Displaying articles 1 - 100 of 641 Next Last
|
Healthcare Reform Affects Medicare Patients and the Under 65 Set Differently
How to Answer Questions from Your Patients
If you’re a physician, chances are you have already fielded a bevy of questions from patients about healthcare reform. Rest assured, the questions will keep coming. Experts say that doctors need to be up to speed, and fast, about how reform will affect their patients’ healthcare and their insurance options in the future.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:17 pm |
Stark Reality
Multi-Specialty Practices Anxiously Await MedPac Recommendations for Imaging
Over the past few years, there has been a gradual chipping away of allowed reimbursements for imaging. Tightening Stark regulations have largely been driven by concern over the rising costs of advanced diagnostic imaging and soaring utilization rates.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:17 pm |
Improving Asthma Outcomes
New $2.2 Million NIH Grant Explores How Telemedicine May Help Schoolchildren Control Asthma
LITTLE ROCK–Investigators at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) are embarking on a long-term project to explore whether school-based telemedicine sessions with doctors may help children in rural areas control their asthma, thanks to a 5-year, $2.2 million grant recently awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:17 pm |
Focus on Efficiency
Bladder Health Network Handles Continence Lab Testing for Busy OB/GYN Practices
A pelvic health solution that helps women's health specialists tap into pelvic health therapies with their practice via a flexible combination of software tools, efficient services, and high-tech products has been making headway in Arkansas.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:17 pm |
E-Mail Etiquette
Recently I had a conversation with another practice administrator in Little Rock about the Physician Ownership Disclosure statement we had drafted. When I offered to e-mail her a copy, she said, "Oh, we don't have e-mail at our practice, can you fax it?" No e-mail? On a 75-email day I might wish I didn't have e-mail for an instant or two but over all it is efficient, environmentally friendly, and effective – if used properly.
JENNIFER O'BRIEN - Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:17 pm |
Creating an Electronic Foundation
Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care to help providers adopt HIT
Unless they want to see reduced Medicare payments, medical practices across Arkansas will be replacing their paper charts with health information technology, and they'll be working with the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) to make it happen.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:17 pm |
Going Digital
Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics Moves to Electronic Medical Records
Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics (ASO) had the NextGen software it needed to adopt an electronic medical records system in 2008, but none of its 20 providers had made the switch from paper charts until this spring.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:17 pm |
James E. Hunt, MD
Anesthesiologist, ACH Division of Pediatric Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, ACH Burn Center; Assistant Professor, UAMS Department of Anesthesiology.
When James Hunt was growing up, he never thought about a medical career, much less specializing in anesthesiology for burn patients.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 12:17 pm |
Board Lifts Restrictions on Foreign-trained Doctors
School’s Federal Lawsuit Will Still Go Forward
Gail Brown, MD, a Cabot native, attended Medical University of the Americas on the West Indies island of Nevis with the intention of returning to practice in her home state. But in June 2008, while she was a family practice resident in Alabama, the Arkansas State Medical Board adopted a list of "disapproved" medical schools whose graduates were barred from practicing medicine in the state. The Medical University of the Americas was on that list.
SERENAH McKAY - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVE: Brent Walker, MD
Anesthesiologist Pulls Double Duty as AMIC Medical Director
Soon after Brent Walker, MD, entered private practice as an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist with Little Rock Anesthesia Services in the late 1990s, St. Paul Insurance Company pulled its medical liability coverage out of Arkansas.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
In the Arkansas Mainstream: QSource’s Portfolio Expands Well Beyond Government Contract Work
When Memphis-based QSource was unveiled as the Health Information Technology (HIT) Regional Extension Center (REC) for Tennessee as part of a $1 billion American Recovery & Reinvestment Act investment, some business leaders unfamiliar with its work believed it might be a new company formed to provide local technical assistance to effectively implement electronic health records (EHRs) and associated healthcare quality improvement.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
Making the Magnet® Journey: WRMC Strives Toward Prestigious Status
BATESVILLE—White River Medical Center may soon become among the first Arkansas hospitals to achieve Magnet® status, a prestigious recognition granted by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to less than 10 percent of hospitals in the United States.
JULIO GONZALEZ, MD, with LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
Boosting Clinical Nurse Workforce Across the Mid South
Nursing Institute’s First Federal Competitive Grant Boosts Healthcare Workforce
When Paula Spears, PhD, learned the grant application she authored was selected as the Nursing Institute of the Mid South (NIMS) Inc.’s first federal competitive grant to boost the nursing workforce across the region, she was understandably ecstatic.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
Wesley K. Cox, MD
Arnold & Cox Knee and Shoulder
Wesley K. Cox, MD, might have followed in his father's footsteps and become an attorney. During high school, he worked for his dad, Walter Cox, a medical malpractice defense attorney in Fayetteville.
SERENAH McKAY - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
Healthcare Reform Boosts Primary Care
Reimbursement Incentives Offered to Ease the Strain
Well, it’s done, and depending on your perspective, the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that sets about reforming America’s health system could be a boon or it could be a bust. For most stakeholders, reality is somewhere in the middle.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
Fostering an Epidemic of Skin Cancer
Dermatologists Take Aim at Indoor Tanning
On an average day in America, more than 1 million people visit an indoor tanning salon. That’s why dermatologists nationwide have declared war on the practice, which research overwhelmingly has shown causes cancer.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
Playing Well With Others
Building Strong Relationships in an Evolving Environment
In theory, hospital administrators, physicians and nurses are all on the same team with the same ultimate goal — delivering the highest quality of patient care possible. In practice, those relationships are easily strained as fiscal realities, misaligned objectives and strong personalities are factored into the equation.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:41 pm |
Potential Loss of Over 25,000 Jobs from Arkansas Medicaid Cuts
The state Department of Human Services (DHS) is currently reviewing responses from stakeholders regarding the DHS "Bending the Curve" Medicaid Cost Reduction Strategies proposed to help address looming cuts in the program that provides health services to the poor and handicapped.
BECKY GILLETTE - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
Survival Guide to Health-System Reform
Where Do Providers Focus Their Attention First?
So, now what?
The massive health-system reform legislation dubbed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is law, enacting the most sweeping changes in America's health system since Medicare. Experts say now is the time providers should take a deep, cleansing breath, then jump into action with short-term strategies that could pay off down the road.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
Growing Need Seen for Advanced Nursing
Healthcare Reform and Medicaid Shortfall Expected to Spur Demand
Healthcare reform and state economics will likely increase demand in Arkansas for Advanced Practice Nurses over the next few years, said Jean K. Zehler, MSE, president of the Arkansas Nurses Association.
SERENAH McKAY - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
Access to Healthcare Could be Adversely Affected by Medicaid Cutbacks
While looming cutbacks of $400 million for the Arkansas Medicaid program in fiscal 2011 may be reduced because of a lawsuit settlement with a drug company, there is still widespread concern in the medical community about large decreases in funding for a program that provides healthcare to a large segment of the population of Arkansas.
BECKY GILLETTE - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
Meet Medical News’ Rebekah Hardin
LITTLE ROCK—Former At Home in Arkansas publisher Rebekah Boyd Hardin has joined the Medical News team as associate publisher in Little Rock.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
Mental Healthcare Takes a Hit from Budget Cuts
Current and potential future cuts of state funding for Medicaid come at a hard time for mental healthcare in Arkansas. That is because demand is up, both from soldiers returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and because more people who need assistance are unemployed because of the recession.
BECKY GILLETTE - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
PHYSICIAN SPOTLIGHT: Terry Green, MD
District 1 Congressional Candidate
MOUNTAIN HOME — Earlier this spring, outdone by the passage of healthcare reform with so many unknowns, Terry Green, MD, decided to make a difference.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
Before the Breathin' Air is Gone
Luring Physicians "Out in the Country"
Grady, S.C., was one of the lucky rural communities. Unfortunately, it was fictional.
In the 1991 film "Doc Hollywood" with Michael J. Fox, the Porsche Speedster of hotshot plastic surgeon Benjamin Stone breaks down in Grady, and the charms of the community, its people and one woman in particular entice the young physician to hang his family-practice shingle in the rural Southeast.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
Breaking Through the OR Glass Ceiling
Women Making Strides in Pursuit of Surgery
When interviewing for postgraduate residency positions soon after giving birth to her third child, Sharona Ross, MD, was very hesitant to bring up the subject of children. She was concerned that divulging having an infant and two small children at home would hinder her chances for a career in surgery.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
UAMS’ MammoVan Goes to Where the Patients Are
More Convenience Equals Better Community Health
Today’s mammograms in Hazen will begin not when a technician starts the scans but when Kimberly Enoch turns the ignition.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:59 am |
Greening Your Practice Will Save Green
Environmentally Friendly Operations Benefit Budget, Employees and Patients
When the University of Florida in Gainesville built its new freestanding Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Institute five years ago, the practice made the decision to be eco-friendly. It was a good move, both for environmental sustainability and for the practice’s pocketbook, says the institute’s administrator, Leslie Jebson.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Disruptive Behavior is Bad for Patients
Survey Reveals Troubling Conduct in the Healthcare Environment
Being a good member of a team means playing well with others, but a recent survey by the American College of Physician Executives reveals that disruptive behavior by professional members of healthcare teams compromises patient safety, undermines cooperation and makes going to work a miserable experience.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Mapping Out a Plan of Attack
The Cancer Genome Atlas Provides Repository for Data, Discoveries
The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a comprehensive effort to create a data repository for the discoveries and findings of more than 150 of the nation’s top researchers who are working in concert on specific cancer types. These scientists, who are based out of more than two dozen renowned institutions, are systematically mapping genomic changes to create a cancer atlas accessible to all who are searching for better methods to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Making Headway in Brain Cancer
TCGA Data Generates New Findings for Glioblastoma Multiforme
Through the work of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), researchers have confirmed the most common form of malignant brain cancer in adults, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), isn’t one disease as once believed but is, instead, four distinct molecular subtypes.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Defying the Odds
Despite Obstacles, Physician Hospital Being Built in Conway
Even though plans for many physician-owned hospitals in development are being dropped across the United States, Dallas, Texas-based Cirrus Health is continuing with plans to develop a physician hospital in Conway. Medical News of Arkansas spoke with Cirrus Health COO Taylor Wilson to learn more about the benchmark project.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Longtime MD Volunteer Retires
Charles Floyd Served Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center Since 1994
FAYETTEVILLE—When Charles Floyd, MD, retired earlier this year after serving the Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center for 16 years, he earned a landmark designation as the physician with the most consecutive years of volunteer service.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Program Offers Help for Impaired Physicians
Doctors Return to Practice Safely with Confidential Treatment, Follow-up
Physicians and others who work in the medical field often experience tremendous stress in both their professional and personal lives, which can sometimes lead to substance abuse or other mental health issues.
SERENAH McKAY - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Finding Money in the Microbiology Laboratory
While several laboratory sections are very straightforward in coding and billing, such as chemistry and hematology, the micro lab has numerous “add on” procedures that are routinely performed to complete the culture report. Frequently, add on charges are never captured.
BETTY HATTEN, HORNE LLP - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Delta Doctors Program Attracting Foreign Physicians to Medically Underserved Areas
The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) Delta Doctors program has been a win-win for foreign physicians attracted to locate in Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs) of Arkansas and elsewhere in the Delta and the patients who benefit from the care, according to Ramona Taylor, director of development, Crittenden Regional Hospital, West Memphis.
BECKY GILLETTE - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am - 1 opinion posted |
Vladimir V. Karpitskiy, MD, PhD
Neurology Associates of Hot Springs
HOT SPRINGS—At 60, most physicians begin to think about retirement. Instead, Vladimir Karpitskiy keeps setting records, achieving milestones, and raising the bar for medical practitioners in Arkansas.
Karpitskiy recently became the first neurologist board-certified in neuromuscular medicine, when he passed the bar for the subspecialty on his first try last August.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
UAMS Cancer Institute Expands
NIH Grants Fund “Open Bench” Research Labs
LITTLE ROCK–A $10.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will support construction of the 12-story expansion tower to the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:05 am |
Arkansas Physician Hospitals Alter Long Range Goals
HOT SPRINGS—When Ralph Beaty learned about potential changes to physician-owned hospitals resulting from national healthcare reform, he breathed a heavy sigh.
Beaty, CEO of HealthPark Hospital, a 20-bed physician owned medical/surgical hospital in Hot Springs, one of the leading hospitals in Arkansas ranked by patient satisfaction, recognized that healthcare reform, as it was written in mid-January, wouldn’t make that much of an impact on current operations. Yet he knew it could very well change the hospital’s long-term strategy.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am - 2 opinions posted |
Are Physician-Owned Hospitals Doomed?
Healthcare Reform Not Death Knell Nail, But Close
Even though colonial doctors pioneered the establishment of hospitals in the United States when they could no longer provide the level of care required of their patients inside office walls, physician-owned hospitals may soon be history.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
RAC ‘n’ Roll
Recovery Audit Contracting Rolled Out Nationwide
After several years of anticipation, the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program was set for nationwide rollout last month. Despite the notice, many Medicare providers still are not adequately prepared to respond to a request for records.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
Mayo Clinic Software Answers Cardiology’s HIT Need
Kardia Health Brings Technology to the Market
With cardiologists spread thin and reimbursements for their services declining, the key to survival is improved efficiency. That’s according to Doug Marinaro, the chief operating officer of Minnesota-based Kardia Health Systems. The three-year-old company is working to put cardiology-focused health information technology developed by the renowned Mayo Clinic into the hands of providers.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
Doctor Indicted in Bombing Attack of West Memphis Physician
“Retaliation” Said To Be Motive
A federal grand jury has indicted Randeep Mann, MD, 51, of London, Ark., in the bombing attack that nearly killed fellow physician Trent Pierce of West Memphis last February, authorities announced Jan. 6.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
By the Numbers
Saline Memorial Taking Care of Business and Patients
BENTON—There’s an abacus in Larry Alford’s office, and even though the Saline Memorial Hospital CFO doesn’t use it in his day-to-day job, it’s still a reminder that in healthcare as in every other business, the numbers must add up.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
Killing Metastatic Cancer Cells
Arkansas Nanotechnology Team’s Findings Could Revolutionize Cancer Treatments
FAYETTEVILLE—A nontechnology research team from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (UAF) and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) at Little Rock has received worldwide attention after publishing research in some of the world’s leading scientific publications about a method for magnetically trapping and then killing metastatic cancer cells. This revolutionary discovery gives hope for earlier cancer diagnosis and more effective treatment.
BECKY GILLETTE - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
Shortage of Nursing Faculty Targeted with Loan Program
Loans went out in January to the first nine recipients of the Nursing Student Loan Program, modified by Arkansas Legislation in 2009 to address the problems regarding a shortage of nursing faculty.
BECKY GILLETTE - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
Arkansas Aids The MED
Memphis ER Remains Open—For Now
MEMPHIS, TENN.—Shelby County Mayor Joe Ford and the Shelby County Commission may have come up with a way to keep the doors open to the Emergency Department of the Regional Medical Center at Memphis (The MED), which were slated to close this month.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
Overseeing Pain Management
State Pain Management Review Committee Staying Busy
When Juan Carlos Roman, MD, was appointed to the Pain Management Review Committee (PMRC), created by the Arkansas State Legislature to advise the Arkansas State Medical Board and signed into law by the governor of Arkansas in 2003, he admittedly “really did not appreciate its role in our state—to help maintain and assure that good pain management is available to the people of Arkansas.”
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:29 am |
Climbing the Rungs via Nursing
New Howard Memorial Hospital CEO Recalls Being Nudged to "Dream Bigger"
NASHVILLE—When Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, a pillar in the community for more than a century, was sold earlier this year by the company she'd worked for 25 years, the last three as chief clinical officer/chief nursing officer, Debra Wright wasn't sure what her next move would be.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Monday, January 4, 2010 11:53 am |
Red Flag Rules: Does a Medical Practice Need Protection?
Once again, the Federal Trade has postponed implementation of the Red Flag Rules. As a reminder, back in November 2007, the FTC issued a set of regulations requiring organizations to have in place "reasonable policies and procedures" to identify, detect and respond to identity theft. Much discussion has surrounded whether medical practices were subject to the proposed rules in an attempt to clarify whether physicians are deemed "creditors." The American Medical Association questioned the FTC about applicability to medical practices and as a result, the FTC delayed implementation until June 2010.
DAVID WILLIAMS AND KEN BONIN - Posted: Monday, January 4, 2010 11:53 am |
Reversing the Obesity Trend
Arkansas Leads Nation Halting Childhood Epidemic
Soon, Arkansas children will be able to spend time in the school gym after school, on weekends and during the summer. Communities will have more readily available access points for locally grown fresh produce. And schools will represent the central core of the neighborhood again instead of being allocated to the outskirts of the community.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Monday, January 4, 2010 11:53 am |
The Medical Mile
Downtown Little Rock Trail Created to Encourage Healthier Lifestyles
LITTLE ROCK—Eleanor E. Kennedy, MD, a cardiologist with Heart Clinic Arkansas, would rather see people out walking, jogging and bicycling on the Medical Mile in downtown Little Rock than on the operating table undergoing heart surgery.
BECKY GILLETTE - Posted: Monday, January 4, 2010 11:53 am |
Marketing a Specialty Practice to Other Docs
A Practice's "Lifeblood," One Expert Says
"Your most important asset." That's what one healthcare marketing expert called a specialty physician's referral base, and he said way too many specialists are failing to nurture the relationship between their practice and the doctors who send them business.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Monday, January 4, 2010 11:53 am |
Juan Carlos Roman, MD
LITTLE ROCK—Juan Carlos Roman, MD, almost got his career in medicine off-track at an early age.
Unchallenged in school, he had considered making money through weight training means. After all, as the youngest of three boys born less than four years apart, he had frequently been on the losing end of sibling games and a few fist fights, and had been motivated from adolescence to focus on body strength and discipline.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Monday, January 4, 2010 11:53 am |
ER Crisis in Eastern Arkansas?
The MED May Close Emergency Services in Early 2010
Just days before Halloween, the Regional Medical Center at Memphis (The MED) Board of Directors voted 7 to 1 to send a proposal to the Shelby County Commission to close its Emergency Department if it cannot get $32 million in additional funds by Feb. 1. The move was no trick that patients requiring emergency care may not be treated.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 pm |
UAMS Launches Neonatal Home Care Program
New Service Provides Support for Parents of High-risk Infants
Alexa Spivey was only four days old when she had open-heart surgery. After seven weeks in the hospital, five of those in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, she was finally able to go home on Sept. 25. But her parents, Christina and Micheal Spivey of Gould, Ark., were nervous about the extra care Alexa would require.
SERENAH McKAY - Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 pm |
MVPs Make Difference for Myeloma Patients
For new patients at the Multiple Myeloma Institute, MVP means much more than the best player in the ballgame. For them, an MVP is a Most Vital Pal, their assigned guide through the labyrinth of their care plan, part of an innovative new volunteer program at UAMS' Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
JENNIFER BOULDEN - Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 pm |
Link Found to Higher Probability of Alzheimer's
Research May Hold Key to New Treatments
Alzheimer's disease affects 5 million Americans, most of whom will be in nursing homes for some part of the 10 to 20 years they may live with the illness.
SERENAH McKAY - Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 pm |
"Recession Depression" a Growing Mental Health Concern
Economic Woes Take a Toll
You've heard the joke: It's a recession if you lose your job; it's a depression if I lose mine. Whatever you want to call the nation's economic downturn, it's downright depressing, say mental health professionals, and a recent survey confirms that the economy is taking its toll on Americans' mental health.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 pm |
Ark Lab Leads World in Supplement-Rx Research
It's commonly acknowledged that alternative medicines such as botanical dietary supplements are not as regulated or researched as prescription medicines, and that almost no one knows much about how well they work.
JENNIFER BOULDEN - Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 pm |
Transparency: It's Clear Pharmacists, PBM Associations Caught in Contentious Debate
On the face of it, both the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) "strongly support" the principle of transparency within the pharmaceutical industry. Scratch the surface, however, and the two associations have very different ideas about what the concept of transparency means and how it should be enacted. Both claim their viewpoint is best for the bottom line.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 pm |
Robert C. Matthias, MD
In some ways, it's just a change in handwear. After some clear thinking on the ski slopes of Idaho, Robert C. Matthias of Arkansas Specialty Orthopedic traded in his carpentry gloves for surgical gloves. Both professions involved craftsmanship and specialized expertise, but surgery was Matthias' calling.
JENNIFER BOULDEN - Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 pm |
Lessons Learned
MGMA Online Guide Walks Through Operational Essentials
At the beginning of this year, Medical Group Management Association's Center for Research, with funding from United Health Foundation, began rolling out chapters of an online resource guide that outlines essential financial know-how for running an efficient practice. "Lessons for Financial Success" is open to everyone through the MGMA Web site (www.mgma.com) and takes the reader through valuable operational information in five chapters, the last of which has just been published.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:33 am |
National Soda Tax Proposed
Patterned After Arkansas, Idea of Popping Pops Gains Attention
Would a national tax on soft drinks be useful in fighting the war against obesity? A group of healthcare experts pushing the notion say a one cent-per-ounce tax on drinks with sugar could raise nearly $15 billion for health initiatives.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:33 am |
Despite Tax Advantages, Health Savings Accounts Slow to Catch On in Arkansas
Medical Clinics Leading the Way
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) have a number of advantages by combining a tax-free savings account that can be used to meet deductibles, co-pays and other medical expenses with a high-deductible health insurance policy.
BECKY GILLETTE - Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:33 am |
Going Digital
Challenges Faced When Switching to Electronic Records
Clinics across Arkansas are still wrestling with the question of when and how to adopt an electronic medical records system. According to the Arkansas Medical Society's director of practice management as well as staff members with two of the state's larger systems, buy-in, support and training are critical to making EMR work – and even then, it's going to be difficult.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:33 am |
Jerry Stewart, MD
FORT SMITH—Jerry Stewart, MD, described working as a "soda jerk" at Bush Drugstore in downtown Benton, Ark., during the early 1950s "a great laboratory on life experiences."
"A personal observation of community business men and women," he said, taught him that "chances of success in life were increased by education (formal or seasoned experience), objective analysis (detached from emotional subjective efforts), tenacity, work and effort."
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:33 am |
Partly Retired
These days, an ongoing project that's close to the heart of Jerry Stewart, MD, involves taking time to improve his photography skills and organize decades of family photographs and family history for his children and grandchildren. Fortunately, the Stewarts' three children and five grandchildren reside nearby. "They all considered living and working elsewhere, but came to Fort Smith to live, work and as they like to tell me," he joked, "be sure I get a good nursing home."
Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:33 am |
Balancing Act
Throughout his career, Jerry Stewart, MD, admittedly struggled with time management—balancing work, family, community service and other commitments.
Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:33 am |
End-of-Life Caregivers Stretched by Home, Work
Initiative Seeks to Educate Employers
If anybody knows the pressures facing employees who are caring for loved ones who are at the end of life, it's June Thompson.
Thompson has worked as a home health aide for Peachtree Hospice for eight years, the last four in Fort Smith. Now when she arrives home from work, she takes care of her 90-year-old mother, Mona Brothers, who lives with her and suffers from Parkinson's disease and dementia.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:17 am |
SOS: Save Our Seniors
Campaign Decries Impact of Proposed Cuts on Senior Care Facilities
The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and its affiliated National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) have launched a vigorous national campaign to make Congress aware of what proposed Medicare cuts and potential reform measures could mean to some of the nation's oldest, frailest and most vulnerable citizens. The SOS – Save Our Seniors – campaign is a grassroots measure encouraging long-term care providers to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:17 am |
State Effort Begins to End Bloodstream Infections
Michigan's Rate Dropped to Nearly Zero in Three Months
Arkansas hospitals are hoping to replicate the success of a program that reduced catheter-related bloodstream infections in many Michigan hospitals to zero within three months of its implementation there.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:16 am |
LEADERS IN HEALTHCARE: Cheri Lattimer, Case Management Society of America
One of the best kept secrets in Arkansas, Cheri Lattimer says, is that the national headquarters of the Case Management Society of America is found right here in Little Rock. Lattimer, RN, BSN, has been executive director of CMSA since moving to Arkansas in 2005. The role is more than a job for her; it's the culmination of a lifelong passion for making life better and easier for patients and their families.
JENNIFER BOULDEN - Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:16 am |
Vietnam Vets of a Different Sort
Memphis and Little Rock Orthopedic Surgeons Participate in Annual Overseas Outreach Projects
In 2001, Pierce Scranton, MD, a Washington orthopedic surgeon presiding over the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS), wanted to organize an official Overseas Outreach Project.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:16 am |
Help Wanted
Hospitals Market Themselves to Prospective Docs and Nurses
Jennifer Hickey knows that part of the reason the Baptist Health System operates its School of Nursing is to create its own workforce, with herself part of it. And she doesn't mind a bit.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:16 am |
Squeaking Hip Replacements Annoy and Worry Patients and Physicians
Go ahead. Log on to www.youtube.com and type the phrase "squeaking or squeaky hip replacements" in the search box. What pops up is an array of home videos, most featuring senior patients, who are documenting a noise their replacement joint makes with each step. For some, the noise resembles the sound of air released in sporadic bursts from a child's balloon. For others, the noise – all clichés aside – sounds just like a fingernail quickly scraping down a blackboard. For some of the patients, the sound is a popping, occasionally accompanied by the squeak.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD - Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:16 am |
Jeanne Yichen Wei, MD, PhD
LITTLE ROCK--When Jeanne Yichen Wei, MD, PhD, was a medical school student excelling in cardiology, she became acutely interested in why heart disease remains the leading killer of men and women over the age of 65. She asked her medical school professors their opinion of specializing in gerontology and they told her not to do it. "It would be academic suicide," they said. "Why would you do that when you're doing so well in cardiology?"
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 10:16 am |
Physicians, Hospitals Count Session a Success
The battle to establish a statewide trauma network gathered more attention, but the most recent Assembly session also saw what may be the end of the prolonged dispute over who can give a patient a shot.
TED GRIGGS - Posted: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:43 am |
Healthcare Reform Moving Toward House Vote
Compromise not Set in Stone
As the sultry days of summer heated up, so did talks about President Barack Obama's push for his signature domestic legislation—meaningful healthcare reform that covers the uninsured and puts a lid on medical costs.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:43 am |
LEADERS IN HEALTHCARE: Banko Preparing for Healthcare Changes
Peter Banko, CEO of St. Vincent Health System, came to Little Rock in 2007 after serving as chief operating officer at CHRISTUS Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi, Texas. He grew up in New Jersey and attended Catholic schools from kindergarten through college at Notre Dame. At St. Vincent's, he has overseen the final stages of a $47 million renovation program and a $4 million increase in nurse salaries. Meanwhile, he has reduced the workforce and closed the geriatric psychiatric unit in order to save costs.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:43 am |
Bone & Joint Decade Brings Awareness to Musculoskeletal Issues
The United States Bone and Joint Decade (USBJD) – 2002-2011 – is nearing the end of Phase I. Yet, the work of raising awareness and research dollars to better address preventive measures and effective treatment options has really just begun.
CINDY SANDERS - Posted: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:43 am |
Osteoporosis-Related Injuries Rising Long-Term
New Treatments Offer Hope
Hospitalizations involving an injury likely due to osteoporosis climbed 55 percent from 1995 to 2006, according to a report released in July by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
STEVE BRAWNER - Posted: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:43 am |
Ruth Thomas, MD
Ruth Thomas never thought she would attend medical school because it was such a struggle to finish college.
Bright by nature, the problem wasn't academic. With two small children to care for at a young age and a full-time day job, Thomas and her husband struggled with problems most young parents face: lack of time and shoestring finances.
LYNNE JETER - Posted: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:43 am |
| |
|
| Google Ad Blocks |
|
| Add our RSS Feed |
|
| |
|
