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Doctor Quality Ratings May Be Influenced By Setting

Madeline Kennedy  |  

(Reuters Health)—Patients give the same doctors different ratings depending on where their visit took place, according to a small U.S. study. Although doctors might act differently in an emergency department compared with a calmer office setting, researchers say the results also suggest that ratings are not a completely reliable measure of the quality of care…

Patients Get Mixed Reactions from Docs over Mail-Ordered Genetic Tests

Andrew M. Seaman  |  

(Reuters Health)—Patients who order direct-to-consumer genetic tests report mixed experiences when they take the results to their doctors, a new study found. About a quarter of people who ordered direct-to-consumer genetic testing from such companies as 23andMe reported discussing the results with their primary care doctors. But nearly one in five were not at all…

U.S. Hospital Group Warns of Blue Cross Dominance if Anthem Buys Cigna

Susan Kelly  |  

(Reuters)—The American Hospital Association warned U.S. antitrust regulators that Anthem Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Cigna Corp. will hurt other health insurers’ ability to compete with Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, leading to higher premiums for consumers. Anthem, the country’s second-largest health insurer, runs Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states. The hospital group, in…

Verily, Vanderbilt to Test Enrollment in U.S. Precision Medicine Pilot

Reuters Staff  |  

(Reuters)—The National Institutes of Health on Thursday named Verily, formerly Google Life Sciences, as advisor to Nashville’s Vanderbilt University in a pilot program to launch the Precision Medicine Initiative outlined by President Barack Obama last year. The program aims to enroll 79,000 volunteer participants by the end of this year to supply personal data that…

U.S. Proposes Hike in Medicare Advantage Payments; Insurer Shares Rise

Caroline Humer  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters)—The U.S. government on Friday proposed raising payments by 1.35% on average next year to the health insurers who offer Medicare Advantage health benefits to elderly and disabled Americans. Payments to insurers will vary under the 2017 Medicare Advantage proposal, based on the region the plans are sold and on the size of…

The ACR’s Grassroots Advocacy Efforts Rely on Rheumatology Patients

Joan M. Von Feldt, MD, MSEd, FACR, FACP  |  

Over the past several years, the ACR has ramped up its efforts in advocacy. Under the leadership of the Government Affairs Committee, many ACR staff, members and their patients, considerable progress has been made moving priority issues forward in 2015. A few highlights from 2015 include: The Patients’ Access to Treatment Act (PATA) was introduced…

Blogging Basics Rheumatologists Should Know

  |  

To blog or not to blog? As a rheumatologist, you may have pondered this question. Perhaps getting some insight from rheumatologists who already blog and a professional blog writer may help you find the answer. Obviously, if you devoted time to blogging you would want it to be beneficial. For Paul Sufka, MD, rheumatologist, HealthPartners,…

U.S. Appeals Court: Hospitals Can Be ‘Urban’ & ‘Rural’ at Same Time

Jonathan Stempel  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters)—The federal appeals court in New York struck down a U.S. regulation that made it harder for hospitals to provide better medical care at lower cost by claiming they were “rural” for some purposes and “urban” for others. Thursday’s decision by the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a victory for hospitals…

California Doctor Gets 30 Years to Life in Landmark Overdose Case

Steve Gorman  |  

LOS ANGELES (Reuters)—A Southern California doctor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on Friday for over-prescribing drugs that caused the fatal overdose of three patients in a murder case capped by the first conviction of its kind in the U.S. The case against Dr. Hsiu Ying “Lisa” Tseng, 46, comes amid what…

1% of U.S. Doctors Responsible for a Third of Malpractice Payments

Gene Emery  |  

(Reuters Health)—Just one out of every 100 U.S. doctors is responsible for 32% of the malpractice claims that result in payments to patients, according to a comprehensive study of 15 years’ worth of cases. And when a doctor has to pay out one claim, the chances are good that the same physician will soon be…