By VANESSA FUHRMANS http://online.wsj.com Health plans are drawing scrutiny for offering financial incentives to entice doctors to prescribe cheaper generic medicines, including paying doctors $100 each time they switch a patient from a brand-name drug. Pharmaceutical companies have long gone to great lengths to try to get doctors to prescribe their brand-name pills. They spend […]

By Serena Gordon HealthDay Reporter http://www.washingtonpost.com A co-pay as small as $10 can stand in the way of a woman getting a potentially lifesaving mammography, new research suggests. When women in Medicare managed-care plans were asked to contribute a small co-pay, in some cases around $10 to $20, 8 percent of the women decided to […]

All 119 PQRI Measures Have Been Built Directly Into athenaNet and National Client Base Workflow to Help Maximize Participation and Reimbursement Under Expanded Program athenahealth, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHN), a leading provider of internet-based business services to physician practices, today announced that athenaNet(r), athenahealth’s centrally-hosted, on-demand practice management and EMR services network, now incorporates all 119 new […]

http://www.democratandchronicle.com Sandra Parker, Scott Ellsworth and Dr. Brad Berk Guest essayists Retaining and recruiting the physicians we need to provide the quality of health care we expect has been a pressing issue here for several years. But through open and honest discussions, based on facts and data rather than anecdotes, the stakeholders in local health […]

http://www.chron.com By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new report says the number of medical malpractice claims in Ohio dropped 20 percent from 2005 to 2006. The report released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Insurance says there were 4,006 medical malpractice claims reported for 2006, compared […]

http://community.advanceweb.com Many of the opponents to the new PA clinical doctorate degree echo a similar sentiment: “If you want to be a doctor, go to medical school.â€? It’s impossible to deny that wisdom. But there’s a problem, of course. PAs can’t go to medical school without going all the way back to square one and […]

http://www.insurancejournal.com New Jersey Banking and Insurance Commissioner Steven M. Goldman reported that the state began sending subsidies of $16.4 million last month to eligible medical practitioners in certain high-risk specialties. The subsidy payments are being distributed to nearly 1,200 physicians under a program that seeks to ensure affordable medical care for New Jersey residents in […]

Financial Problems Stem From Increased Labor Costs and Upswing in Uninsured Patients. According to New Report from HealthLeaders-InterStudy NASHVILLE, Tenn.-HealthLeaders-InterStudy, a leading provider of healthcare market intelligence, reports that physicians and hospitals continue to feel the effects of the New Orleans’ struggling medical delivery system. According to the newly released New Orleans Market Overview report, […]

http://www.prnewswire.com/ Starting Feb. 1, 2008, MHA Insurance Company will grant a premium credit of up to 5 percent for qualifying policyholders who utilize an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system. A qualifying policyholder would include independent solo physicians and group physician practices. Currently, MHA Insurance Company provides medical professional liability insurance to more than 3,000 independent […]