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House, Senate at odds over Medicaid funds
As the 2007 Florida Legislative Session enters its final weeks, hospitals leaders are scrambling to address the Legislature's actions – or inactions – on two priority items: funding the Low Income Pool (LIP) and addressing the sunset of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance.
In a mid-session progress report released by the FHA, the combined financial hit on Florida's hospitals exceeds $560 million in just the first year.
DEBORAH BALSHEM |
How Are Things at Work?
When a patient shows up at the internist's office complaining of chronic cough and mild asthma symptoms, most doctors look to the usual suspects — allergies. But how many physicians think a sick building might be making their patient sick? Not enough of them, according to Jeffrey C. May, author of My Office is Killing Me! The Sick Building Survival Guide.
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Florida Auto Injury
Insurance Claim Study
In February 2007, the Insurance Research Council released its report entitled "Florida Auto Injury Insurance Claim Environment," which was based on a sample of 4,162 auto injury insurance claims from Florida that closed with payment in 2005. The report included the following findings:
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Florida PIP Fast Facts
Premiums Earned (2005): $2.1 – $2.5 billion
(Estimate based on statements by State Farm Insurance representatives that PIP premium collected by State Farm is $500 million and State Farm comprises 22 percent of Florida's auto insurance market.)
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Beating the Heat
Menopausal Women Fight for Good Night's Sleep
If your female patients appear to have finished a marathon by the time they visit your office, chances are these women are in the throes of menopause, an often-hellish hormonal imbalance that afflicts 85 percent of women in the United States who are experiencing the beginning of the end of their menstrual cycles.
J.L. WEBB |
Drug-Free Pain Relief During Pregnancy
Women face a multitude of problems during and after pregnancy, many of which are not only painful but can be detrimental to the health of the mother and the developing fetus. Pharmaceutical relief of these symptoms is often contraindicated, so the physician has to seek safer treatment options. Physical therapy and massage therapy can fill this void.
ERIC MASON and EMMA MASON |
Ground Rounds May 2007
Florida Hospital and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Expand Agreements
Adventist Health System's Florida Hospital Division and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) have reached a new two-year agreement that will expand their current contract to include the BlueOptions (NetworkBlue) and BlueCare (HMO) plans at Florida Hospital's 17 hospitals, 16 Centra Care Urgent Care Centers and other ancillary providers in the 9-county central Florida region. Separate agreements have been completed with Florida Physicians Medical Group, Family Health Centers and Memorial Health System Physicians; participating providers in the network for these groups can be reviewed on the BCBSF online provider directory. The new agreements went into effect April 1, 2007.
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Physician Spotlight: Dr. Jorge O. Diaz
When he came to the United States on vacation in 1981, Dr. Jorge O. Diaz had no idea what the future would hold. Of course, he's come a long way since then, only eight years old.
Diaz grew up in Columbia, South America, and participated in a high school exchange program in Ohio, where he learned English and earned a high school diploma. He returned to Columbia, where he completed high school—again—and earned a second diploma. He was a typical student, showing an interest in science and playing soccer for his school.
BARBARA CARBAUGH |
Quality of Life Paramount at Cornerstone Hospice
The phrase "living your life to the fullest" is not normally associated with hospice terminology, but that is precisely the quality of life scenario under which patient services are provided by not-for-profit Cornerstone Hospice, which services the counties of Hardee, Highland, Orange, Osceola and Polk as part of the larger family of Hospice of Lake & Sumter. Licensed in central Florida since 1984, Cornerstone has been assisting patients and families facing serious, complex, life-limiting illness regardless of age, sex, race, creed, nature of illness or ability to pay. This organization's team of physicians, nurses, CNAs, social workers and chaplains prepares a personalized care plan with each patient and the caregivers in the family.
MANNY P. HERNANDEZ |
School Nurses Overlooked as Critical Caregivers
Since 2000, the federal government and the National Association of School Nurses have recommended a school nurse-to-student ratio of 1 to 750. The national average dwarfs that figure at 1 to 1,187. And a look at Florida is even more grim, with an average school nurse-to-student ratio of 1 to 2,639 — more than double the national average and nearly four times greater than the federal guideline.
DEBORAH BALSHEM |
The State of Nursing in Florida
It's no surprise to anyone in the healthcare profession that there is a critical shortage of nurses. In Florida, the growth of our aging population creates challenges, not only in terms of patients but nurses as well. Here is a current look at the situation in our community.
BARBARA CARBAUGH |
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