Kaiser Permanente has again been rated the top commercial health plan in Georgia by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. It’s the 14th straight year for Kaiser to lead the NCQA commercial plan ratings. Health plans were rated on a 1-to-5 scale, with 5 being the best. The nonprofit Kaiser received a score of 4.0 among…
Late last year, Stephen King of Marietta (not the famous author) started feeling sick at work, having nausea, vomiting and dizziness. King, who had known he was pre-diabetic, went to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. He later was unable to control his blood sugar levels despite repeated doctor visits. “My numbers were…
The legislative effort to end surprise medical bills has repeatedly led to stalemates – and frustration – at the Georgia General Assembly. Surprise billing occurs when consumers have procedures or visit ERs at hospitals in their insurance network, then get separate bills for hundreds or even thousands of dollars from non-network doctors who were involved in their care….
Four years ago, a sports medicine group began a quest to build a surgery and training center in Alpharetta, in Atlanta’s northern suburbs. The proposed multimillion-dollar center was to be known as the Legacy Sports institute. It was associated with famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews of Alabama, whose patients have included such sports luminaries…
Health Connect South isn’t your typical health care conference. One of the gathering’s central goals is to foster collaboration among leaders and organizations in the industry. A past example is the alliance between pharmaceutical giant UCB and Georgia Tech, forged through the summit, to create a project to explore the potential of predictive analytics to help…
We often get new cards in the mail, from credit to retail to random discounts, many of them unwanted. But there’s a very important card on its way – or newly arrived – for hundreds of thousands of Georgians 65 and older. Don’t toss it into the junk mail pile. Medicare is replacing its card…
Now that the state has given its approval, DeKalb Medical will become part of Emory Healthcare on Sept. 1. The deal will continue to expand Emory’s reach in metro Atlanta. It’s one of Georgia’s leading hospital-based systems, along with WellStar, Piedmont and Northside. The Georgia attorney general’s OK, which was announced Friday, was the final regulatory step…
Dr. Jean Sumner likes to tell the story of how she once raised a woman “from the dead.” It happened years ago on a Thanksgiving Day when she was still working as a rural physician in the central Georgia town of Sandersville. “I was already dressed for dinner at my mother’s” when the call came in,…
Fewer benefits. Riskier coverage. Buyer beware. The Trump administration issued a final rule Wednesday that promotes the sale of more “short-term’’ health plans, but the move immediately drew criticism from consumer advocates and health care industry organizations. The short-term plans don’t have to cover pre-existing conditions and can provide a limited range of benefits. Many such plans…
Belinda Jones had to deal with her landlord saying she owed back rent. Then there was the sewage regularly bubbling up in the sinks and drains of her southwest Atlanta apartment. A rug was filled with mold. Residents of the apartment complex, citing their constant fear of violence, recently pointed out bullet holes in outside…