Stimulus funds lag health woes - South Florida Business Journal:

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That’s the view of the eight-member panel of industry and medicapl experts who were invited by the Southy Florida Business Journal to share their viewsx of whatthe $787 billion federal stimulusa package means to the healthy care sector. What emerged was a broasd discussion of how stimulus legislatiob is just one piece of change needes in an industry that has run financially amok due to an overreliancseon specialists, shortfalls in information technology and patients who are undereducated. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that total nationao spending on health care could hit 48 percent of grosse domestic product by 2050 ifleft unchecked.
To solvde this problem will takemore money, though, in the short The Obama administration’s $59 billioj for health care stimulus spending includes $19 billiojn for electronic health care records. Startingh in 2011, doctors who can show meaningful use of electroniv medical records will get incentives and thosewho don’t will get decliningy Medicare payments. But, the old-fashioned general practitioner may also have abig role. Linda Quick, presidenf of the , said health care reform legislationh that coincides with the stimulud calls for individuals to have a home locationm or a primarycare provider.
She said that allowz for “a community location close to home and gettinh more done in a actually high clinicaltechnology setting.” in turn, will also translate into a less costly the panelists said. Rachel Sapoznik, CEO of , said: “The reasonh I believe in the last 25 years of seeinyg health care costs rise dramaticallty is we have moved away from the primary care physicianb knowing the patientto specialists.” Patients go from specialist to specialist to get each ailment but an overview of their condition and family historyt is lacking. George Foyo, executive VP and chief administrativ officerat , said: “Piggybackinf on primary care is absolutely right.
All theser specialties are adding thousands and thousandsof dollars.” One problemn is that specialists tend to overdo testse because they are so worrieds about legal liability issues, he said. Dr. Tony a family practitioner and presidentr of the Broward CountyMedicak Association, said reimbursement issues for tests done in his officew also frustrate him. A hospital might get $2,0000 for a test from Medicare, but he can only get “I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to work unlessa we use some common he said.
Foyo said primaru care physicians historically put an emphasis on healthpreventionb efforts, but the lack of it thesd days is contributing to an epidemi of diabetes and heart issues. Baptist Health, which is well knownh for hospitals in Kendalloand Homestead, is pushing forwarc with outpatient centers – and even venturing into Broward One reason is emergency rooms are and providing care there is more costly than at an outpatien center.
“Rather than have patients cometo us, the hospitalsa are going out to them,” Foyo Florida’s 51 nonprofit community health center are getting $28 million in competitivw grants under the stimulus legislation, whicy will also keep patients out of expensive hospital settingxs for treatment. House Speaker Nancy Peloski highlighted that during an Aprikl visit to a community health centee in Hollywood that willget $1.
5 millionj to open a satellite health center in West One of the advantages for these typees of centers is that they are funded with the assumption that theire doors will be open to all who come, which is importanyt because of the number of uninsured South including undocumented foreigners, Quick Dr. Welby, meet Bill Gates Mark Sterling, administrativ e partner at the law firm ofin Miami, said electronix medical records (EMR) fall under the category of projects in the world of stimulus – meaning the technologyt exists and can be adopted rapidly to put monehy in the economy.