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| Current Memphis Medical News |
Leaders in Healthcare: William E. Evans, director and CEO of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has been a leader in treatment and research for childhood catastrophic diseases since the doors opened in 1962. Since then the cure rate for all cancers has gone up to 75 percent, and leukemia has gone from less than five percent to 90 percent, a vast improvement, but there is still much work to be done. Cancer is still the leading cause of death by disease in children. St. Jude director and CEO William Evans, explains the strategic plan for the research hospital and where they are concentrating their efforts for the future.
HOLLI W. HAYNIE |
Saint Francis Uses SpyGlass Technology for ERCP Procedures
The procedure for diagnosing problems in the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts known as ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) has been an important tool in locating stones and strictures in the biliary tract. Almost half a million people annually in the U.S. undergo the ERCP procedure.
HOLLI W. HAYNIE |
In Memoriam: Tim Roberts
Memphis loses a member of the Medical Family
Normally I write an article on business issues related to healthcare. Last month, July 15, we lost a colleague and a friend. Tim Roberts, the CEO of Semmes-Murphey Clinic died suddenly from a heart attack. Those of us who knew Tim knew him to be a fairly quiet but approachable colleague. Many of us were in disbelief of this loss. We remembered him at our Mid-South MGMA luncheon and kind words were expressed about Tim, by Worth Saunders. I thought and thought about how to put into words what we were thinking and talking about. As I pondered what to say, an email came across by desk written by Dr. Clarence Watridge, to the Semmes-Murphey Clinic family, which says it better than any words I could have written. I want to share it with you today.
BILL APPLING |
Oman-Gibson Rolls Out $40 Million Healthcare Real Estate Investment Fund
National healthcare real estate development and project management firm Oman-Gibson Associates (OGA) recently announced the formation of a new $40 million investment fund specifically targeted to develop and acquire new medical office buildings and clinical space throughout the country.
CINDY SANDERS |
Sustainable, Maintainable and Integrable
TennCare Looks to the Future
In the not-so-distant past, the leadership of Tennessee's Medicaid demonstration program spent a significant portion of the day just trying to get up to speed. With a sometimes seemingly insurmountable learning curve and an average tenure of less than 15 months, burnout was common among the executive team.
Cindy Sanders |
Movement on the infant mortality front
The alarming reality of infant mortality in Memphis continues to be on the minds of local and state officials. This summer, two initiatives were launched to address the issue: a study of infant death calculations and a public-private coalition that will provide home visitations to first-time mothers.
JANE SCHNEIDER |
Mommy's Medicine Program-Le Bonheur
Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center has crafted a simple, feasible, cost-free way to cut health risks to neonates using available resources. The Mommy's Medicine Program, less than a year old, removes barriers keeping new mothers from breastfeeding their newborns that have been transferred to Le Bonheur's NICU.
GINGER H. PORTER |
| Reimbursements/ACOs Focus |
RAC Recourse
What to Do if You Are the Subject of a Medicare Audit
First there were MACs... now come the RACs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are relying on both internal and external fiscal intermediaries to make sure healthcare claims are properly processed, billed and reimbursed for services rendered.
CINDY SANDERS |
AMA Calls for Medicare Physician Payment Overhaul
Medicare incentivizes physicians to improve patient outcomes and better manage chronic disease, and then punishes the doctors financially for doing just that. That's the Catch 22 at the crux of the American Medical Association's call for reform of Medicare physician payments.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Not All Recovery Contractors Are Created Equal
TMA Files Suit on Behalf of Members
This summer, the Tennessee Medical Association and two Nashville physicians filed suit in Davidson County Chancery Court in response to letters sent to multiple Nashville physicians claiming improper billing and payments for medical services performed in 2006 and 2007.
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