Hidden $4M cost of hospital enterprise email | Nonprofit hospital settles $3.7M spinal surgery fraud lawsuits

E-mails sent to the full workforce at hospitals and health systems are costly due to the time they take away from recipients’ other essential duties and tasks. How costly? Researchers have done the math.

The U.S. Department of Justice said MultiCare admitted in court documents to ignoring warnings from a whistleblower and staff who said a neurosurgeon was performing spinal surgeries on patients without medical need and billing the procedures to Medicare.

Here are some factors that tend to lead physicians to take on hospital-management roles over and above their regularly expected duties.  

Discounts represent out-of-pocket costs and come in the form of direct-to-consumer sales through manufacturer websites or via a coupon. AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk and Pfizer have all listed some of their most popular drugs on the TrumpRx.gov portal.

The more persuasive of the opinions could redound to the reshaping of the principles of pediatric medicine—and of certain policies in public education. Here’s a sampling. 

The bill announced by two Democratic members of the state House of Representatives would guarantee coverage to everyone in the commonwealth—but many of the details have yet to be revealed. 

Traditional fee-for-service Medicare saw a slight dip in improper payments, which are usually associated with documentation errors and now outright fraud. CMS also released data on Medicaid and the CHIP program. 

Physicians made their plea in in the February issue of the JACR, which is focused on the “Economics of Education,” and meant to spark “dialogue around how radiology education is valued, supported and delivered.” 

The J-Valve System is associated with positive 10-year outcomes for patients with severe AR, according to new research out of China. It also performs well in patients with severe AS.