One of the most common criticisms of the 2010 health care reform law is that it doesn’t do enough to reduce health care costs. Richard Gilfillan, MD, however, begs to differ.

One of the most common criticisms of the 2010 health care reform law is that it doesn’t do enough to reduce health care costs. Richard Gilfillan, MD, however, begs to differ.
Physicians who join a medical practice often have the opportunity to purchase an equity interest in the practice after some period of employment with the group, an issue that is usually addressed in the physician’s employment agreement. If you think you may be interested in such a partnership, you should carefully review your employment agreement before signing it. The amount of detail in the employment agreement regarding potential ownership will vary depending on the practice and the negotiating power of the individual physician. Clearly, the more specificity found in the contract, the better you will be served.
On July 1, after five years in the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, most recently as chief resident, Matthew Russell, MD, is joining the faculty there as an assistant professor. Normally, that career arc is not nationally noteworthy.
Patients who had residual neck disease after treatment for a primary head and neck squamous carcinoma and then underwent neck dissection had comparable survival rates to those who had their disease resolved after their initial chemotherapy and radiation treatment, according to a retrospective analysis from researchers at the University of Louisville in Kentucky presented here Jan. 27.
Health care reform and government incentives have intensified the dialogue on electronic medical records (EMR). Despite the financial incentives for EMR adoption included in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, physician response remains lukewarm. The HITECH incentives program fails to recognize that the greatest barrier to EMR adoption is not financial, but cultural.
The system of clinical cancer research, including that of head and neck cancer, is in need of an overhaul, but steps are being taken that might lead to more efficient work and will hopefully mean more medical breakthroughs, said David Schuller, MD, the chair in cancer research at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, at the Triological Society’s Combined Sections Meeting, held here on Jan. 27.
The debate over soaring health care costs fails to properly acknowledge the benefits that have stemmed from improved medical technology and expanded medical knowledge, said Triological Society President Gerald Berke, MD, in an address at the society’s Combined Sections Meeting, held here on Jan. 27.
Physician groups representing otolaryngologists have ambitious 2011 policy and legislative agendas that include pushing for replacement of the Medicare physician payment formula and helping to shape health reform’s implementation.