By: Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer http://www.modernhealthcare.com When it comes to electronic health-record system adoption, osteopathic physicians say cost is a key barrier. Practice size is a determinant in whether the systems are purchased and used, and penetration rates are likely to be quite low, perhaps still in single digits, according to a study […]

By Judith Graham | Tribune staff reporter http://www.chicagotribune.com The doctor walked into the hospital room with a discomforting mission. He was there to admit a medical mistake and apologize to his patient, a woman with breast cancer. The staff had given her the same injection twice by accident, causing her white cell count to soar, […]

By Judd Gregg http://www.seacoastonline.com Editor’s note: The writer is the senior U.S. senator from New Hampshire. He is a member and former chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Over the past decade, many ideas about how to reform the U.S. health-care system have been debated in Washington. Some good and some […]

http://www.lubbockonline.com Many residents of the West Texas and eastern New Mexico region may be thinking the negotiations between the physicians of Covenant Medical Group and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas are simply about money. Blue Cross would have you believe this dispute is solely due to physician greed. That is as far from the […]

By Lewis S. Sharps, M.D. http://www.huntingtonnews.net President, Positive Physicians Insurance Exchange The health care industry was at a crossroads in 2002. Rising costs stemming from the increase of malpractice claims created a dangerous ripple effect: Several major medical liability insurers went out of business, limiting the options for doctors. Access to care was threatened by […]

http://money.cnn.com Attorney General Andrew Cuomo asked Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AEF) (NYSE:AET) and Cigna Corp. (NYSE:CI) on Thursday to explain how they recommend doctors to patients after finding the insurers’ physician-ranking programs to be confusing or even deceiving. ‘Ratings can be a very good thing if these ratings are accurate and fair and transparent. The more information […]

http://www.marketwire.com Well-capitalized and managed Risk Retention Groups (RRG) provide the essential alternative to failing existing insurers for New York physicians and surgeons seeking stable, comprehensive, competitively priced malpractice insurance, Sanford “Sandy” Elsass, President-Underwriting Manager for J. M. Woodworth RRG, told a Congressional hearing today in Brooklyn. Chaired by Rep. Edolphus Towns (10th District, NY), the […]

http://www.berkshireeagle.com Clarence Fanto The doctor is in the house — literally. At a time when primary-care physicians are scarce, especially in Berkshire County, it is surprising to find one who still makes house calls — not every day, but whenever an elderly patient is housebound, unable to travel and needs medical attention. Following in the […]

BY BRUCE JAPSEN http://www.chicagotribune.com Competition in the state’s medical malpractice insurance market has intensified, with a Texas company the latest to launch professional medical liability coverage for Illinois physicians. Medicus Insurance Co. of Austin said it has begun offering malpractice coverage for the state’s doctors, saying the climate to operate in Illinois has improved thanks […]