What Would A Nikki Haley Presidency Look Like For Healthcare?

By LAUREN SAUSSER
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley will learn how her campaign is resonating with voters after the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, the first presidential nominating contest of this election year.

Already, the former South Carolina governor — who became well known as one of the Affordable Care Act’s loudest critics during her tenure in office from 2011 to 2017 — has raised questions about what her presidency could mean for the nation’s health care policy.

She has criticized the Biden administration for high federal spending on COVID relief and for the number of people on Medicaid, a program she has argued the federal government should give states more [Read More]

What Would A Nikki Haley Presidency Look Like For Healthcare?2024-01-17T10:40:47-05:00

We’re Losing Our Most Experienced Physicians

By PAUL NATINSKY
I understand very clearly the deep concern about the future of medicine and the frustrations attached to that concern. Other professionals with similar levels of academic and practical credentials and similar licensing requirements practice much more autonomously and with much more freedom than physicians.

As a patient and healthcare writer, I have exposure to the sense of defeat physicians increasingly feel toward their careers, particularly those who are near end of their practicing years, a career phase that arguably makes them among the most valuable of practitioners. Experience and the wisdom that comes from decades of practice cannot be replaced.

Several years ago, my family’s terrific pediatrician retired early. She [Read More]

We’re Losing Our Most Experienced Physicians2023-12-20T11:29:24-05:00

ADELMAN’S ANALYSIS: Is Medicine Still a Profession?

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
What is a profession? The on-line Oxford Dictionary defines a profession as “a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.” What is a guild? The same dictionary defines a guild as “a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power…[or] an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.” What are proletariat? This dictionary defines proletariat as “workers or working-class people, regarded collectively. (often used with reference to Marxism)” also, “the lowest class of citizens in ancient Rome.”

What attributes characterize a profession? According to the Association of Accredited Public Policy Advocates to the European Union, these are “great responsibility, [Read More]

ADELMAN’S ANALYSIS: Is Medicine Still a Profession?2023-12-20T11:26:30-05:00

LETTER: A Profession at the Precipice?

Certainly, this is not a formal survey, but those physicians that I have recently interacted with have been sadly and regrettably consistent. The new mantra seems; “I will put in the next four or five years and get out of the agony as soon as I can.” This defines a profession that has lost. Without the visibility or even the hope of any significant action steps, surrender becomes the final chapter. All of the professional organizations, the AMA and reinvented and reinvigorated state and local medical societies must acknowledge reality and get proverbially “their heads out of the sand.”

Medical students must be prepared for the realities of practicing medicine in [Read More]

LETTER: A Profession at the Precipice?2023-12-20T11:23:22-05:00

Issue Of Physician-Assisted Deaths To Be Resurrected In Legislature For ’24

Terminally ill patients in Michigan, determined to have up to six months left to live, could request life-ending medication under bills the Legislature could likely take up next year.

“We wanted to make sure to introduce it before this holiday season in order to continue to work with stakeholders, for (it), against (it)…or even people that might have questions,” said Sen. Mary CAVANAGH (D-Redford Twp.), the lead sponsor behind this term’s “Death with Dignity” bill package, to MIRS. “But, it is not my intent to shove anything down that we haven’t had full vetting and full conversations of what is the best thing for Michigan, and who might be utilizing some of these [Read More]

Issue Of Physician-Assisted Deaths To Be Resurrected In Legislature For ’242023-12-20T11:20:47-05:00

Gov Signs Tougher Penalties For Healthcare Worker Assault

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bipartisan legislative package at Sparrow Hospital last month that would increase the punishment leveled against people, excluding patients, that assault health care workers.

As she signed HB 4520 and HB 4521 , sponsored by Reps. Mike Mueller (R-Linden) and Kelly Breen (D-Novi), Whitmer was surrounded by nurses and doctors, who she said were facing an increase of violence, even as they faced a shortage of workers. Her response was signing this legislation into law, which could help stem the tide.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to the doctors, nurses, and health care workers who routinely step up to protect our communities and save lives,” Whitmer said. “Unfortunately, health care workers face rising rates of bullying, [Read More]

Gov Signs Tougher Penalties For Healthcare Worker Assault2023-12-20T11:19:11-05:00

ON POINT WITH POs: Trepidation – but hope – in the new era of healthcare

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
Healthcare is not for the faint of heart. I’m not speaking of exposure to blood, trauma, distress, violence, and death – but there’s that, too.  Rather, I’m playing my violin for the healthcare warriors who are dealing with a new era of healthcare in a post-pandemic world. These are frontline nurses, physicians, phlebotomists, clerks, medical assistants, x-ray, ultrasound and med techs, midwives, social workers and behavioral health specialists. But they are also administrators, hiring managers and recruiters, payors, financial personnel and office managers.

This is not an exhaustive list; the healthcare world is simply too massive to capture every role in this column. The overarching commonality, though, is that [Read More]

ON POINT WITH POs: Trepidation – but hope – in the new era of healthcare2023-12-20T11:17:35-05:00

COMPLIANCE CORNER: MSMS Urges AG Action to Enforce Corporate Practice of Medicine Laws

By KAITLYN DELBENE
Wachler & Associates, PC
The Michigan State Medical Society and various specialty organizations are urging the Michigan Attorney General to investigate the role of private equity in healthcare and to enforce Michigan’s corporate practice of medicine (CPOM) doctrine against apparent violations. In an October 23, 2023 letter, MSMS expressed concern that “a series of deceptive legal loopholes and shell corporations” has allowed private equity groups to effectively circumvent Michigan’s CPOM laws. While physician practice management companies and medical staffing companies are common in the healthcare industry, physician groups and management companies must be aware of the legal and regulatory challenges presented by these arrangements.

CPOM Primer: Michigan’s CPOM [Read More]

COMPLIANCE CORNER: MSMS Urges AG Action to Enforce Corporate Practice of Medicine Laws2023-12-20T11:04:33-05:00

LEGAL LEANINGS: Top Issues in Negotiating Physician Employment Agreements

By RALPH Z. LEVY & BRIAN S. FLEETHAM

Successful negotiation of physician employment agreements requires a careful balance of the objectives of the prospective employer with those of the prospective employee while ensuring that the negotiated agreement complies with the federal and state laws that apply to agreements of this type.  The prospective employer wants to make certain it has enough professionals to handle the needs of its patients, and the prospective employee wants to be paid adequately and fairly for services provided while preserving a work-personal life balance.  If the agreement “blows up,” the prospective employer wants protection against the physician “stealing” its patients, and the prospective employee [Read More]

LEGAL LEANINGS: Top Issues in Negotiating Physician Employment Agreements2023-12-20T11:01:04-05:00

LANSING LINES

Michigan’s Unique Drug Immunity Statute Is No More

(FLINT) A Gov. John Engler-era law that shields drug manufacturers from liability if their medicine received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval was flushed down the toilet late last month.

With Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature, Sen. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor)’s SB 410 ends the 1995 Michigan Product Liability Act, a statute House Democrats and Democrats et al. used with some success on the campaign trail about 15 years ago.

The bill, which received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, will end Michigan’s status as the only state with what Whitmer called an “immunity shield in place.”

Joined by bill sponsor Irwin, who Whitmer said has been working to overturn immunity [Read More]

LANSING LINES2023-12-20T10:53:50-05:00
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