DIANE IVEY | Capital News Service http://blog.mlive.com LANSING– John Dircks is a doctor of pulmonary medicine in Kalamazoo and will be celebrating his retirement.The 65-year-old physician, a graduate of the University of Michigan, founded his pulmonary clinical care group in 1976, and said he looks forward to a reduced workload. But for Dircks, retirement is […]

BY ROBERT SWIFT http://www.thetimes-tribune.com HARRISBURG — Legislative leaders remain at odds over health care issues, thus making it likely a state program to reduce malpractice insurance costs for doctors will expire as scheduled on Monday. The dispute means that Pennsylvania doctors will have to make malpractice payments Monday with no state-subsidized abatement to ease the […]

By Cathleen F. Crowley http://timesunion.com Dr. Joseph Sellers walks to work at Bassett Healthcare Cobleskill, where he is a primary-care doctor. He lives in Cobleskill, and his son is mayor. Nineteen years ago, Sellers was lured to Schoharie County because the state promised to repay part of his medical school bills if he set up […]

By LARRY HANNAN http://www.jacksonville.com Doctors look out for their patients while Jay Millson looks out for the doctors. Millson, the executive vice president of the Duval County Medical Society, advocates for the interests of doctors in Duval County. The medical society, which is part of the Florida Medical Association, also creates a local directory of […]

By Frank Donnelly http://www.nola.com NEW YORK — Ten years from now, many babies could be delivered by doctors who are total strangers to their 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. For expectant […]

The Business Review (Albany) http://www.bizjournals.com A state panel has identified 21 ways in which New York’s Graduate Medical Education system can be improved. The New York State Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME), a group of physicians, medical administrators and other heath care leaders, issued its report to Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines on March […]

BY DANIEL AXELROD http://www.thetimes-tribune.com Local state representatives are at the heart of a debate pitting an extension of a state-funded medical malpractice insurance abatement against a plan to expand coverage to hundreds of thousands of uninsured adults. The bill is similar to but not as ambitious as Gov. Ed Rendell’s Cover All Pennsylvanians proposal. Now, […]

By Michelle Lang, Calgary Herald http://www.canada.com At a time when nearly a quarter of all Calgarians don’t have a regular family physician, a new medical clinic in the city is struggling with the opposite problem: a shortage of patients. The Calgary Foothills Primary Care Centre has signed up only 200 people since opening its doors […]

By Kenneth J. St. Onge http://www.insurancejournal.com Consumer and health advocacy groups in New York are criticizing a yet-to-be-made public plan to create a medical malpractice indemnity pool which would cover medical expenses for injured patients. Although no plan to create the pool has been announced, the coalition of groups – which includes the New York […]