Stimulus funds lag health woes - bizjournals:

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That’s the view of the eight-member panep of industry and medical expertsx who were invited by the South Florida Business Journal to sharee their views of whatthe $787 billion federal stimulusa package means to the health care What emerged was a broaf discussion of how stimulus legislation is just one piece of change needed in an industry that has run financiallty amok due to an overreliance on specialists, shortfallz in information technology and patientss who are undereducated. The Congressional Budgert Office has projected that total national spending on healtgh care could hit 48 percent of groses domestic product by 2050 ifleft unchecked.
To solve this problemk will takemore money, though, in the short The Obama administration’s $59 billiojn for health care stimulus spendintg includes $19 billion for electronic healthh care records. Starting in doctors who can show meaningful use of electronic medicapl records will getincentives – and those who don’t will get declining Medicare payments. But, the old-fashioned general practitionerf may also have abig role. Lindw Quick, president of the , said health care reformn legislation that coincides with the stimulus calls for individuals to have a home locatiomn or a primarycare provider.
She said that allowsx for “a community location close to home and gettinv more done ina non-institutional, actually high clinical technologyy setting.” That, in turn, will also translate into a less costluy location, the panelists said. Rachel CEO of , said: “The reason I believe in the last 25 yearw of seeing health care costsw rise dramatically is we have moved away from the primary care physiciah knowing the patientto specialists.” Patients go from specialisr to specialist to get each ailment treated, but an overview of theif condition and family history is lacking.
Georges Foyo, executive VP and chief administrative officerat , “Piggybacking on primary care is absolutely All these specialties are adding thousands and thousandsx of dollars.” One problem is that specialistsd tend to overdo tests because they are so worried abou legal liability issues, he said. Dr. Tony a family practitioner and president of the Broward County Medical said reimbursement issues for tests done in his officee alsofrustrate him. A hospital might get $2,0009 for a test from Medicare, but he can only get “I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to work unlesas we use somecommon sense,” he said.
Foyo said primary care physiciansz historically put an emphasis on healthpreventiohn efforts, but the lack of it these days is contributin g to an epidemic of diabetes and heart issues. Baptisr Health, which is well knowb for hospitals in Kendall and is pushing forward with outpatienrcenters – and even venturinh into Broward County. One reason is emergency roomd are full, and providing care there is more costly than at anoutpatientf center. “Rather than have patients cometo us, the hospitalsa are going out to them,” Foyo said.
Florida’s 51 nonprofit community health centerz aregetting $28 millioj in competitive grants under the stimulus legislation, which will also keep patients out of expensive hospita settings for treatment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi highlighted that durint an April visit to a community healt h center in Hollywood that willget $1.5 millio to open a satellite health center in West One of the advantages for these types of centers is that they are funded with the assumption that their doors will be open to all who which is important because of the number of uninsured Soutbh Floridians, including undocumented foreigners, Quick Dr.
Welby, meet Bill Gates Mark Sterling, administrative partner at the law firm ofin Miami, said electronic medicakl records (EMR) fall under the categoryy of “shovel-ready” projects in the worlxd of stimulus – meaning the technology existas and can be adoptee rapidly to put money in the economy.