By Susan Levine Washington Post Staff Writer D.C. patients will someday be able to go online to a city Web site and check their doctors’ credentials and experience and whether they have lost malpractice suits or been disciplined. Under legislation passed by the D.C. Council in its final session this year, District doctors, hospitals and […]

Skyrocketing insurance premiums are forcing thousands of ob-gyns out of the baby business. And your doctor could be the next to go. By Jeannette Moninger http://www.parents.com Doctor Drought “I am not having my baby in this car,” thought Mattelyn Lee, a mother of two, as she tried to breathe through another contraction. Giving birth on […]

The young physicians of our 2006 Practice of the Year love to innovate By Bob Keaveney http://www.physicianspractice.com It’s not yet 8 a.m. when the calls begin and the patients start arriving. Family physician Christopher Crow has just stepped out of his office on his way to see the morning’s first patient when the buzzing of […]

By Margaret Leroux http://wbjournal.com This coming year will see Massachusetts’ ground-breaking health care program emerge from legislation to reality. Last October, the new insurance program, Commonwealth Care, began enrolling adults with incomes below the federal poverty line of $9,800; in January it will open for adults with incomes up to three times the federal poverty […]

By MICHELLE M. SMITH GHM Group http://www.reviewatlas.com Dr. Jeffrey Baumgardner is a man who has learned to accept the challenges of life as opportunities for growth and change. The physician recently opened his office at 940 North Henderson Street and is looking forward to providing total healthcare for women, which will include obstetrics, gynecology, and […]

Star Tribune http://www.dfw.com Here’s what you need to know about the American Tort Reform Association’s recent “Judicial Hellholes” report complaining about egregious bias against corporate defendants in civil litigation. In one breath, the report defines “judicial hellholes” as places where judges “systematically” apply laws and court procedures in an “unfair and unbalanced manner.” But the […]

By Lisa Girion, Times Staff Writer http://www.latimes.com California’s largest physician organization on Tuesday asked to join patients in a class-action lawsuit alleging that Blue Cross illegally dumps policyholders after authorizing expensive medical treatment and then refuses to pay the bills. The request by the California Medical Assn. came a week after the state’s hospitals filed […]

http://www.nytimes.com Should doctors be paid in accord with how often they treat you or how well they treat you? The answer presumably is a bit of both. Yet the current fee-for-service reimbursement systems used by Medicare and other insurance programs perversely reward doctors for the volume of services they provide and pay little or no […]

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com Good for the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The high court struck down as unconstitutional a 2003 provision that requires patients to get a medical expert to sign an affidavit that their lawsuit has merit before they can proceed with a medical malpractice lawsuit. Legislators approved the law to prevent frivolous lawsuits, something we’ve heard a […]