"Health & Medical News"

Imagine being allowed to practice medicine but not being allowed to drive. That’s what some Michigan physicians are facing.

Under a new state law that took effect Jan. 22, doctors in Michigan on a visa cannot get a new driver’s license. That’s because a law intended to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining a driver’s license also prevents legal residents on student or work visas, including physicians, from getting a license.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

Oklahoma will no longer offer a loan repayment program intended to encourage physicians to practice in the state’s rural communities. But health care advocates say it was a small sacrifice because state lawmakers agreed to continue funding three other — much larger — programs that help rural communities attract primary care physicians.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

An agreement that was struck between a health plan and regulators in New York won’t stop insurers’ use of physician rankings, but it might make them more acceptable to doctors.

Cigna and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office on Oct. 29 struck an agreement that requires the insurer to submit to the state the rating criteria it plans to use to place doctors in tiered networks, in which members pay a lower co-pay or otherwise get discounts for seeing favored physicians. Cigna is one of many health plans that have received letters from Cuomo’s office stating that its physician-rankings plan might be misleading to consumers because, in part, it appeared to focus on cost more than quality.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]

Some Pennsylvania bars are demanding customers’ credit-card numbers and charging them if they vomit or otherwise damage property while drinking, Washington Square News reported Sept. 25.

Groups of six or more patrons at El Azteca restaurant and bar near Pennsylvania University, for example, are required to sign a contract that includes a credit-card number as insurance against damages by drunk patrons. If any member of the party vomits on the premises, for instance, all members of the group are hit with a $50 charge.

Popularity: unranked [?]