A lifetime of surgical expertise at the Vein & Laser Center for Wilmington, 5-22-12, The Star News
The Star News features NCMS member Hormoze Goudarzi, MD, about his desire to continue practicing medicine even though he is able to retire.
Catawba County news: New officers and scholarship award, 5-25-12, The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer reports that the Catawba County Medical Society Alliance installed new officers at its recent year-end meeting at the home of NCMS members Kiran Harrill, MD, FAAP, and Willard Harrill, MD, FACS.
NC Medicaid gap fix given final legislative OK, 5-24-12, The News and Observer/Associated Press
The Associated Press reports that the Legislature has given final approval to a method to close a shortfall in North Carolina’s Medicaid program this year that also contains a provision to slow efforts to privatize medical services for prisoners.
New tool tracks NC Medicaid fraud: ‘We will come after you’, 5-21-12, WRAL
Reporter Cullen Browder writes that with the help of IBM, North Carolina has a new tool to crack down on fraudulent claims, which experts say could make up as much as two percent or $200 million each year in Medicaid spending.
Medicaid primary care pay: The next SGR?, 5-21-12, amednews
Writer Jennifer Lubell reports that putting Medicaid primary care rates on par with Medicare’s raises concerns that doctors will face a new kind of payment cliff after two years.
NC Medical Board releases public actions for 2011, 5-18-12, PRWeb
The North Carolina Medical Board (NCMB) announced the release of its Annual Board Actions Report, which conveys the outcomes of disciplinary cases and other public matters resolved in 2011.
North Carolina’s Watauga Eye Surgery Center Merges With Graystone Eye, 5-24-12, Becker’s ASC Review
Writer Rachel Fields publishes a report from Go Blue Ridge that Watauga Eye Center announced this week that it will merge its ophthalmology practice Graystone Eye and Graystone Eye Surgery Center.
22-Physician Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic Selects the SRS Certified EHR to Pursue Meaningful Use, 5-17-12, Market Watch
SRS announces that Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic has selected SRS’ certified EHR for its health care professionals eligible for the government’s EHR incentives program.
NC House wants to go slow on prisoner health care, 5-23-12, WRAL/Associated Press
AP Reporter Gary D. Robertson reports that legislators are trying to prevent North Carolina prison officials from privatizing inmate medical care for all of the state’s adult prisoners unless they get the express approval of the General Assembly.
UNC, WakeMed hospitals end Raleigh turf battle, 5-22-12, The Daily Reflector/Associated Press
Writer Emery P. Dalesio reports that WakeMed, North Carolina’s largest private hospital systems, and the University of North Carolina Health Care System ended a turf battle Tuesday over the Research Triangle region’s health care market.
UNC launches MD/MBA program, 5-24-12, The Triangle Business Journal
News Intern Emily Freeman reports that beginning this fall, UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine and the Kenan-Flagler Business School will team up to offer medical students a dual-degree in medicine with a master’s of business administration.
Mission Hospital introduces new stroke technology to help patients, 5-21-12, Mountain Xpress
Writer Caitlin Byrd reports that Mission Hospital recently introduced cutting edge stroke technology that will significantly improve the outcomes of patients suffering from a stroke.
Doctors ditching the prescription pad as more than a third of prescriptions now are electronic, 5-17-12, The Daily Reporter/Associated Press
AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard reports that more than a third of the nation’s prescriptions now are electronic, according to the latest count.
Facebook and physicians: Not good medicine, 5-23-12, Computerworld
Writer Lucas Mearian reports that medical students and physicians face the choice of either not using social media or using pseudonyms that only friends know to avoid violating privacy rules and inappropriate contact with patients.
