Word: patients
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...hospital, or the University of Pennsylvania, which reported a $40 million deficit this year. Much of the money for the expansion comes from borrowing--$280 million. But Snyderman is convinced that growth will pay off, in no small part by making Duke the hospital of choice for enough patients and doctors that it can obtain more favorable contract terms from HMOs for patient care. "What we need is sufficient market clout that we cannot be rolled over," he says...
...Duke doctors complain that the volume of patients they must see each year has exploded. "Doctors are expected to do patient evaluations in 10 minutes," says a former division chairman at the hospital. "We used to have 30 to 40 minutes." Periodically, harried clinical researchers get profit-and-loss statements that compare the costs of their scientific work with the revenue they generate through patient care...
Shoe was Shah's first patient at Duke's outpatient clinics three years ago, when he was a first-year resident, and the two have established a comfortable rapport. "Oww, that hurts!" she says, wincing as he inserts an otoscope into each nostril. "That hurts? I'm not even touching you," he counters as he peers into her nose. Shah suspects that the bleeds are triggered by her dry nasal cavities and recommends an over-the-counter nasal saline spray, available at any drugstore. He spends a few more minutes chatting with Shoe, then reminds her to return...
...PrimaHealth an HMO. It's a rarer species in the managed-care jungle, called an independent-practice association. IPAs are groups of doctors who band together to act like HMOs. Some medical observers believe that if IPAs like PrimaHealth spread, they could make managed care a lot more patient-friendly...
Traditional managed-care companies don't agree that IPAs will provide better care. They note that IPAs like PrimaHealth contract to cover patients on a "capitated" basis. That means they are paid a set amount per patient per year, and keep any money that is not spent. This gives them an incentive to be careful about how much treatment they provide--much like traditional insurers, who point out that they too have doctors on staff to make medical decisions. In the end, they argue, a well-managed IPA will probably make roughly the same decisions as a traditional insurer. "Everyone...