by Kenneth Briggs http://www.opednews.com 9.9 % Cut in Medicare Payments to Doctors Proposed On Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] issued a Press Release announcing a proposed regulation that would cut Medicare payments to Doctors by 9.9 percent. The CMS projects that it will pay approximately $58.9 billion to 900,000 physicians and […]

More than 2,000 doctors awaiting Texas licenses, as patients wait to see certain specialists Listen to this article or download audio file. By Mary Ann Roser AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF An influx of doctors into Texas has caused long waits for medical licenses, inconveniences for patients wanting to see certain specialists and anxiety for physicians awaiting new […]

By DANNY HAKIM NY TIMES The Spitzer administration approved a 14 percent increase in medical malpractice insurance rates on Monday, the largest rate increase in a decade. Doctors’ groups protested angrily, but the administration said the move was necessary to prevent “perhaps an irreversible crisis,â€? since insurers were having trouble staying in the business. “We […]

http://emruser.typepad.com In a very interesting study, researchers at Kaiser Permanente in the US found that patients who consult their physicians via e-mail are less likely to visit their physician or to call their doctor’s office and as a result could reduce income for physicians whose revenue is generated by direct face-to-face contact. This study presents […]

http://www.aafp.org AMY L. McGAHA, MD, American Academy of Family Physicians, Leawood, Kansas ELIZABETH GARRETT, MD, MSPH, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri ANN C. JOBE, MD, MSN, Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania PETER NALIN, MD, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana WARREN P. NEWTON, MD, MPH, University of North […]

By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pennsylvania’s doctors, especially high-risk surgeons and physicians from the east who pay higher medical malpractice rates, worry that a state-mandated change in insurance could result in an overnight 25 percent increase in their premiums. Any doctor who does the majority of his work in Pennsylvania is required by state law […]

By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff Two popular Boston internists are closing their busy practices, leaving most of their 7,500 patients to find new doctors, as the physicians open a small concierge practice that will charge individuals a $3,600 yearly fee to join. Dr. Jeffrey Bass, 50, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Dr. Ronald Katz, […]

Setting up shop in your hometown can be rewarding and successful, if you set rules and learn to cope with awkward situations. By Carolina Procter, AMNews staff Family physician Alan DeWitt, MD, returned to his hometown of Snowflake, Ariz., right after residency to start a practice with three other doctors. He’d always wanted to practice […]

Indiana University study provides hard evidence previously lacking Cindy Fox Aisen Indiana University http://www.eurekalert.org/ Do pediatricians face a malpractice crisis? In the first systematic multi-year analysis of malpractice claims solely against pediatricians, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine report in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics that the answer is neither yes […]