The Obama administration and Congress appear to be "convinced" that orthopedic surgeons and other specialists are overpaid and drive up the cost of healthcare without improving outcomes, according to a blog by Jeffrey Binder, the CEO of Biomet.

A survey by the Joint Commission predicts that most U.S. hospitals will be smoke-free throughout their campuses by the end of 2009, according to release by the Joint Commission.

AAOS President Joseph Zuckerman, MD, says he has told AMA executives that he is unhappy with the organization's endorsement last month of the U.S. House's healthcare reform bill.

A new physicians group that opposes a government-run healthcare plan has issued results of a nationwide poll it conducted, finding that 70 percent of specialty doctors oppose current health-care reform proposals, according to a release from the group, the American…

Physicians commenting online about the current health reform legislation say it does not address several key causes of healthcare inflation, such as malpractice pay-outs, billing procedures and emphasis on preventive medicine, according to Sermo, a Web site exclusively for physicians…

The Orthopaedic Joint Reconstruction Program at 250-bed Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill., achieved an outstanding score in the 99th percentile range in the first quarter of 2009 on CMS' patient satisfaction survey, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare…

North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., received the highest payment from CMS's nationwide pay-for-performance (P4P) demonstration project, according a release from North Shore-LIJ Health System, the hospital's parent corporation.

Physician-owned and –operated hospitals were consistently ranked among the best in the country, according to a recent Consumer Reports survey, but are still under increased scrutiny in the healthcare reform debate by some members of Congress, according to a news…

Twenty-nine hospitals operated by Tenet Healthcare Corp. have received a total of 73 designations for cardiac care, cardiac surgery and heart rhythm disorders by UnitedHealthcare, according to a Tenet news release.

Here is the average time spent in the post-anesthesia care unit for a number of spine procedures performed in the ASC setting, according to a study completed by Kenneth Pettine, MD. The study analyzed data from 1,030 spine cases performed…