Three years ago, Grady Health System in Atlanta was getting thousands of 911 calls from people with mental health problems. Some were calling up to 30 times a month for emergency help. A large majority of these people were transported by ambulance to the Grady Memorial Hospital ER, said Michael Colman, vice president of EMS…
A state law that’s been in place for less than six months has improved access to key vaccines for Georgia adults. The legislation allows pharmacists and nurses to administer vaccines for influenza, pneumococcal disease, shingles and meningitis. This is a big development for Georgia pharmacists, who have been administering flu vaccine to all comers since…
Long hours, higher patient load and increased scrutiny of their work. Those factors, along with others, have led many physicians into burnout. According to a recent study by Mayo Clinic, more than 54 percent of physicians in the United States suffer from one form or another of burnout, almost 10 percent more than in 2011. In a new…
In the past few months, a specter has been haunting and unsettling the medical community and way beyond: the specter of the disruptive doctor. Recent media reports show a rising number of cases in which physicians are losing control, such as surgeons throwing instruments in the operating room and yelling at their staff, or doctors…
Problems with insurers’ contracts with physicians — and with their provider networks — are likely to spark legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session, a key state senator said Monday. State Sen. Dean Burke (R-Bainbridge), who chaired a legislative study committee reviewing insurer networks and contracts, told GHN that the panel’s work may lead to…
The new leader of Emory University’s various health entities sees his appointment as “a great opportunity.” Dr. Jonathan S. Lewin has been named executive vice president for health affairs, Emory announced Thursday. Lewin, a Johns Hopkins executive, also will serve as executive director for Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center. And he will become the new…
A pediatric network has inked its first major contract with a health insurer that will pay the doctors based on incentives in meeting quality-of-care standards. The Children’s Care Network, which has more than 1,100 pediatricians in Georgia, has signed a two-year agreement with WellCare Health Plans that will include bonus pay if the provider organization achieves improvements on medical…
A Fulton County judge Wednesday rejected a state motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two ob/gyns to overturn Georgia’s health care regulatory process. But Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. also allowed the state attorney general’s office to appeal his decision immediately to an appellate court. Cartersville physicians Hugo Ribot and Malcolm Barfield argue, in…
WellStar Health System announced Tuesday that it had agreed to buy Tenet Healthcare’s five metro Atlanta hospitals for $575 million. The deal, if approved by regulators, would make Marietta-based WellStar easily the largest health system in the state of Georgia. WellStar would acquire North Fulton Hospital in Roswell, Spalding Regional Hospital in Griffin, Sylvan Grove…
Nathan Copp, 24, recently came to the Piedmont Fayette Hospital’s ER complaining that he felt tired, short of breath and lightheaded. Copp, who has the inflammatory bowel ailment known as Crohn’s disease, also told Dr. Robin Lowman, an emergency room physician, that he’d been having some chills. As Lowman examined him, she dictated her observations…