Implementation of the 21.3 percent cut in Medicare physician fees is due to kick in on Friday, following a lopsided defeat of the fee fix provision in the Senate Wednesday, as part of a package extending unemployment insurance and aid…

A study by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and St. Joseph Mercy Health System suggests that the recent recession could negatively impact hospital quality, according to a University of Michigan Health System news release.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Oakwood Healthcare has announced plans to form an accountable care organization consisting of its four hospitals and up to 1,300 physicians, according to a Crain's Detroit Business report.

Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale, Ariz., has decided not to renew contracts with two physician hospitalist groups for emergency department coverage and has instead opted to directly employ physicians for these services, according to a report by the Arizona…

The American Board of Internal Medicine has sanctioned 139 physicians and initiated legal action against five more for soliciting or sharing examination questions, according to a release from ABIM.

Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio may soon acquire Cardiology Clinic of San Antonio, a 23-physician cardiology group, according to a report by the San Antonio Express-News.

Hospitals are increasingly transferring patients to long term-care facilities after a critical illness, but there is little data to guide such decisions or to verify whether these facilities are effective, according to a study in the Journal of the American…

The Department of Health & Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has launched a free software application intended to help states, hospitals and other organizations more efficiently compile, analyze and post data on quality of hospital care, its…

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, which serves some 3.2 million people in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia, plans to launch a program Jan. 1, 2011, that would reward physicians with bonuses for decreasing patients' healthcare expenses and improving quality, according to…

A Michigan program to reduce hospital-associated infections is catching on nationwide as the Obama administration offers $50 million to states to promote quality initiatives and will begin penalizing hospitals with high infection rates beginning in 2015, according to a report…