock still wears blue surgical scrubs each day, even though he no longer needs them. That’s because Brock, once the respected director of cardiac surgery at Tampa General Hospital, no longer spends his days stitching arteries and removing lung tumors. Instead, he has joined […]

State’s new business is much the same as the old http://www.telegram.com The election of Massachusetts’ first Democratic governor in 16 years prompted predictions of massive change on Beacon Hill in 2007. After a year of political sparring between the administration and legislative leaders, there remains a heaping plate of unfinished business to tackle. Still pending […]

TED SICKINGER The Oregonian Staff Oregon Health & Science University faces a multimillion dollar annual budget hit after a court ruling Friday that effectively eliminated a state cap on malpractice and other awards for damages. That’s an expense that the institution can ill afford as it attempts to bolster hospital profits and reduce big losses […]

By Frank Donnelly THE ADVANCE (STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.) http://www.statesman.com Ten years from now, many babies could be delivered by doctors who are total strangers to the mothers. Medical malpractice insurance for obstetricians and gynecologists could become so expensive that only hospitals — and the doctors under their insurance umbrellas — could afford coverage for birthings. […]

By BARNABY J. FEDER NY TIMES www.nytimes.com Aetna, one of the nation’s largest private health plan managers, is the latest insurer to clamp down on the use of a powerful anesthetic during an increasingly common form of colon cancer screening. The company will send a letter to doctors on Friday, saying that it plans to […]

http://toledoblade.com By JIM PROVANCE BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF In a decision hailed by the business community and decried by trial lawyers, the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday upheld a controversial 2004 state law limiting damages for pain, suffering, and other non-economic damages in product liability and other lawsuits. The much anticipated 5-2 ruling was in response […]