When the treatment makes patients sick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Metro Atlantans face risks of medical errors and life-threatening infections that are above national averages when they are admitted to some of the area's most prestigious hospitals, according to a study of new federal data. These conditions occur only a few times per year at most hospitals, according to the statistics, which cover Medicare patients treated between October 2008 and June 2010.More

Georgians kept in dark on hospital infections
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In 28 states, hospitals are required by law to make a public report on at least some of the infections patients pick up while under the hospital's care. Georgia is not one of those states, and patient advocates say that makes it difficult for consumers to make informed choices about where to go for health care. More

Seniors face Medicare cost barrier for cancer meds
The Associated Press via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chemotherapy is now available in a pill, but if you have Medicare, you may not be able to afford it. That's what happened to Rita Moore when she took her prescription for a medication to treat kidney cancer to her local drugstore. She was stunned when the pharmacist told her a month's supply of the pills would cost $2,400, more than she makes.More

Augusta lacks 'cool factor' for recruits, Azziz says
The Augusta Chronicle
It is hampering recruiting to Georgia Health Sciences University and hurting development in the region as a whole — "the cool factor" — and Augusta, Ga., does not quite measure up, GHSU President Ricardo Azziz said.More

Piedmont Healthcare cutting 5 percent of workforce
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Faced with a rising number of uninsured patients and unknown impact of the new health care law, Piedmont Healthcare announced evening plans to cut 464 jobs as part of an effort to save an estimated $68 million. Totaling roughly 5 percent of its workforce, the cuts include 171 positions that were vacant or altered because of scheduling changes.More

MAG Mutual distributes largest-ever dividend
MAG Mutual Insurance Co.
One of the country's leading physician medical professional liability insurers, MAG Mutual Insurance Company, is distributing a $16.5 million dividend to more than 17,000 policyholders across the Southeast. This is the largest single-year policyholder dividend in the mutual company's nearly 30-year history.More

209,000 doctors at risk for e-prescribing penalties
Information Week
Unbeknownst to many medical practices, as many as 209,000 physicians and other health care providers may already be in line for a 1 percent Medicare payment reduction in 2012 for not writing prescriptions electronically. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is looking at claims for the first six months of 2011 to determine who will be penalized starting next year.More

Improving US life expectancy through EMR technology
Dell
Electronic health records and electronic medical records are changing health care among both large and small service providers. Recent studies have demonstrated the effects of EHRs/EMRs on financial and human resources, as well as overall patient care. We've pulled together an interesting view on the current health care delivery system trends and the potential impact these technologies can have on revolutionizing care by freeing up resources to focus more on patients.More

Digital health push woos tech firms, pains doctors
MarketWatch
Two years ago, Dr. Gonzalo Venegas decided to bring his medical practice into the Information Age. But the move turned out to be so costly that his business, which employs five physicians, ended up on financial life support. More

Don't quit this day job
The New York Times
Karen Sibert is a doctor and a mother of four, and she has always practiced medicine full time. When she took her board exams in 1987, female doctors were still uncommon, and they were determined to work as hard as any of the men. Today, however, increasing numbers of doctors — mostly women — decide to work part time or leave the profession.More

To curb malpractice costs, judges jump in early
The New York Times
In Justice Douglas E. McKeon's fluorescent-lighted chambers in the Bronx, a new way of handling medical malpractice suits was on full, and sometimes gruesome, display. Around a polished wood table, lawyers haggled over the price for a lost nose ($300,000) and the missing tip of a finger ($50,000).More

Live free or die: Bridging business and health care
PYA Healthcare Blog
Mark Browne wrote on his blog, "Recently as a colleague of mine and I were debating the latest developments in health care reform, he posed a not-so-rhetorical question. 'So, when do you think the independent practice of medicine as we know it will cease to be?' Current statistics, if you are a believer in statistics, suggest the answer to his question might be 'Sooner than you think!'"More

Augusta doctors seek genetic links
The Augusta Chronicle
It looks like a few labs and offices inside the Life Sciences Business Development Center at Georgia Health Sciences University. But really, Jinfiniti Biosciences is a high-speed genetic processing center, an emerging business that could one day blossom into a high-tech industry. Or so the company founders and the state of Georgia hope.More