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AMA Meeting Produces New Policy Shifts
In a break from its traditional forbearance on government insurance mandates, the AMA's House of Delegates has decided to swing the powerful physician group's lobbying efforts in back of federal and state provisions that would slap a tax penalty on anyone who can afford health insurance but doesn't buy it.
For individuals, the penalty would fall on anyone who makes more than $49,000 a year who fails to buy a catastrophic care policy. For families of four, the financial line would be drawn at $100,000. But the AMA was conspicuously silent on how big penalties should be.
BY TRACY STATON |
Physician Spotlight: Dr. Claire Morgan
When Claire Morgan was 11 years old, her mother became pregnant and discovered she was having twins only two months before her due date. Soon after their birth, while other fifth graders were looking forward to recess and playtime, Morgan couldn't wait to race home and help her mother care for babies Catherine and Courtney.
"That's probably part of the reason why I went into pediatrics," said Morgan. "I went from playing with baby dolls to live babies.
BY LYNNE JETER |
Governor Unveils Healthy Mississippi Program
Alarmed by Mississippi's reputation for leading the nation in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Gov. Haley Barbour introduced plans to help Mississippians adopt healthier lifestyles at a Healthy Mississippi Summit on June 15. Orchestrated by Barbour, the seminar addressed challenges and opportunities to promote better health to children in schools as well as to seniors in communities and adults in workplaces throughout the state. He urged seminar attendees to turn instinct into action.
BY BECKY HILL MARTIN |
Top Hospitals Fine-Tune Their Approach to IT
Seven years ago, when Hospitals and Health Networks magazine first went looking for the 100 "most wired" hospitals and health systems in the country, the healthcare industry was focused on finding the hard dollars and cents that could be saved with cutting edge information technology. But these days, the emphasis has shifted to a scorecard approach that tries to balance an accountant's calculus on ROI (return on investment) with the improvements in quality and streamlined workflows that deliver important, if harder to measure, returns.
BY JOHN CARROLL |
Wired
For the eighth year, Hospitals & Health Networks has named the 100 Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems. The list, which appeared in the magazine's July issue, was based on the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, which asked hospitals to report on how they use information technology to address five key areas: safety and quality, customer service, business processes, workforce, and public health and safety.
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Rankin Medical Addresses PTSD for Seniors
After Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, destroying 70,000 homes in south Mississippi and damaging tens of thousands more, evacuees headed north to Hattiesburg and Jackson, seeking solace from the ruins.
BY LYNNE JETER |
Mississippi Doctor Helps Save Lives of Iraqi Children
Dr. Robert Bailey carries haunting memories of the situations encountered in Iraq during two recent stints as an Army field surgeon, but none more poignant than the sight of a toddler with a charred face being loaded onto a helicopter.
It was the last time Bailey saw the tiny Iraqi girl he treated for second-and third-degree burns after a heater exploded inside her home, burning her and her two older sisters.
BY KARA KIMBROUGH |
New Program Promises to Close a Wide Gap in Quality
For some doctors, the professional demands of keeping up with the best practices in the field of medicine may soon steer them in the direction of a personal tutor.
Using grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a group of specialist societies operating under the umbrella of the American Board of Medical Specialties Research and Education Foundation will concentrate on giving doctors the tools, systems and support they need to give their patients the kind of recommended therapy that has delivered the best outcomes for patients with diabetes and asthma.
BY JOHN CARROLL |
Emergency Care Specialists Raise Alarm
In a series of new reports, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that the nation's emergency care safety net is stretched to the limit and is unable to cope with any major man-made or natural disaster that may loom. Emergency care specialists have responded by using the reports as a call to arms, harshly criticizing the shortage of post 9/11 emergency funds for EDs and warning of a breakdown of the nation's emergency care system.
BY TRACY STATON |
Adopt-a-School Programs Benefit Mississippi Hospitals and Schools
As school doors open this fall across the state, local hospitals will help "adoptive schools" with creative programs ranging from cash donations to programs for exploring health careers.
"Our facility partners with the nursing schools in the area to provide extern positions, but we also partner with our local high school allied health class," said Gwen Shirley, director of education and employee health for Tri-Lakes Medical Center in Batesville.
BY BECKY GILLETTE |
Mississippi Enacts New Fraudulent Transfer Act
On March 13, 2006, Gov. Haley Barbour signed into law Senate Bill No. 2781, enacting Mississippi's version of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. The Act became effective on July 1, 2006, and establishes the legal grounds and procedures for setting aside fraudulent transfers.
By Jeffrey R. Barber |
HMA Mississippi Names Division Finance Leader
Bill Williams, resident of Brandon, has recently been named the Director of Operations Finance, Division Chief Financial Officer for the Mississippi Division of Health Management Associations, Inc.
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Flynt Receives Prestigious Teaching Award
The University of Mississippi School of Medicine has presented Dr. Joel R. Flynt the 2006 Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Excellence in Teaching Award.
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Pine Grove Announces New Alumni Relations Coordinator
Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services announces the addition of Ruth Ann Rigby as Alumni Relations Coordinator. While in this position, Rigby will perform national fundraising for the Circle of Healing Foundation.
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ACT Center Recognized for Fighting Cancer
In recognition of the center's long-term efforts, the Mississippi Partnership for Comprehensive Cancer Control recently awarded the ACT Center for Tobacco Treatment, Education, and Research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center the Prevention of Cancer in Mississippi Award.
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Hattiesburg Clinic Surgeon Authors Articles
J. Keith Thompson, D.O., a vascular and endovascular surgeon at Hattiesburg Clinic, has authored articles to be published in the March edition of "Annals of Vascular Surgery" and the April edition of "Journal of Vascular Surgery".
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