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| Current Birmingham Medical News |
Once-Yearly Osteoporosis Treatment an Option for Birmingham Physicians
In August 2007, the FDA approved a new osteoporosis medication called Reclast, which is the only once-a-year treatment for postmenopausal osteoporosis. Urgent Care, P.C., in Pelham, began providing Reclast infusion services this past summer. "This drug is not very old," said George E. Turnley, MD, who oversees the Reclast infusions. "We're really just getting started with this."
LORI K. DITORO |
'Cool' Laser Ablation Helps PAD and Heart Patients
Converging Causes Create A Perfect StormTeating coronary artery blockages and peripheral artery disease (PAD) is becoming easier thanks to a new technology known as excimer or "cool" laser ablation. This minimally invasive laser ablation system, which is also currently being used for lasik eye surgery, restores blood flow to the legs and feet of PAD patients and can help prevent amputation in a number of cases. For patients having a heart attack, it also offers a better way of removing clots in coronary arteries.
ANN B. DEBELLIS |
Alabama in Jeopardy of Devastating Cuts and Debt to Medicaid
Last October began an intense crisis for Alabama's hospitals and Medicaid program that has yet to be resolved. What had been an agreed understanding since 2005 over the way the state calculates its federal share of Medicaid funding suddenly came into question by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)...
JANE EHRHARDT |
Medicaid in Alabama
"I think a lot of people don't realize how much Medicaid is woven into the state's healthcare infrastructure," said Rosemary Blackmon of the Alabama Hospital Association. Most people, she said, think it goes primarily to treat poor adults, but only about 9% of the budget goes to provide health care for low-income adults...
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HHS Issues Final ICD-10 Code Sets and Updated Electronic Transaction Standards
Two new regulations published on January 15 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will significantly affect administration of all physician practices.
The first part of HHS's health care data renovation — the latest set of transactions standards — must be in place by January 1, 2012. The second part, the expanded and more detailed diagnosis codes, must be in place by October 1, 2013...
JANE EHRHARDT |
Three Doctors Keep It All in the Family
Three generations of Faulkners have made orthopaedics their specialty, and a family legacy lives on at Orthopaedic Specialists of Alabama (OSA), P.C., the oldest and the largest orthopaedic group in Alabama. As one of OSA's founding members, James S. Faulkner, Sr., M.D. (Jim), who retired in 1990, was the first to make medicine his profession. His son J. Stanford Faulkner, Jr., M.D (Stan), followed him into the practice. Then in August 2008, F. Spain Hodges, M.D. – the grandson of Dr. Jim Faulkner, and the nephew of Dr. Stan Faulkner, – joined OSA.
LORI K. DITORO |
RAC 'Em: Medicare Recovery Audit Contractors Coming to Alabama in 2009
Medicare recovery audit contractors (RACs) will begin operating in Alabama during as early as August 1, 2009. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) RAC program began in 2005 as a demonstration project in three states and became permanent under a 2006 law that will require expansion to all states by 2010.
DANIEL MURPHY |
The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services' E-Prescribing Incentive Program
Beginning January 1, 2009, eligible professionals can participate in the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services ("CMS") e-prescribing program that rewards providers for implementing and using an e-prescribing program. Section 132 of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) authorizes an incentive program for eligible professionals who are "successful electronic prescribers" (e-Prescribers) by reporting to CMS the professional's adoption and use of an e-prescribing system by submitting claims information on one e-prescribing measure on their Medicare Part B claims.
JIM HOOVER |
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