Patient Care news and information

More and more doctors are ditching insurance companies, and letting patients pay them directly for their care. There was a conference on "direct pay" healthcare held for local doctors in Minneapolis on Saturday, the first of its kind in Minnesota. Business models vary from practice to practice,...
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Many hospitals and health systems are making the shift from caring for the very sick to focusing on improving the living conditions of communities they serve by concentrating on disease prevention and reducing waste and toxic products.
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Sometimes, a doctor's orders are easier to take from someone who doesn't wear a stethoscope. A study conducted at six Twin Cities clinics found that patients with chronic conditions fared better when doctors and nurses were assisted by "care guides"— laypeople who lead patients through the...
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Management of two LSU hospitals in north Louisiana is being turned over to a nonprofit research foundation that has never run a patient care facility, raising concerns about whether it has the experience and the financing needed to oversee the public hospitals.
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There has been significant progress in getting health information technology systems to talk to one another, according to a new study on interoperability by HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
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Former President George W. Bush's decision to allow doctors to use a stent to clear a blocked heart artery is reviving a debate on the best way to treat early cardiac concerns.
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The owner of Rochester Hills-based Michigan Hematology Oncology Centers and founder of the not-for-profit Swan for Life Cancer Foundation faces charges of healthcare fraud at U.S. District Court today for his role in an alleged $35 million Medicare billing scheme.
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David Share, M.D., senior vice president of value partnerships with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, has been shepherding the Blues' patient-centered medical home project during the five years of its existence.
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Federal legislators are pushing a ban on self-referral in radiation therapy in the wake of a U.S. Government Accountability Office report finding a massive jump in advanced radiation treatments for prostate cancer conducted at facilities owned by the referring physicians.
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The decision last week by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommending annual lung cancer screenings for heavy smokers using low-dose computed tomography scans has reignited the controversy among physicians about the trade-off between benefits and risks for a number of cancer-screening...
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