Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:45 percent of hospital employees “discontent” with work: In a survey of 235,000 hospital employees, 45 percent described themselves as “distanced from or discontent with their current work.” The numbers come from consultants Press Gainey Associates. So what’s with all that discontent? It’s those [...]

… as conspirators:This case is a watershed for two reasons:First, until now the Federal Trade Commission, not the Justice Department, has taken the lead in prosecuting physicians. Since 2000, the FTC has brought about three dozen cases against physicians (all but one of which settled without any trial). But the [...]

Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:May ends with flurry of new venture dollars: Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) made the biggest investment during the month, putting $70 million in Israeli medical device company BioControl Medical. Also receiving fresh cash: Boston-based Tesaro secured $60 million in start-up funding; NOXXON Pharma of [...]

Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:The end of health insurance M&A? Maybe not the end, but clearing regulatory hurdles likely will become much more difficult. The Justice Department is looking to step up antitrust enforcement of health insurance mergers, because much of the health reform law’s success depends on [...]

Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:Brand-name drug prices up 10 percent: The prices of brand-name drugs commonly used by people on Medicare rose 9.7 percent last year, the AARP says. “The life-saving drugs Americans need are out of reach for many because of unjustifiable price hikes,” according [...]

Akron ophthalmologist Dr. Richard Ellison is the new president of the Ohio State Medical Association, the trade group that represents the state’s physicians.Ellison has practiced at Summit Ophthalmology since 1988. He’s also on the teaching staff at Summa Health System and is the medical director for the Park West Surgical Center in Akron, according to [...]

From theAMA:Student debt statistics*$156,456 ’ According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the average educational debt of indebted graduates of the class of 2009.*79 percent of graduates have debt of at least $100,000.*58 precent of graduates have debt of at least $150,000.*87 percent of graduating medical students carry outstanding loans.Source: AAMC 2009 Graduation [...]

Well, it’s official. Again. The big Medicare slash continues. Today is April Fools Day. It’s also the day that grandma’s insurance payments to physicians got cut over 20%. Again. That’s in addition to the greater than 20% cut physicians have already experienced in the last decade of [...]

It is hard to put into words what the health care reform bill about to be signed today by the President means to doctors as a group. After all, doctors were as divided about the health care reform bill as the rest of the country was.The birth of the bill was anything [...]

The GAMC program provides health insurance to roughly 35,000 poor single adults at any given time, many of whom suffer from mental illness and chemical addiction.