DeKalb Hopsital medical tower

DeKalb Medical works to satisfy feds’ concerns after discharge of vulnerable patient

DeKalb Medical Center faces a federal deadline later this month for approval of a correction plan after the discharge of a patient with mental illness who then went missing for several days. If the Decatur hospital does not get the necessary OK from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the facility will no longer…

Once again, Medicare penalizing most hospitals for patient readmission rates

Four out of five Georgia hospitals are set to receive Medicare penalties for having too many patients returning within a month of their discharge. The readmission penalties, levied under the Affordable Care Act, are meant to encourage hospitals to pay closer attention to what happens to patients after discharge. Kaiser Health News reported Thursday that Medicare is…

Commentary: There’s help for managing your health in Medicare

Many adults have one or more chronic health conditions, and that’s especially true as people grow older. What’s more, coordinating services for these different conditions can be challenging. “Between doctor visits, taking the right medications at the right times, and following advice from different health care professionals, managing your health can be overwhelming,’’ writes Angela Brice-Smith,…

Take advantage of what Medicare has to offer

Resources are available to educate patients about Chronic Care Management About half of all adults in the United States – 117 million people – have one or more chronic health conditions such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or dementia, and one in four adults have two or more conditions, according to the Centers for Disease…

Commentary: Don’t rush to junk the ACA

Republicans, in control of Congress and about to take control of the presidency, have vowed to move forward on a repeal of the Affordable Care Act this year. How that will play out – and what the GOP’s replacement plan is – hasn’t yet been determined. In a new GHN Commentary, former health care executive…

The rush to throw out Obamacare could backfire disastrously

We are the most religious democracy in the world, and our Judeo-Christian ethic demands that we take care of the downtrodden. But we are also the only advanced democracy without universal health coverage. Are we confused . . . or just hypocrites? My bet is that we are very confused. The public’s reaction to Obamacare…

Medicare safety penalties fall hard on some Georgia hospitals

Nearly one in four Georgia hospitals are being penalized by the federal government for high rates of patient injuries. Federal health officials reported that 31 of 134 Georgia hospitals analyzed, or 23 percent, had a high level of such complications, which include infections, blood clots, bedsores and falls. Of those facilities, 13 have received the…

Trump picks Congressman Price of Georgia to run HHS

President-elect Donald Trump has selected U.S. Rep. Tom Price of Georgia as his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Price, 62, an orthopedic surgeon, has been a fierce critic of the Affordable Care Act, and has also discussed major changes to the Medicare program. The six-term Republican congressman and former state…

Do-it-yourself what?! More kidney patients learning in-home dialysis

W.E. “Bubber” Wilkes spent 30 years raising turkeys and then beef cattle, 24 years on the Oconee County Commission, and five years working security at Athens Regional Hospital. And January will mark his first year on home dialysis for kidney failure. Wilkes was born with only one kidney, but it was larger than normal and functioned…

Hospice care improves quality of life at the end of the journey

Surgeon and bestselling author Atul Gawande writes that he never learned about mortality in medical school. He learned to examine, prescribe and operate, but not how to help patients die well. It wasn’t until he was a practicing surgeon that he confronted the idea of a “good” death — a death consistent with a life…