Is the practice of medicine coming full circle? As the administrator of a large medical practice, I believe it is. For many wistful Americans, the image of the community physician making routine house calls is a lost icon, a symbol of nostalgia. In a simpler time, in a much more rural United States, often the local doctors…
Family practitioner Mark Ebell was 28 when he moved down from a prosperous part of Michigan to practice family medicine at a community health center in the tiny Georgia town of Colbert. Although many of the conditions he treated were much the same in the two states, his patients in rural Georgia lived vastly different…
The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, which already has a campus in suburban Atlanta, is moving to develop another med school location in Georgia. PCOM has signed an agreement with Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie, in southwest Georgia, to produce a feasibility plan and present it to an accreditation committee for osteopathic colleges. The…
Georgia’s physicians are slightly more pessimistic about the future of medicine than their counterparts nationally, a recent survey found. Two of three Georgia doctors — 66.8 percent — said they were somewhat negative/pessimistic or very negative/pessimistic about medicine’s future, versus 62.8 percent of doctors nationally, according to a survey of more than 17,000 physicians around…
Sylvia Wright hails from a family that has a long tradition of white coats. The Atlanta-based dermatologist and partner at Peachtree Dermatology Associates is a fourth-generation physician. For her, the white coat represents “the honor, the service and the commitment of practicing medicine.” But Wright could be the last in her family to wear this…
It’s the $110 million question. How should the Georgia Medicaid program spend the $110 million penalty to be paid by Tenet Healthcare as part of a fraud case settlement? The net amount is the biggest Medicaid fraud recovery in Georgia history, according to the state Attorney General’s office. By law, it must go to Medicaid,…
Emory Healthcare announced Monday that it has formed a partnership with Stratus Healthcare, an alliance of 21 hospitals and 1,500 physicians in Georgia. Stratus, created in 2013, is a loose alliance of Georgia health systems, with members cooperating on their common goals but not sharing equity interests. Stratus officials say it’s the largest alliance of…
More than 1 million Georgians who have diabetes are at risk of developing chronic, debilitating nerve pain with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. DPN can cause irreversible damage, including complete loss of lower extremity sensation that can result in amputation. In a new GHN Commentary, Dr. Jonathan Ownby, an endocrinologist, writes that health insurers are “making it…
More than 1 million people in Georgia live with diabetes and are at risk for developing chronic, debilitating and potentially permanent nerve pain, known as diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Currently, the American Diabetes Association estimates that more than 60 percent of Americans with diabetes also suffer from diabetic peripheral neuropathy. DPN is a result of poorly…
Editor’s note: Recently Georgia Health News revived its Doctor’s Column section, giving physicians the opportunity to write about important medical issues. The following column focuses on a growing trend in medical care. Dr. Juliet Mavromatis, an Atlanta physician, writes about her transition to “concierge medicine,” a style of practice in which doctors offer more personalized care….