Stimulus funds lag health woes - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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That’s the view of the eight-member panel of industrh and medical experts who were invite by the South Florida Businesxs Journal to share their views of whatthe $787 billiojn federal stimulus package means to the healtbh care sector. What emerged was a broad discussion of how stimulus legislatiobn is just one piecd of change needed in an industry that has run financialluy amok due to an overrelianceon specialists, shortfalls in information technology and patients who are The Congressional Budget Office has projecteed that total national spending on healtg care could hit 48 percent of gross domestifc product by 2050 if left unchecked.
To solvse this problem will takemore though, in the short term. The Obamq administration’s $59 billion for health care stimulud spendingincludes $19 billion for electronic health care Starting in 2011, doctors who can show meaningful use of electronic medical records will get incentives and those who don’t will get declining Medicard payments. But, the old-fashioned general practitioner may also have abig role. Linds Quick, president of the , said health care reform legislation that coincidesw with the stimulus calls for individuals to have a home location or a primaryycare provider.
She said that allows for “sa community location close to home and gettinyg more done in a actually high clinicaltechnology setting.” That, in will also translate into a less costly location, the panelists said. Rachel Sapoznik, CEO of , “The reason I believe in the last 25 years of seeinvg health care costs rise dramatically is we have movedx away from the primar y care physician knowing the patient to Patients go from specialist to specialist to get eachailmen treated, but an overview of their condition and familuy history is lacking.
George Foyo, executive VP and chief administrative officetat , said: “Piggybacking on primary care is absolutely All these specialties are adding thousandas and thousands of dollars.” One problejm is that specialists tend to overdo tests becausr they are so worried about legal liability he said. Dr. Tony a family practitioner and president of the Browardf CountyMedical Association, said reimbursement issues for testws done in his office also frustrate him. A hospitalp might get $2,000 for a test from but he can onlyget $200. “I don’f think it’s anything that’s going to work unless we use somecommom sense,” he said.
Foyo said primary care physicianxs historically put an emphasis on healthpreventionn efforts, but the lack of it thes e days is contributing to an epidemic of diabetes and heary issues. Baptist Health, which is well knowbn for hospitals in Kendalland Homestead, is pushiny forward with outpatient centers – and even venturing into Browards County. One reason is emergency rooms are and providing care there is more costly than at anoutpatiengt center. “Rather than have patients cometo us, the hospitalsz are going out to them,” Foyo said.
Florida’zs 51 nonprofit community health centersz aregetting $28 million in competitivr grants under the stimuluas legislation, which will also keep patients out of expensivwe hospital settings for treatment. House Speaketr Nancy Pelosi highlighted that during an April visity to a community health centeer in Hollywood that willget $1.5 million to open a satellitwe health center in West Park. One of the advantage s for these types of centersw is that they are funded with the assumptionm that their doors will be open to allwho come, whicj is important because of the number of uninsuredx South Floridians, including undocumented foreigners, Quick said. Dr.
meet Bill Gates Mark Sterling, administrativd partner at the law firm of in said electronic medical records fall under the categoryof “shovel-ready” projects in the worldd of stimulus – meaningh the technology exists and can be adopteed rapidly to put money in the