To specialize or not to specialize? Doctors’ choices affect many people

When Travis Smith was an undergraduate, he shadowed doctors at health clinics in the Central African nation of Zambia. He saw a need that couldn’t be met. People lined up for days, waiting to be seen. Mothers held crying babies. Nurses quickly recorded vital signs and asked about symptoms. Sometimes antibiotics were available. Most times,…

Injuries contest: Tasteless game or useful idea?

Injuries contest: Tasteless game or useful idea?

Millions of Americans play “fantasy football,” with NFL players’ points and yardage producing a fantasy team’s weekly score. An online website exclusively for physicians, meanwhile, features a different type of football contest. Sermo, which has more than 100,000 doctor members, is offering prizes in its “Pro Football Injury Challenge.” One of the questions is for…

Enrollment for Medicaid, PeachCare hits new high

Enrollment for Medicaid, PeachCare hits new high

Georgia enrollment in Medicaid and PeachCare has jumped to 1.8 million, a new record, state officials say. Put in perspective, that’s nearly one of every five Georgians. It’s more than the population of several U.S. states. And Georgia expects another 65,000 to enroll in Medicaid this fiscal year and the next one due to the…

Claims firm Navicure reflects boom in health IT

Claims firm Navicure reflects boom in health IT

When Navicure was founded in 2001, it made sense that the new company would call metro Atlanta home. Jim Denny, the company’s founder and CEO, was working for a company in Georgia at the time. “We knew there were a lot of people in this market who knew health IT,’’ Denny said in an interview…

Hospital alliance emerges in Middle, South Georgia

Hospital alliance emerges in Middle, South Georgia

More than 20 hospitals in Middle and South Georgia, including nonprofit systems in Macon, Columbus, Valdosta and Tifton, have formed an alliance that aims to reduce costs, coordinate clinical information and improve the health of area residents. The alliance, called Stratus Healthcare, also includes about 1,500 physicians, along with 23 hospitals. It bills itself as…

Commentary: Don’t forget patients’ well-being

Commentary: Don’t forget patients’ well-being

Modern medical advances have increased life expectancy. But they can’t spare patients from the physical pain and emotional stress caused by serious illnesses. In a new GHN Commentary, an Atlanta-area physician, Dr. Victor Alvarez, says palliative and hospice care can alleviate patients’ physical pain, “as well as help them and their loved ones cope with…

Doctors blast slow pace of Medicaid raise

Doctors blast slow pace of Medicaid raise

The delay in a pay raise for Medicaid doctors in Georgia is “inexcusable and unacceptable,’’ physician groups say. On Thursday, an email letter to Jerry Dubberly, the state Medicaid chief, urged the state Department of Community Health and vendor HP “to accelerate the process to resolve the IT readiness problems that are reportedly responsible for…

Medicaid pay raise for doctors? Not here, not yet

Medicaid pay raise for doctors? Not here, not yet

The long-delayed Medicaid pay raise for primary care physicians is expected to begin this summer for almost all states, Kaiser Health News reported Tuesday, quoting a federal agency spokeswoman. But Georgia won’t be among them. The projected date for physicians in Georgia to get the pay bump is November, according to the state Medicaid agency….

Historic choice has big plans for med school

Historic choice has big plans for med school

Morehouse School of Medicine’s next president says graduating more physicians and helping to fill Georgia’s primary care gap will remain major goals for the Atlanta medical institution. Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice will replace Dr. John Maupin, who is retiring, as the Morehouse School of Medicine president in 2014, the school recently announced. Montgomery Rice, who’s…

Reno style: Athens plan to begin recruiting doctors (video)

(Editor’s Note: This is the ninth and final article in a series on the Athens uninsured initiative, produced by graduate students in the Health and Medical Journalism Program at the University of Georgia.) Betting on RenoIn a few months, Allie Chambers and Tracy Thompson will begin paying visits to physicians in the Athens area. They’ll…