Elbert Memorial Hospital, facing major financial challenges, is seeking a larger hospital as a partner. “We keep losing patients, losing revenue and also doctors in the past several years,” said Jim Lloyd, chairman of the Elberton-Elbert County Hospital Authority. “We need someone with assets and capital to take us forward.” Elbert Memorial Hospital, a 47-bed…
Usually at the midpoint of a Georgia General Assembly session, health care industry groups are scrambling to prevent deep cuts in the budgets of Medicaid and other government programs. Not so this year. Hospitals, doctors and other medical providers appear fairly satisfied with the budget news so far, halfway through the legislative session. They see…
Senate and House negotiators have returned to the bargaining table to work on the so-called “doc fix” problem involving what physicians are paid when treating Medicare patients. Unless Congress takes action by the end of this month, doctors face a 27 percent cut in reimbursements under Medicare. In a new GHN Commentary, Atlanta psychiatrist Dr….
In the fall of 1968, Barbara and Richard, then freshmen at the University of Pennsylvania, caught each other’s eye in their second week of biology class. Four years later, the two pre-med students married, and they have been together ever since. The story of Dr. Barbara Schuster and Dr. Richard Schuster is what dreams are…
Paying primary care doctors more for delivering better care is not a new idea. It has been championed for years as a way to improve patients’ health and reduce medical costs. Now, two health insurers with a major presence in Georgia have announced big steps to make the idea a reality. And the prospect has…
For Dr. Mitzi Rubin, a Cobb County family practice physician in mid-career, the cost to convert patients’ medical records electronically may have been the last straw. Not that she resisted the concept – in fact, she was eager to embrace it. “My father practices in the Virgin Islands, and his office has been on EMR…
Gov. Nathan Deal said Tuesday that his proposed budget would fund 400 new residency training slots in hospitals across the state for graduates of Georgia medical schools. Georgia taxpayers currently fund these young physicians’ education through medical school, ‘‘only to see them perform their residency outside of our state and not return,’’ Deal said in…
Health care typically occupies a large share of the legislation lineup during a Georgia General Assembly session. Dozens of health-related bills are introduced, promoted or debated, on topics that can range from the prescribing of drugs to an insurance policy’s fine print. This year, though, many experts say they expect the Legislature to approve no…
Doug Wojcieszak lost his brother to medical errors. His parents ultimately won a malpractice award, but no physician apologized or admitted a mistake, Wojcieszak writes in a new GHN Commentary. “Often, doctors don’t talk about mistakes because they are afraid of our legal system,’’ says Wojcieszak, founder of Sorry Works!, a leading advocacy organization for…
When most people visit the doctor, they are probably not thinking of anything but getting individual care. But it’s becoming more common for providers to look past individual blood glucose levels and cholesterol counts to the social factors that affect the health of whole communities. That’s why the GHSU/UGA Medical Partnership and the UGA College…