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| Current Louisiana Medical News |
State Moves Medicaid Toward Coordinated Care
Shifting Louisiana's Medicaid system to coordinated care networks will save the state money, improve patient outcomes and may draw national insurers, according to a report by HealthLeaders-Interstudy.
TED GRIGGS |
Healthcare Reform Affects Medicare Patients and the Under 65 Set Differently
How to Answer Questions from Your Patients
If you’re a physician, chances are you have already fielded a bevy of questions from patients about healthcare reform. Rest assured, the questions will keep coming. Experts say that doctors need to be up to speed, and fast, about how reform will affect their patients’ healthcare and their insurance options in the future.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Avoiding Danger in the Workplace
Bureau of Labor Statistics Shows Higher Incidents of Violence in Healthcare Settings
Every year, thousands of workers in the healthcare and social services industries are confronted with threats of violence and actual assaults.
LYNNE JETER |
The Guardian
John Sutton Trains Healthcare Providers on Safety, Security, Self-Defense
NEW ORLEANS—After honing skills in martial arts and boxing during the early 1990s, John Sutton was approached by several nurses working in home care, asking him to teach them self-defense techniques and to accompany them to troublesome houses.
LYNNE JETER |
Nurse Practitioner’s Link Leads to Liver-free Rice Dressing
South Louisiana is renowned for its Cajun cuisine. One of the staples of a festive Acadiana feast is a rich, roux-based rice dressing mixed with finely chopped liver. It was this very delicacy that observant nurse practitioner Stella Souther linked to increased vitamin K levels in her cardiac clients.
LISA HANCHEY |
Raising a Voice
More Hospitals Turning to Nursing Shared Governance
When the professional guideline committee that reviews dress code at North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC) brought up the question—What about nurses going back to wearing all white instead of different colored scrubs so patients could more easily identify them?—the 1,200 staff nurses at America’s largest rural nonprofit hospital were glad to have council representation in the form of nursing shared governance.
LYNNE JETER |
Sometimes I Wish Something Could Just Stay the Same
Version 5010 Transition for Electronic Claims Submission
With almost 100 percent of Medicare Part A claim transactions being submitted electronically (and just over 96 percent of the Part B claims) using the Version 4010/4010A1 of healthcare standards, payers and providers must implement, test and transition to the 5010 Version transaction to be compliant with HIPAA no later than January 1, 2012.
BETTY HATTEN |
| Best Business Practices Focus |
Fed Moves Should Help Telemedicine Efforts
Rural hospitals’ telemedicine efforts will get a boost from federal regulators’ decision to let hospitals use credentialing and privileging information from the remote location, industry officials say.
TED GRIGGS |
There’s an App for That!
Medical Applications for Mobile Technology are Burgeoning
With mobile technologies advancing, so too are medical uses of those technologies – and the ride has just begun, predicts one expert.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Stark Reality
Multi-Specialty Practices Anxiously Await MedPac Recommendations for Imaging
Over the past few years, there has been a gradual chipping away of allowed reimbursements for imaging. Tightening Stark regulations have largely been driven by concern over the rising costs of advanced diagnostic imaging and soaring utilization rates.
CINDY SANDERS |
Legislative Affairs: 2010 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature
Not counting today, as of press time, there are simply 12 days left to the 2010 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature! Healthcare lobbyists, and all other types of lobbyists too, expect to work long days, nights and weekends until Monday, June 21st at 6 PM when the Louisiana Legislature adjourns sine die (final adjournment.) Below is a recap of the status of all 247 healthcare related measures.
CINDY BISHOP |
Dr. Phil Gachassin
Innovative Surgeon Goes Entrepreneur
When it comes to surgical procedures, Dr. Phil Gachassin has always been on the cutting-edge. Since starting his general surgery practice, he has specialized in minimally invasive gastrointestinal techniques and weight loss surgery. Once the da Vinci® robot came onto the market, he was one of only a handful of Acadiana doctors to do robotic gastrointestinal surgery. In 2010, he became the first physician in Lafayette to perform Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication (TIF) with EsophyX®.
LISA HANCHEY |
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