Physicians

A Civil War surgeon’s instruments. A 16th-century volume on human anatomy. Notes of famed Georgia physician Crawford W. Long.

An exhibit of such historic medical books and artifacts has opened at Emory University.

“Medical Treasures,” on display through October, features materials from the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, including 18th- and 19th-century works on human anatomy, pathology, surgery, midwifery and alternative medical practices.

Artifacts in the exhibit include one of the earliest stethoscopes from the 19th century, and a kit of a Civil War surgeon’s instruments, primarily used for amputation.

Materials related to the discovery of anesthesia are also part of the exhibition, including notes of Long, the Georgia physician and anesthesia pioneer for whom Emory University Hospital Midtown was originally named.

The last exhibition case is dedicated to a significant medical book: “de humani corporis fabrica” (On the structure of the human body), first published by Andreas Vesalius in 1543. It is considered the first accurate book on human anatomy.

Here’s a slideshow of some of the artifacts that are on display, courtesy of Emory.

The original bill was less than one page – three short paragraphs.

It addressed a fairly routine matter of school superintendents serving on county public health boards, and passed the House unanimously.

But this week, Georgia House Bill 538 was transformed into a vehicle for supporters of the Albany hospital merger to seek to blunt Federal Trade Commission action against the deal.

The new version would buttress antitrust immunity for hospital authorities in Georgia – and make those protections retroactive.

In 2011, the hospital authority of Albany-Dougherty County completed the acquisition of Palmyra Medical Center, which was merged with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, the area’s only other hospital. But the FTC calls the merger anti-competitive and has been fighting it in the courts.

The revised Georgia bill, if passed, would appear to counteract the FTC’s action against the merger.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month gave the FTC a preliminary victory in its two-year fight against the deal, saying the acquisition by the hospital authority was not immune from antitrust scrutiny. full story

Walter Curran

The federal budget cuts known as sequestration may deal a major blow to medical research, both in Georgia and nationally.

The National Institutes of Health stands to lose about $1.6 billion in funding over the next 10 years, with an estimated $250 million of that reduction absorbed by the National Cancer Institute.

And that could translate to a reduction in federal funds of up to $4 million a year for the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, says its executive director, Dr. Walter Curran.

Curran this week urged congressional leaders to continue support for cancer research. He spoke to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, chaired by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.).

In a new GHN Commentary, Curran discusses the potential wide-ranging impact of these budget cuts on cancer research.

Immediate effects from the budget reductions, he writes, “will be felt in our research labs, with promising research slowed or even shut down, pending projects wiped off the boards, the next generation of bright young researchers unable to learn cancer research at the side of experts, and layoffs among trained cancer staff, including those who coordinate clinical trials that test new cancer therapies.’’

Here is a link to Curran’s Commentary.

Georgia Health News welcomes Commentary submissions. If you would like to propose a Commentary piece for Georgia Health News, please email Andy Miller, editor of GHN, at amiller@georgiahealthnews.com

Proposed changes to Georgia’s health care regulatory process hit a dead end in a House committee Wednesday, but only after a four-hour hearing that exposed a longstanding divide between physicians and hospitals.

The House Health and Human Services Committee debated one bill that would exempt multi-service outpatient surgery centers owned by physicians from the state regulatory process, and then a second bill that would exempt standalone pediatric emergency rooms. The panel adjourned without taking a vote on either House Bill 279 or House Bill 404.

Thursday is Crossover Day, the deadline for a bill to be passed by at least one chamber of the General Assembly or lose its chance of becoming law this session. So the two House bills are effectively dead until next year, except in the unlikely event that one of them is attached to legislation that has already moved forward.

Construction of large health care facilities comes under the state’s certificate-of-need (CON) process. CON is a complex set of regulations governing medical facilities’ expansion and building, as well as services such as obstetrics and heart surgery.

The CON process is somewhat controversial because hospitals have often used it to challenge competitors’ planned projects. It has also sometimes pitted doctors against hospitals in battles over building surgery centers.

Single-specialty surgery centers, such as those limited to orthopedic operations, have already been exempted from CON.

Physicians and supporters of the multi-specialty centers say they should also be exempted, and that such as step would lower health care costs for employers, patients and insurers.

“It’s basically a free-market issue,’’ Rep. Terry Rogers (R-Clarkesville), sponsor of House Bill 279, told the House panel. full story

Proposed changes to Georgia’s medical malpractice system consumed a marathon Senate committee hearing Wednesday, as nursing home representatives, physicians, lawyers and patient advocates battled over two bills breaking late in the General Assembly session.

The first bill would promote the signing of voluntary agreements that would send nursing home patients’ injury claims to arbitration.

The second bill proposes a novel type of tort reform that would shift the process of pursuing injury claims to a system modeled after workers’ compensation.

Both pieces of legislation are nearing a de facto deadline. A bill must pass at least one chamber by Crossover Day — expected to be Thursday — in order to have a shot at becoming law. Crossover Day is next week.

The nursing home industry and hospital groups support Senate Bill 202, which attorney Jason Bring of Arnall Golden Gregory said provides consumer protections for patients and their families. full story