Back
How Will Mississippi Lawmakers Address Public Health?
Public health and medical leaders throughout Mississippi wonder how lawmakers will address "the mess," as many leaders of the medical community refer to it, which has recently come to light within the State Board of Health and the State Department of Health.
Unless legislators address it, the Mississippi State Department of Health will "sunset" next year. But re-upping the agency already has required uncommon deliberation.
BY NKS WESSMAN |
E.coli Outbreak Prompts Focus
Although no cases of E.coli 0157:H7 have been found in Mississippi, the recent outbreak has served to remind physicians about the importance of disease surveillance and reporting. Without it, officials could not have tracked the source or warned consumers, and more sickness and even death might have been the results.
Because of one astute physician in Florida, the first case of inhalational anthrax was found and tracked.
BY GLORIA BUTLER BALDWIN |
Physician Spotlight: Dr. Jhinho Kim
It's been a long journey from Seoul, South Korea to Gulfport for Dr. Jhinho Kim, a diplomat of the American Board of Neurosurgery.
He endured a war in his home country, had an older brother and sister killed by the Communists, studied in college and medical school for 15 years, and practiced his intense specialty in five states.
BY LYNN LOFTON |
ARC Program Helps Recruit Physicians to Rural Mississippi
In the race to recruit physicians, small hospitals, many of which are the hearts of their communities, are finding alternate ways to attract them.
For many rural area hospitals across the state trying to keep pace with larger counties in the never-ending crusade to recruit physicians, the ARC J-1 visa waiver program is one answer to the question, "How do we bring doctors to the area?"
BY GARTHIA ELENA HALBERT |
UMC Division Director Studies "Katrina" Allergies
Hurricane Katrina left the coastal counties of Mississippi ravaged and many of its residents traumatized. A University of Mississippi Medical Center study has shown that the trauma associated with the storm also influenced the way residents' bodies reacted to disease.
It wasn't that long ago that the medical establishment viewed the effects of stress on disease with some ambivalence. Anecdotally, there seemed to be a connection, but there was little scientific data to back up what many physicians had observed.
BY JANIS QUINN |
Healthcare Law Requires Collaborative Approach
Meeting the legal needs of today's healthcare providers involves a collaborative approach to facilitate the many aspects of healthcare organizations — building, running, buying, selling, taking apart and rebuilding.
At the office of Copeland, Cook, Taylor & Bush, PA, in Ridgeland, that often means reaching into several different legal teams within the firm of more than 60 attorneys, said Thomas L. Kirkland Jr., who chairs the firm's healthcare group.
BY LUCY SCHULTZE |
Legal Role Expands in Maze of Regulations
Healthcare providers today must rely more heavily than ever before on their legal counsel in the course of everyday business — sometimes even in simply trying to get paid.
The ever-growing number of regulations placed on providers is making it increasingly more complicated — and therefore more expensive — to run profitable medical practices, said Denise D. Burke, a healthcare attorney in the Memphis, Tenn., office of Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada PLLC.
BY LUCY SCHULTZE |
Product Litigation Downscaled Post Tort Reform
The Mississippi Legislature's Tort Reform Act of 2004 has had a greater impact on litigation in the pharmaceutical field than in the medical device field, said Neville Boschert, chair of the litigation practice group at Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis, PA, in Jackson.
"Formerly, they would have a suit with 100 plaintiffs where they would have one or two people who lived in the county where the suit was filed and then lump everybody in there together," he said.
BY LUCY SCHULTZE |
MGMA Responds to Medicare Payment Proposal
In a 20-page letter sent to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in October, Dr. William F. Jessee, FACMPE, president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), outlined the myriad of concerns the organization has with the proposed 2007 Medicare physician fee schedule.
In his correspondence, Jessee noted, "We appreciate the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' outreach to the provider community and their willingness to participate in constructive dialogue to improve the Medicare program."
BY CINDY SANDERS |
The Real-World Impact of Congressional Number Crunching
In June, MGMA sent its members a Medicare participation questionnaire. Of the 1,611 member practices representing more than 34,000 physicians who responded, 39 percent said they would limit the number of Medicare patients seen and 19 percent would refuse to accept new Medicare patients if the proposed 5.1 percent cut for 2007 moves forward.
|
New Business Keeps Rural Seniors at Home
When her Sunday school classmates at Seminary Baptist Church asked Dimple Mooney to travel with them on their annual fall pilgrimage to Ridgecrest in western North Carolina, she almost said no.
Mooney, whose 83-year-old husband, Martin, is homebound, knew how difficult it would be to find a qualified — and affordable — healthcare provider to travel to their home in Seminary, a rural town of 300 located a half hour from Hattiesburg.
BY LYNNE JETER |
Medical and Hospital Associations Outline Legislative Issues for 2007
When the 2007 session of the Mississippi Legislature convenes in Jackson next month, two of the state's leading healthcare organizations will be ready.
The Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA) and the Mississippi State Medical Association (MSMA) have issues of concern and plan to work vigorously with legislators to implement new state laws.
BY LYNN LOFTON |
AHLA Offers Arbitration and Mediation
You're a hospital administrator, and one of your vendors is simply not holding up its share of the bargain. Is litigation the only answer? And doesn't the thought of a lawsuit just make your head hurt?
The American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) offers another alternative, one that promises a swifter and more cost-effective solution to a dispute. It's mediation or arbitration, and the Washington, D.C.-based organization has taken many of the unknowns out of the process.
BY SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Healthcare Organizations Study Ways to Solve State's Nursing Faculty Shortage
Even with the crucial shortage of nurses, a staggering 2,300 students were turned away from Mississippi nursing schools last year.
The primary reason is the lack of nursing faculty, a problem that could lead to a critical shortage of qualified nurses in the state's healthcare system. Nurses comprise 31 percent of professionals providing healthcare services.
BY LYNN LOFTON |
Wal-Mart Takes Aim at Lowering Drug Costs
The company that revolutionized retailing in America has set its sights on the generic drug market. And by all accounts, the marketing war triggered by Wal-Mart's $4 generic drug offer will have a lasting impact on pharmaceutical prices.
Beginning in Tampa, Fla., Wal-Mart has begun selling a 30-day supply of select generic drugs for $4.
BY JOHN CARROLL |
Intelligent Investing
Dr. Jennifer Black's investments included a start-up private bank. It was subsequently acquired by a large bank traded on the New York Stock Exchange in a tax-free merger and now has an unrealized gain of $1.3 million. Her medical equipment supplier stock has an unrealized gain of $400,000. Google, acquired in its initial public offering, has an unrealized gain of $300,000. These investments are a meaningful part of her financial assets. She seeks ways to diversify her portfolio without increasing her tax bite.
Roger E. Muns |
Legal Perspective
Most healthcare administrators and physicians shudder at the thought of new Stark and anti-kickback regulations. Already these laws permeate most every relationship between physicians and healthcare facilities and block many of the seemingly innocent ventures contemplated by these players. New regulations can only further complicate things, right? Not necessarily, at least not without some benefit.
David W. Donnell |
CDC's New HIV Screening Recommendations
While clinicians and researchers have made dramatic strides in treating HIV and AIDS, progress in effecting an early diagnosis of the immunodeficiency virus or syndrome has not been as stellar. An estimated 250,000 to 310,000 people are living without knowledge of their infection in the United States.
|
Expanding HIV Testing
As another World AIDS Day is observed on December 1, there are more than 1 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS.
However, an estimated 25 percent of that group doesn't realize they are infected.
Healthcare professionals agree screening is a vital part of prevention, behavior modification, treatment and outcomes.
BY CINDY SANDERS |
|
|
| Google Ad Blocks |
|
| Add our RSS Feed |
|
|
| |
|
