http://www.healthnewsflorida.org/ We are an independent online news service and a not-for-profit journalistic enterprise. Our mission is to inform the public on state and local health policy and finance issues as they develop. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16550 By Jim Saunders 3/12/2010 © Health News Florida A dramatic expansion of Medicaid managed care, increased hospital taxes and slashed spending on some health and social programs are all part of a Senate committee's initial budget proposal.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16553 3/12/2010 © Miami Herald Eneida Roldan, the head of embattled Jackson Health, returned from Tallahassee empty-handed in her bid to secure $100 million in rescue money. Back in Miami-Dade, two county commissioners proposed a takeover of the system. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16563 3/12/2010 © St. Petersburg Times The leader of an anti-abortion group in Congress has been claiming that  federal funds would go to support abortion under the Senate bill. That isn't true, PolitiFact says, and in any event the discussion is divorced from reality; most women who have abortion coverage pay cash. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16568 3/12/2010 © St. Petersburg Times Dr. Robert Blackburn, who police say killed his wife Sarah and himself in January, had given enough threatening clues that a radiologist friend of Sarah's had warned her to lock up the guns in the safe.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16555 3/12/2010 © Daytona Beach News-Journal Dr. Daniel Warner, the area's only certified HIV doctor, said he believes the Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida dropped him because he insists on comprehensive AIDS care rather than only treatment for more narrowly defined effects from the disease. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16552 3/12/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel A Pompano Beach retirement community and two Hollywood homeless shelters say at least 80 people are complaining of stomach and intestinal distress, matching reports from around the state that are suspected outbreaks of norovirus. The statewide total this year so far is 85 reported cases, officials said, but since reporting isn't required, there are probably many more.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16556 3/12/2010 © Florida Today Kidnap victims in the Middle East have about three days to live, so they should try to escape. Knowing what to do when kidnapped and what motivates a hostage-taker are some of the topics being discussed this week by FBI agents and psychology professors at Florida Tech in Melbourne. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16554 3/12/2010 © Palm Beach Post David Halstead, the state's emergency management interim director, pleaded his case to FEMA in a letter, saying that 2,505 homes have had their property value cut based on damage from the defective wallboard. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16531 By Jim Saunders  3/11/2010 © Health News Florida Two major insurers have offered lawmakers a way to transform state workers into better health-care shoppers: high-deductible plans with health savings accounts. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16534 3/11/2010 © Miami Herald A grand jury begins an investigation over the public health system's growing problems and fears of insolvency. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said he would help Jackson get a short-term loan but wants to see plans for an eventual recovery. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16536 3/11/2010 © Orlando Sentinel Anne Chinoda had been under scrutiny since reports surfaced she had accepted a $71,000 raise – increasing her annual salary to more than $605,000 annually – six weeks before deciding to lay off 42 employees. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16532 3/11/2010 South Florida Sun-Sentinel Detectives and health inspectors who helped break up a national ring of prescription-drug counterfeiters are protesting the "slap on the wrist" sentence that a Broward County judge gave the ringleader. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16540 3/11/2010 © The Ledger Evelyn Boyd shut herself in her bedroom Feb. 7 and went on a religious water-only fast for more than three weeks. She had no contact with her family before her death, deputies said. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16539 3/11/2010 © TCPalm The Personhood FL anti-abortion organization is challenging the constitutionality of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortions. How? By showing large signs of born, pre-born and aborted babies along Florida intersections. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16533 3/11/2010 © Miami Herald Federal authorities say a Hialeah man has been using giant African snails in an unusual religious rite that involves feeding their juices to worshipers, several of whom have become violently ill. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16543 3/11/2010 © Times/Herald A bill that would restrict the release of 911 recordings except under a court order showing "good cause" passed its first hurdle on Wednesday, stacking a committee to ensure passage. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16535 3/11/2010 © Palm Beach Post Dr. Paul Pitel, Nemours Florida's associate chief executive who identified the Palm Beach County neighborhood's cancer cluster, doesn't see it as a trend and predicts a more normal rate eventually. "They come, they go," he said. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16510 By Mary Jo Melone 3/10/2010 © Health News Florida  Jeanne and Randal Wills are selling off their property, trying to keep up with their family health insurance premiums of over $3,000 a month. They can’t afford the policy, but they can’t afford to drop it.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16509 By Jim Saunders  3/10/2010 © Health News Florida Florida hospitals are gearing up to form provider-service networks to compete with HMOs if the Legislature decides to expand Medicaid managed care. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16512 3/10/2010 © Tampa Tribune As state economists told lawmakers that Florida still faces a $3.2 billion shortfall, a bill advanced in the U.S. Senate that could plug $1 billion of that. Meanwhile, advocates in Jacksonville say vulnerable populations face 'devastating' cuts. In Naples, home care services are said to be at risk. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16511 3/10/2010 © Miami Herald Unless Miami-Dade county advances Jackson Health System $67 million, the institution would be down to 1 ½ days cash on hand by April 5, officials said. One of its major vendors may shut off supplies unless the company receives a $1 million payment this week. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16513 3/10/2010 © Miami Herald In a national ranking, the amount of Census-based aid flowing to Florida puts the state in the bottom five, at $901 per resident. The national average is $1,469. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16528  3/9/2010 © The News Service of Florida Hospitals, particularly trauma centers, would continue to get some of the proceeds from tickets written under a statewide red light camera system following a House committee vote Tuesday. In other action, Speaker Larry Cretul wants to take 911 recordings off the public record for privacy concerns.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16514 3/10/2010 © Palm Beach Post Patrick Knight, a Miami attorney who was in a coma since a massacre on Thanksgiving, waked up. He was met with horrific news. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16526 3/10/2010 © YouTube Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando, a Democrat who has tired of waiting for health reform, filed a bill that would let Americans buy in to Medicare. Elsewhere on YouTube, Sen. George LeMieux gets in a few words on health care on a political show. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16515 3/10/2010 © Miami Herald Physician-entrepreneur Phillip Frost will replace Moshe Many as chairman of its board. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16487 By Jim Saunders  3/9/2010 © Health News Florida Consultants said Monday that Florida Medicaid could save the most money by pushing managed-care plans statewide; by contrast, the 'medical home' model would cost money. Also, Florida Tribune reports that AHCA has suggested a tax on HMOs to raise money. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16490 3/9/2010 © News Channel 8 In an attempt to save the left hand of Eddie Weise, the 9-year-old Lakeland boy who was severely injured playing with a souvenir grenade, orthopedic hand specialist Jeffrey Stone sewed the hand into a flap on the boy's abdomen, where it could be protected and nourished. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16494 3/9/2010 © Orlando Sentinel One in eight Floridians is now on food stamps, with the monthly cost soaring to $350 million, up from $110 million three years ago. The federal government pays for the stamps but the state's responsible for giving them out; the agency with that task has failed performance guidelines. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16488 3/9/2010 © St. Petersburg Times Charlotte Fair of Tampa, accused of keeping her 14-year-old daughter home from school most of the time to keep her company, is now in jail. A social worker says it appears to be an extreme case of attachment disorder. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16504 3/9/2010 © Naples News Judith Formichella tried to get an appointment Monday with a particular physician at Anchor Health Centers, with no luck. An ongoing threat of a 21 percent Medicare pay cut has some  doctors turning away new Medicare patients. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16489 3/9/2010 © St. Petersburg Times An inpatient at Sun Coast Hospital left the building for a smoke at 5 a.m., taking his heart monitor with him. Police say he wandered into the road and was struck by a car.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16491 3/9/2010 © Miami Herald If  Jackson South hospital is closed, what will happen to the four-story addition that's nearly half completed and on which $40 million has already been spent? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16502 3/9/2010 © Fort Myers News-Press Reginald McKinnon took his 18-month-old daughter to a doctor’s appointment and returned to work afterward, leaving her in the back seat, police said. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16500 3/9/2010 © Tallahassee Democrat The state could save hundreds of millions of dollars by cutting pension and insurance benefits and changing leave policies for state workers, according to a briefing on Monday. Another money-saving option would be furloughs. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16486 3/9/2010 © St. Petersburg Times Dr. David A. Smith, chief of the burn unit at Tampa General, says it has been a "cultural education" for hospitals in Tampa Bay treating the 67 gravely injured Haitians brought in for care after the Jan. 12 earthquake aren't typical hospital patients.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16456 3/6/2010 © Miami Herald Deficit-plagued Jackson Health System says it will close its 2 satellite hospitals and lay off more than 4,000 employees. JMH's problems affect many others, including U-Miami medical school, and leave others asking who will care for the poor in north and south Dade? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16461 3/6/2010 © Palm Beach Post Twins Chris and Jeff George, 29, have opened at least five pain clinics in South Florida since 2008, and amassed millions of dollars. They are now being investigated for allegations of illegally selling drugs and laundering money to fund their lavish lifestyles. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16469 3/8/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel CDC investigators were to meet the cruise ship Maasdam when it returned to Fort Lauderdale on Friday after a report that 14 percent of passengers and crew members had been hit with flu-like symptoms. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16458 3/6/2010 © Gainesville Sun U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown was met by anti-government protests at a Gainesville forum, but she said she would still vote for health reform. Meanwhile in Bradenton, Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan railed against the bill to an audience that mostly agreed. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16462  3/7/2010 © Panama City News-Herald State Sen. Al Lawson, who is running for Congress, was instrumental in killing competitive bidding for state workers' health plans and stripping the state insurance office of authority to regulate rate increases, opponents say. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16468 3/8/2010 © Miami Herald Last year, a Miami couple were charged with stealing hospital records to pass on to lawyers for personal-injury suits. They're still awaiting trial, but now have been indicted for paying an ambulance-company employee to steal similar information. In Melbourne, a surgeon pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding a drug company. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16460 3/6/2010 © Orlando Sentinel A survey of some Florida hospitals and specialists shows that few were aware of a new Medicare benefit that would reimburse them for providing face-to-face education to kidney-disease patients regarding their treatment options. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16442 By Jim Saunders  3/2/2010 © Health News Florida When legislative committees discuss health-care issues, lobbyists pack the room, fill the seats and line the walls. There's big money at stake for their clients -- and themselves. See the top spenders on health lobbying.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16431 By Cynthia Washam 3/5/2010 © Health News Florida A new study by a team of North Florida researchers suggests the risk of pediatric cancer is elevated in a significant part of Florida, including the entire southern third and the north. But the results, which were published Jan. 6 in Pediatric Blood & Cancer, are drawing skepticism from many epidemiologists. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16441 3/5/2010 © Miami Herald A pain clinic in Lake Worth that was raided Wednesday operated like a factory, seeing 250 patients a day and distributing more than 2 million pills a year, officials said. The five doctors who wrote prescriptions averaged $1 million a year in pay. Also, News Service of Florida reports the state drug czar wants to make it harder to open such clinics. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16452 3/5/2010 © Herald/Times bureau  Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat running for governor, said her opponent, Attorney General Bill McCollum, hasn't been doing a good job of prosecuting Medicaid fraud. Since he took office, she said, the number of cases opened has dropped sharply and Florida ranks 39th in convictions. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16444 3/5/2010 © Tallahassee Democrat The biggest holes in Florida's revenue pot are $924 million in federal Medicaid money and $842 million needed to meet a "recession-driven increase" in enrollment. The AP cites 88 ideas from TaxWatch that could fill the budget gap. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16440 3/5/2010 © Miami Herald County commissioners were told big money from the state and federal government would rescue Jackson. But the $50 million from Tallahassee has vanished because of complicated regulations, and it's not clear when if ever the $50 million from Washington will appear. In the meantime, the deficit continues to rise. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16443 3/5/2010 © Miami Herald Cases of a deadly malaria strain endemic to Haiti are being reported, putting at risk the half-million people made homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake as well as relief workers. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16433 3/4/2010 © Miami Herald Gregory Coler, who was secretary of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services before it was split, is remembered for modernizing the child-welfare record system.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16323 By Carol Gentry 3/4/2010 © Health News Florida Those who want to expand Medicaid's pilot program from its current five counties to 24 have new ammunition: performance data.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16415 By Jim Saunders 3/4/2010 © Health News Florida Reopening a political battle about medical malpractice, a Florida Senate committee today passed a bill that would limit the liability of hospitals, doctors and other workers for emergency-room errors. Will it go all the way this time?  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16418 3/4/2010 Kaiser Health News Even though in-depth polling has shown that most Americans understand very little about what is actually in the President's proposal for health overhaul, most coverage of his speech on Wednesday dealt only with his strategy for getting it passed. So here are video highlights. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16419 3/4/2010 © St. Petersburg Times An auction on the contents of a storage unit that includes many old patient records of a family doctor was put on hold this morning after a former patient raised an alarm, but it's not clear what will happen next. A chiropractor's record-storage unit also is up for auction. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16421 3/4/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel In an ongoing war against prescription drug abuse, federal agents raided at least three Palm Beach County pain clinics on Wednesday, including a month-old business. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16414 3/4/2010 South Florida Sun-Sentinel The husband of Rohie Kah-Orukotan, who died in liposuction at a medspa in October, said he's outraged that the physician in the case is still doing cosmetic procedures at a medspa. State and local officials say the case is still under investigation.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16432 3/4/2010 © St. Petersburg Times Trappers that have tried for more than a year to capture a macaque running wild in Pinellas hit him with two tranquilizer darts Wednesday, but he amazed them by scampering away to hide and sleep it off. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16429 3/4/2010 © Miami Herald County commissioners objected to allowing the mayor to appoint all seven members of the newly proposed emergency board and called for swift action from the Jackson Memorial Hospital's leadership to address its financial crisis. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16425 3/4/2010 © Palm Beach Post Top officials pledged more testing and better communication, including the opening of a storefront information center, as they try to determine a reason for higher-than-normal levels of childhood cancer in The Acreage. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16423 3/4/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel A 21-year veteran emergency dispatcher persuaded a man who said he had molested a teenage girl and wanted to shoot himself to surrender to deputies. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16394 By Jim Saunders 3/3/2010 © Health News Florida With one lawmaker describing it as a "dumping ground,'' House leaders are targeting the Florida Department of Health as part of a push to save money and revamp the operations of state government. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16397 By Carol Gentry 3/3/2010 © Health News Florida Remember Florida's cushion from Medicare Advantage cuts included in the Senate bill? It's gone, says President Obama, in one of several concessions to Republicans to be announced formally today. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16403 3/1/2010 © American Medical News After years of trying to get Humana to respond to questions about unpaid claims, Palm Beach dermatologist Steven Rosenberg took the case to court -- small claims court -- representing himself.  It paid off. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16401 3/3/2010 © Palm Beach Post An amber alert had been issued for 3-week-old Melvin Duclos of Jacksonville, who was taken yesterday by a woman who pretended to work for the Department of Children and Families. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16399 3/3/2010 © Produce Safety Project Blame the oysters. Florida's average cost per case of foodborne illness is the nation's second-highest, mainly because of the rare but deadly bacteria vibrio vulnificus. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16396 3/2/2010 © South Florida Business Journal The director of the Medicare fraud field office in Miami said Tuesday that scams are still "out of control" in the area. Meanwhile a Hialeah man was sentenced for threatening federal investigators in addition to fraud. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16407 3/3/2010 © Miami Herald Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez is seeking the power to take over financially troubled Jackson Health System, ousting Public Health Trust board members and replacing them with a hand-picked emergency board. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16376 By Jim Saunders  3/2/2010 © Health News Florida Limiting clinics that dispense their own drugs to 3 days' worth would strike a blow at pill mills, but the proposal has alarmed some doctors who use dispensing as a lucrative sideline. See a related Sun-Sentinel story on middle-school lobbyists. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16380 3/2/2010 © Palm Beach Post Doctors who treat Medicare patients took a 21-percent pay cut on Monday, when a senator stalled action on a bill that would restore their pay, extend jobless benefits to 500,000 uninsured and extend COBRA subsidies. Watch Sen. Jim Bunnings, R-Ky. explain. Doctors plan a protest for Wednesday. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16377 3/2/2010 © South Florida Sun Sentinel It's not surprising that Florida has more heart-disease patients than average, given the demographics. But the rate of heart disease is higher than average, too. So is the rate of hospitalization for heart problems. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16385 3/2/2010 © Gainesville Sun Shands HealthCare has notified about 12,500 patients that a laptop containing their medical information was stolen in January. The information includes names, addresses, medical record numbers and some Social Security numbers. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16384 3/2/2010 © Miami Herald One day after a neurosurgeon suggested that Caroline Francois' brain was no longer working, a University of Miami organ procurement coordinator ordered her disconnected from a respirator. Her husband claims she was not dead. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16387 3/2/2010 © Miami Herald In the wake of a Broward child's death, state lawmakers will consider a bill designed to make it harder to prescribe mental health drugs for foster children. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16378 3/2/2010 © The Ledger A jury found Walgreens liable for the death of Beth Hippely after a young pharmacy technician gave her 10 times the prescribed dosage for a blood thinner; the 2nd District Court of Appeal affirmed the award. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16374  By Carol Gentry 3/1/2010 © Health News Florida Doctors who haven’t passed certification exams in pain management will be able to keep working in pain clinics as long as they have hospital privileges and a qualified supervising physician, under a rule adopted by a state board this weekend. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16362 3/1/2010 © Palm Beach Post When the 60-day legislative session begins Tuesday, lawmakers' health agendas include "pill mills," a cancer cluster, and defective drywall, in addition to financial woes. Some see a need to expand the number of Medicaid recipients in HMOs to save money, while others are determined to preventing health and human services cuts. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16356 2/26/2010 © New York Times Thomas G. Brott of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville led a massive U.S. study of neck stents that deemed them as safe as surgery in preventing stroke -- a finding that has prompted international debate.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16354 3/1/2010 © St. Petersburg Times Drug companies pay physicians they consider influential to talk to colleagues about medications, but among those speakers are some who have made fatal mistakes. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16347 2/26/2010 © South Florida Sun Sentinel Frank Sarcona's years of money laundering and diet pill schemes came to an end as he was sentenced to federal prison for bilking more than 130,000 customers out of millions of dollars with Lipoban, an alleged "miracle drug" that he claimed could absorb fat. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16352 2/27/2010 © The Ledger Austin Spain, 11, must have his right eye removed because of a dangerous condition. His family is not only worried about his health, but also about paying for some things Medicaid may not -- including a prosthetic eyeball. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16364 3/1/2010 © Associated Press Alberto Rozas and his 7-year-old daughter had only cuts, scrapes and bruises when their brand-new apartment building toppled in the Chile earthquake. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16365 3/1/2010 © Naples News A Fort Myers woman who lost both breasts after plastic surgery has won a Florida Supreme Court appeal that may reinstate the $8.25 million jury verdict she won. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16349 2/26/2010 © Miami Herald As the controversial enclave under the Julia Tuttle Causeway is taken apart, the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust has committed to relocating the sex offenders to viable homes, and to pay for up to 6 months of rent -- but they still worry about how they will live when this time is up. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16341 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/26/2010 © Health News Florida HMOs can pay "fair market value," less than the amount they're billed when their members get emergency treatment in hospitals outside their networks, an appellate court says. Hospitals worry they'll take a hit if the decision stands. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16328 2/26/2010 South Florida Sun-Sentinel A bill with powerful backing would crack down on pill mills by giving state health officials new powers to go through patient records and fine, suspend or shut down violators. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16338 2/26/2010 © New York Times A federal investigation of a Melbourne medical group has focused on fraudulent billings for radiation treatments; now a patient is raising safety concerns. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16337 2/26/2010 © Orlando Sentinel Wild pythons are being hunted in the Everglades, and yet a pet python that killed a 2-year-old last year is still alive. The killer whale responsible for his trainer's death at Sea World this week will also live, his owners say. Who makes the rules?  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16333 2/26/2010 © Palm Beach Post Democrats in Congress may dispense with the 60-vote tradition in the Senate and instead try to pass the president’s reform package on a simple majority vote. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16343 2/26/2010 © Health News Florida Florida's Medicaid program will receive $1.69  million in matching funds to plan the state's electronic health record network, federal health officials announced today. The match is 90 percent.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16331 2/26/2010 © Palm Beach Post Emergency room workers were disciplined, suspended or reassigned for taking and e-mailing photos of the body of the kiteboarder killed by a shark earlier this month. Also,  Shands HealthCare says it has had a security breach of thousands of patient records but has not yet offered details. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16330 2/26/2010 © Times/Herald bureau Sen. Larcenia Bullard, a  is headed back to Tallahassee, despite heart problems that require her to use an oxygen tank.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16336 2/26/2010 © Tallahassee Democrat Mental health specialists said Erik Alonzo McDonald, accused of sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl, is taking two medications for schizophrenia, but that he knows the difference between right and wrong. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16334 2/26/2010 © Palm Beach Post Roxanne Burey took advantage of financial incentives and moved into her new townhome in The Preserve in Boynton Beach in 2007. Last year she moved out. Her home contained defective Chinese drywall. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16332 2/26/2010 © Miami Herald Auditors recommended that the system's governing board double-check Jackson's own number crunchers quarterly. Jackson Health had estimated a $46.8 million loss for fiscal 2009, rather than the actual $244.6 million loss. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16324 By Jim Saunders  2/25/2010 © Health News Florida With health insurers nationally facing increased scrutiny about rate hikes, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is seeking double-digit increases for policies it sells to individuals and small businesses. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16312 2/25/2010 © Miami Herald The death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in Orlando, the latest in a string of attacks by captive orcas, seemed certain to rekindle discussion over using them at theme parks. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16308 2/25/2010 © Health News Florida If you'd thought Florida's members of Congress couldn't come together on any health proposal, you're wrong: House members from Florida voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of a bill to remove the anti-trust exemption from health insurers. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16307 2/25/2010 © Capitol News Service Rep. Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs, wants to legitimize cities' use of cameras at intersections to fine drivers who run red lights, with the state getting half the revenue. Their use has been in limbo since a judge recently ruled them unconstitutional. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16319 2/26/2010 © Florida Times-Union Former professional athlete Rich Tylski and his wife physically abused a girl they adopted, a judge ruled, ordering them to pay her $1.2 million. Meanwhile, a DeLand nursing home is being investigated after a patient with broken bones went untreated for 12 hours. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16306 2/25/2010 © Tampa Tribune Timothy Gurley, the 40-year-old son of a Tampa dentist, was arrested Tuesday for unlicensed practice; the Department of Health says he had signed a cease-and-desist order a year ago. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16317 2/25/2010 © Palm Beach Post A judge said the jury for Cindy Naugle against Philip Morris USA was moved by emotion rather than evidence; he cut the award to $39 million. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16313 2/25/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel Florida has 1,100 gangs with almost 49,000 members, according to a task force report. South Florida dominates. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16309 2/25/2010 © Miami Herald The county mayor rejected help for Jackson Health System, which faces hundreds of staff layoffs. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16297 By Mary Jo Melone 2/24/2010 © Health News Florida Karen Thompson, a 59-year-old grandmother in rural LaBelle, never set out to be a poster girl for a cause. But with help from a public-relations consultant, she’s become a weapon for Florida’s optometrists in their fight against MD's.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16283 2/24/2010 © News Service of Florida The U.S. Senate’s $15 billion jobs bill passed today without the $1.2 billion Gov. Charlie Crist counted on to patch a hole in state Medicaid spending. He still hopes Congress will provide the money, he says, but has received no assurance. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16284 2/24/2010 © Tallahassee Democrat Two House members say they will file bills to make all state employees, including legislators, pay for health insurance. That would save taxpayers an estimated $56 million. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16294 2/24/2010 © Florida Times-Union In an unusual tactic of packaging malpractice suits against one hospital, attorneys allege that five patients suffered gruesome bedsores and another was nearly blinded because of poor care at Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16290 2/24/2010 © Times/Herald bureau The brutal killing of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford five years ago today led the Legislature to enact laws that severely restricted the rights of sex offenders. Those laws have had unintended consequences, and now some are taking another look. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16292 2/24/2010 © Tallahassee Democrat Florida has received an "F" in a national study on children's dental health by a policy analysis institute. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16286 2/23/2010 Associated Press Earl Brian Bradley, a pediatrician in Delaware who also has a Florida medical license, is under arrest, charged with molestation of more than 100 children in Delaware. In other news, a Bradenton chiropractor was charged with using an MD's identification to buy testosterone. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16293 2/24/2010 © Orlando Sentinel Sherrie Sitarik, who succeeds John Hillenmeyer when his retirement becomes effective at year's end, has been responsible for leading the organization's strategic planning process. She has been with Orlando Health since 1978. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16273 2/23/2010 © Orlando Sentinel Eunice Francois was facing foot amputation after being trapped in the Haiti quake. Instead, an e-mail to a minister friend led to a series of events that ended with Orlando Health doctors saving her foot with a reconstructive plastic surgery normally reserved for breasts or noses.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16288 2/24/2010 © Palm Beach Post Defense attorneys are challenging an estimated 400 DUI cases in Palm Beach County after malfunctions on a breath-testing machine were not reported to state officials. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16295 http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16282 By Jim Saunders 2/23/2010 © Health News Florida Trying to boost the quality of health care for children, federal officials will send $100 million in grants to states over five years -- including about $11.3 million to a partnership between Florida and Illinois. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16272 2/23/2010 © Palm Beach Post Few states have as much at stake in the health care fight as Florida, which has about 4 million uninsured and nearly 3 million more on Medicaid. Bruce Reuben, president of the Florida Hospital Association, is pleading for an end to the congressional impasse. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16267 2/23/2010 © Miami Herald Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman blasted Jackson's executives for ``gross incompetence'' after the announcement, which officials hope will save $70 million to $120 million. The system is expecting a deficit of more than $200 million. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16271 2/23/2010 © Florida Times-Union Florida’s Medicaid reform pilot could save money for the state, and Rep. Mia Jones says she's open to the idea of expanding it. But some who came to her public meeting in Jacksonville said it's harder to keep the doctors they like. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16270 2/23/2010 © USA Today Florida schools, hospitals and charity groups have been helping care for Haitians since Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake. The question now is how to pay for the influx of patients, students and orphans. And Orlando Health doctors saved a foot with reconstructive plastic surgery instead of amputation. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16265 2/23/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel As lawmakers discussed the policing of "pill mills" at a summit near West Palm Beach, Karen Perry, who helped found NOPE -- Narcotics Overdose and Prevention Education -- offered a vivid example of the problem: her 21-year-old son's overdose death. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16269 2/23/2010 © Bradenton Herald Lakewood Ranch Medical Center is trying a new medical garment that combats infections with a germ-killing ingredient woven into it. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16266 2/23/2010 © Palm Beach Post After taking 25 Xanax pills, a Tampa mom couldn't remember where she had left her 3-year-old child. In other news, a Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy was charged with oxycodone possession while a Port Richey police officer was accused of peddling oxycodone. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16276 2/23/2010 © Gainesville Sun Christina Gavegnano, who had glaucoma and another eye condition that affected her sight, had accused two professors of misappropriating national research funds, discriminating against her because of her disability and making disparaging remarks to her.       http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16275 2/23/2010 © Florida Times-Union About 37 percent of Duval County high schoolers said they are sexually active and about 40 percent of students said they had at least one drink, according to a survey conducted last year. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16263 2/22/2010 © Health News Florida Pres. Obama's proposed health plan, released this morning, offers more support to the states for expanded Medicaid than previous proposals; in effect, it extends the deal Nebraska got so that all states get 100 percent funding for Medicaid expansion. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16238 2/21/2010 © Palm Beach Post Dermatologist Steven Rosenberg, a member of the Board of Medicine, says the Legislature must pass stiffer laws to make it possible to halt the proliferation of phony pain clinics. The law that passed last year wasn't enough, he says.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16241 2/22/2010 © Florida Today Three girls were tragically run over by a train in Melbourne while crossing a trestle Saturday evening. A friend yelled for them to jump out of the way as the train approached, but they weren't able to make it in time. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16257 2/22/2010 © Gainesville Sun In 2006, the parents of a 7-year-old boy who died after receiving blood contaminated with West Nile virus was awarded more than $8 million in damages, but the case went immediately to an appeal. Today, a ruling is due. In other news, a prescription-overdose suit against a Sarasota doctor has been dropped. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16247 2/22/2010 © St. Petersburg Times John Maccarelli, 33, did a favor for a friend, taking care of a 3-month-old baby for a few hours. The abuse accusation that followed made his life a nightmare. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16239 2/21/2010 © Fort Myers News-Press Ty-Rel Fletcher, 9, has lost his sight, speech and ability to walk because of a progressive and incurable neurological disorder. His mother, who refuses to give up, hopes to raise money for a stem-cell treatment in China. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16258 2/22/2010 © Gainesville Sun The use of marijuana is growing more popular among people 50 and older, either for recreation or as a way to cope with the aches and pains of aging,  surveys say. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16242 http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16243 http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16228 By Carol Gentry and Jim Saunders 2/19/2010 © Health News Florida Congratulations, Florida! You're getting a refund of $282.5 million in overpayments to Medicare, thanks to a recalculation of drug premiums for low-income elderly. Couldn't come at a better time. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16233 By Jim Saunders 2/19/2010 © Health News Florida  As Florida lawmakers struggle to overhaul the Medicaid system, state Rep. Ed Homan describes the choice in stark terms: Expanding the controversial "reform" pilot or creating "medical homes," with primary-care doctors offering "Marcus Welby medicine." See also, "Living in a Medical Home." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16226 2/19/2010 © Florida Times-Union Last year, St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Jacksonville wrote off $95 million in medical care to the uninsured or the indigent -- up 30 percent in a year. Other hospitals are swimming in unpaid bills as well. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16217 2/19/2010 © Miami Herald Facing the possibility of widespread layoffs, the Jackson Health System nurses union is demanding a grand jury investigation into mismanagement at the public hospital that led to huge deficits. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16221 2/19/2010 © Lakeland Ledger A curious second-grader who was playing with a World War II grenade blew himself up in the kitchen of his home Thursday night and was flown to Tampa General for emergency surgery. He was in critical condition this morning.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16229 2/19/2010 © Daytona Beach News-Journal A caretaker who left her autistic charge in a hot car with the windows rolled up for more than 30 minutes while she visited a man in a motel was arrested. In Fort Myers, an infant left inside a hot car was rescued by a passerby. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16216 2/19/2010 © St. Petersburg Times A crackdown on illegal prescription-drug rings over the past two weeks identified 74 suspects wanted on 150 counts of doctor shopping, but most of them are still at large. In other news, a counterfeit growth-hormone dealer was sentenced to six years. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16231 2/19/2010 © Sarasota-Herald Tribune Committees in both the Florida House and Senate voted to move a bill to reform Florida's flawed 911 training system on for further reviews, but some questioned the program's cost. In other legislative news, a Senate panel approved a scaled-back version of the ban on tanning booths for children. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16208 By Jim Saunders 2/18/2010 © Health News Florida As health groups grow increasingly alarmed about potential budget cuts, the Agency for Health Care Administration says that up to 19 counties are eligible for expansion of Florida's controversial Medicaid-reform pilot program. This morning, the agency got blasted by a key senator -- as usual.    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16203 By Carol Gentry 2/18/2010 © Health News Florida After verifying that medical costs in Florida are now 11 percent higher than last year, state insurance officials have granted that rate increase to the major carrier in the state's Cover Florida program, Blue Cross and Blue Shield.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16212 2/18/2010 © Forbes WellCare Health Plans Inc. reported a 2009 profit of almost $40 million this morning, a turnaround from a net loss of nearly $37 million. Yet the stock plummeted 13 percent by 11 a.m. In other news, Humana announced layoffs, including a net loss of 50 jobs in Florida. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16206 2/18/2010 © Orlando Sentinel Anne Chinoda, top executive of the nonprofit Florida's Blood Centers, received a 13 percent increase in her pay package in 2009, then laid off 42 employees. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16198 2/18/2010 © Miami Herald Hospital beds in Haiti, where 300,000 were hurt in an earthquake, are full of patients -- including many amputees -- who have nowhere to go. And with the departure of the estimated 1,000 doctors from around the world who came to help, it's unclear what will become of their patients. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16196 2/18/2010 © St. Petersburg Times About 175 nurses from throughout the state rallied at the Capitol on Wednesday to seek caps on the number of patients per nurse, such as two to one in intensive care. "Nurses want to see safety for patients and sanity for themselves," said Tampa RN Gwen Collins. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16209 2/18/2010 © Palm Beach Post As next week's presidential health summit draws near, conservatives hope the summit will put an end to the mandatory health reform bills that passed both houses of Congress. Progressives hope to add back a public insurance option. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16202 2/18/2010 © Miami Herald State child-welfare administrators have appealed the adoption of an infant foster child by a gay Hollywood woman, saying they are bound by law to challenge it until appellate courts rule on the issue. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16207 2/18/2010 © Daytona News-Journal Tests have confirmed a norovirus as the source sickening more than one-third of students at Rymfire Elementary School in Palm Coast. "Now we have to concentrate on controlling the outbreak," a health official said. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16211 2/18/2010 © Health News Florida It's becoming a familiar routine. Whenever the Senate Health Regulation Committee meets, the Agency for Health Care Administration can expect a tongue-lashing from Chairman Don Gaetz.     http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16185 By David Gulliver 2/17/2010 © Health News Florida Florida’s richest counties tend to be healthiest, according to a nationwide study released this morning. A Health News Florida analysis found a strong statistical correlation between prevention -- lower smoking and obesity rates, access to doctors -- and good outcomes. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16186 By Jim Saunders 2/17/2010 © Health News Florida State Rep. Kevin Ambler says he wants to make sure parents have adequate information about vaccinations that children need to enroll in school. But doctors say it could scare parents away, leaving kids unprotected. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16183 2/17/2010 © USA Today Florida Rep. Allen Boyd, a fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrat who opposed the House health care bill, received more money from Pfizer's PAC last year than any other lawmaker.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16182 2/17/2010 © Fort Myers News-Press A budget "priority list" in the House Health Care Appropriations Committee identifies possible reductions that would amount to an overall 29 percent cut in mental health services statewide. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16181 2/17/2010 © Palm Beach Post Humana and MetCare are experimenting with a patient-centered medical home, which incorporates the best of new technology with the old-fashioned Marcus Welby-type doctor-patient relationship. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16179 2/17/2010 © Palm Beach Post Pointing to an "acute shortage" of pediatric specialists in Palm Beach County, Miami Children's Hospital and the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation plan three outpatient centers. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16178 2/17/2010 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune A Sarasota-based prosthetics company is seeking discarded but usable artificial limbs for use in Haiti. Meanwhile, the Palm Beach Post reports that a Florida medical team that went to Haiti was kept waiting three days before treating patients because of disputes with a Boston-based medical group. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16177 2/17/2010 © Miami Herald Jackson Health System announced a small round of layoffs, but says more drastic measures -- including more layoffs and closing the emergency room at Jackson South -- are on the way to confront a large deficit. Meanwhile, the Florida Times-Union reports that Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, plans to back a bill that aims to cap the number of hospital patients under a nurse’s care at any one time to improve care.           http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16154 By Cynthia Washam 2/16/2010 © Health News Florida Brevard County’s largest medical group is close to settling a complaint that it overbilled Medicare $8 million by giving cancer patients more expensive treatments than they needed. Is this a case of fraud, as the Justice Department maintains, or an example of Florida's overheated style of medical treatment? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16158 2/16/2010 © Tampa Tribune First responders face a new danger: Some intent on suicide are mixing everyday cleaning products to create a poisonous gas for a quick, painless death. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16155 2/16/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel The federal stimulus award will help South Florida doctors convert paper files to electronic records. It's part of $1 billion in federal health IT awards, as CQ Healthbeat explains. And the Herald Tribune says TaxWatch accuses Florida agencies of failing to go after the state's proper share of federal dollars. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16163 2/16/2010 © Palm Beach Post Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida intentionally sets unrealistically low limits on "usual and customary" payments for medical treatment outside its network, leaving patients owing an unfair share of the bill, according to a lawsuit. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16162 2/16/2010 © Daytona Beach News-Journal About 200 people are suffering symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or cramping in Flagler County. Speculation is it could be a Norwalk-type virus, a highly contagious illness often blamed for similar outbreaks on cruise ships. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16157 2/16/2010 © Miami Herald Word about plans for widespread layoffs in the troubled Jackson Health System is expected today, says a Web site of a union that represents Jackson healthcare professionals. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16161 2/16/2010 © Palm Beach Post A man with Tourette's syndrome who was asked to leave a Boca Raton Starbucks after he had an episode has sued the coffee shop for discrimination. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16164 2/16/2010 © Gainesville Sun At a summit to discuss the nursing shortage, some called for tuition relief and perhaps a stipend for nurses who go back to school for graduate studies so that they can fill empty jobs in nursing faculties. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16159 2/16/2010 © Palm Beach Post Laurence Grayhills of Jupiter stands alongside U.S. 1 waving his handmade sign reading "Speed Trap Ahead," warning motorists of a van that snaps photos of speeding vehicles. Why? "This is big government beating up on people when they can least afford it," he said.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16156 2/16/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel The new rule, enacted to stop rampant fraud, caps how much home-care companies can make from Medicare patients who need more than one visit a day. Some say it's shutting off services to the neediest seniors. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16147 2/13/2010 © New York Times Robotic surgery for prostate cancer now dominates in Florida and nationally, even though it costs more -- and even though the only large-scale study comparing results to traditional open surgery raised questions about side effects. But most patients now demand it, which shows marketing to consumers works in surgery as well as in drugs. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16146 2/13/2010 © MIami Herald Stuck with what is expected to amount to a $230-million deficit this year, Jackson Health System confronts the need to trim salaries in its unionized work force. Nurses there average almost $40 an hour -- $10 more than the state average. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16145 2/12/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel The CDC's first full statewide estimate of swine flu cases came in 10 times higher than Florida's official tally, which counted only certain lab-confirmed cases. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16141 2/13/2010 © Palm Beach Post In preparation for the coming legislative session, four bills have been proposed to toughen pain clinic laws, incuding one that would limit dispensing of narcotics to three days' dose. Also, the Times-Union offers a round-up of bills important to the medical community. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16142 2/14/2010 © Palm Beach Post Nurse Beth Cotromano and husband Richard, who fought for years to get official confirmation that their daughter's cancer is part of a cluster, still face hostility from neighbors worried that the crusade has wiped out property values. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16140 2/14/2010 © Miami Herald Under George Sheldon, the Florida Department of Children and Families is winning widespread praise. In the past month, DCF workers on round-the-clock shifts have welcomed thousands of orphaned or injured Haitians to Florida and helped them get care. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16152 2/15/2010 © The Fine Print This is likely the year that lawmakers will require state workers to begin paying into their pension plan, and it's almost a given that the free health premiums for 27,000 of them will be only a fond memory. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16143 2/14/2010 © St. Petersburg Times Pharmacist Eugene Peiser, who advised the state and private businesses on drug safety, died Feb. 3. He was famously incorruptible, turning down an invitation to head the FDA rather than play politics. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16128 2/11/2010 © McClatchy Tribune The five largest U.S. health insurers, including United, Humana, and Cigna -- shed 2.7 million customers yet had combined profits of over $12 billion last year, according to a report by a health reform advocacy group. In other news, two Tampa area health businesses are sending operations overseas. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16118 2/12/2010 © Health News Florida Advocates for women's health are hosting a seminar today and Saturday on the alarming rate of unnecessary Cesarean sections in Miami, where the surgery accounts for more than half of births. Meanwhile, the Orlando Sentinel reports on another patient-education effort: on the dangers of MRIs for pacemaker patients. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16114 2/10/2010 © CNN This gripping 15-minute documentary by independent Miami journalist Amber Lyon offers vivid close-ups of Florida's pain clinics, which supply pushers from other states that have more effective regulation. She talks to some of the lost young addicts living on the streets. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16119 2/12/2010 © Associated Press A state child-abuse prevention program that depends on families cooperating may not be keeping children safe, child advocates say; many families fail to follow through but no one checks on the kids. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16124 2/12/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel They are best known as places of learning and research, but Florida's universities have taken on another role in recent weeks: Haiti relief agencies. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16123 2/12/2010 © Sarasota Herald Tribune Delmer Smith III, who spent 15 years in prison, went on a rampage after his release, robbing and attacking women in home invasions, police say. He is suspected in the beating death of Kathleen Briles, wife of a prominent Manatee County physician.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16121 2/12/2010 © Tampa Tribune A federal indictment charges that a health center's computer systems manager tried to extort money after being fired and that she damaged the system in retaliation. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16112 By John Kennedy 2/11/2010 © The News Service of Florida The chief of the new Senate Budget Office, which will shape state spending policy, will be Donna Arduin, former budget director for ex-Gov. Jeb Bush and adviser to Marco Rubio when he was House Speaker. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16092 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/10/2010 © Health News Florida After opposing expansion of ‘Medicaid Reform’ for three years, Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday he’s “open” to seeing it grow beyond its current five Florida counties.    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/16075 2/9/2010 Times/Herald bureau Dr. Ana Viamonte Ros, the surgeon general and secretary of the Department of Health, likes to go home to Miami for weekends -- which is natural -- but charges it to taxpayers, a total of $130,000 over three years. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16071 By Sammy Mack 2/9/2010 © Health News Florida A landmark lawsuit that seeks to rewrite Florida's Medicaid policy resumed today in Miami, with plaintiffs charging that state agencies' low pay for doctors and dentists and tendency to switch plans without notice often leave children with no access to care. A related story in Florida Today shows the struggle of dentists who take Medicaid.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16056 By Mary Jo Melone 2/9/2010 © Health News Florida Donald Alan Tobkin of Hollywood, who has degrees in both medicine and law, lost his state medical license in 2006. Today the Florida Bar asked the state Supreme Court to take away his law license, too. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16051 By Carol Gentry 2/8/2010 © Health News Florida  The state Department of Health's decision to withhold information on its consumer web site about pending actions against health professionals -- including arrests --- is entirely appropriate, say attorneys who defend doctors. The public's reaction was different. As one woman said, "I was horrified." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16024  By Carol Gentry 2/5/2010 © Health News Florida Dr. Carlos Contreras has been in a federal prison since he pleaded guilty to health fraud in September 2008. But a state consumer web site still lists him in West Palm Beach with a “clear and active” medical license -- and he's far from alone. It's Department of Health policy not to post public information about arrests and convictions until a board takes final action, no matter how long that takes. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/16010 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/4/2010 © Health News Florida The Legislature should reduce Medicaid pay to hospitals and doctor groups by 10 percent if they refuse to sign managed-care contracts, the HMO industry says.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15993  2/3/2010 © Health News Florida When the Florida Legislature convenes next month, Jim Saunders will be there to cover it, as he has for the past dozen years. But this time, he’ll be covering it as Capital Bureau Chief for Health News Florida. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15976 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/2/2010 © Health News Florida This could be the year the state of Florida eliminates its popular MediPass program, which gives more than half a million Medicaid recipients, mostly aged and disabled, an alternative to HMOs. Hints of its demise showed up in the governor's budget and letters from a powerful lawmaker.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15966 2/2/2010 © Orlando Sentinel When Josefina de la Rosa was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, she could not afford treatment. In stepped nonprofit Casa de Mexico, which finds doctors to help. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15922 By Carol Gentry 1/29/2010 © Health News Florida Florida media scholars say it’s no surprise that the public doesn’t know what’s in the health-reform bills now stuck in Congress, even after months of heavy media coverage. In fact, they say, most media coverage has actually added to the public’s confusion. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15938 1/29/2010 © Times-Herald Bureau Gov. Charlie Crist said as he sent lawmakers a $69.2 billion budget, which includes a $2.7 billion boost in Medicaid spending.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15913 By Christine Jordan Sexton 1/28/2010 © Health News Florida Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, a candidate for U.S. Senate who is critical of President Obama’s ideas on health reform, says the nation should instead follow the model of Florida Health Choices. But it has yet to insure anyone. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15901 By David Gulliver 1/27/2010 © Health News Florida Florida hospitals posted some of the strongest showings in a widely read study of hospital quality. The HealthGrades report differs in some respects from the state of Florida's posted measures. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15880 By Carol Gentry 1/26/2010 © Health News Florida Americans who say they don’t support the health reform bills pending in Congress tend to change their minds when informed of  the major provisions of the bills, according to a non-partisan report based on extensive polling. It indicates that voters are basing their opinions not on facts, but on what they hear. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15863 1/25/2010 © The News Service of Florida  A hearing officer must decide whether the Agency for Health Care Administration was correct in awarding a Medicaid contract to a Louisiana firm without competitive bidding, a Florida appeals court ruled. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15864 1/26/2010 © Associated Press The case of Samantha Burton, who was forced to remain in the hospital for the welfare of her fetus, is drawing attention to the question of whether pregnancy deprives patients of their rights. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15814 By Christine Jordan Sexton  1/22/2010 © Health News Florida Florida could save more than $118 million if it removed HMOs as one of the health care options offered to state employees, according to a new report.  It could save even more than that by offering only high-deductible plans. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15831 By David Gulliver and Mary Jo Melone 1/22/2010 © Health News Florida Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, which allows companies to pour unlimited money into advertising campaigns, is "nirvana," according to a spokesman for big business in Florida. But consumer groups say corporate interests will drown out all other voices in the fight for health reform. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15794 By Sammy Mack 1/21/2010 © Health News Florida The switch to electronic medical records has been rocky for doctors in Broward who refused to pay what they called unwarranted charges and were turned over to collections. More disputes are arising as midcareer physicians bump up against the world of high-tech software sales. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15742 By Carol Gentry 1/15/2010 © Health News Florida Since 2004, a Miami psychiatrist has prescribed almost 14 million pills to Medicaid patients at a cost to taxpayers of $43 million, a feverish pace of 1,000 prescriptions a week. A state senator says the doctor should be the "poster boy for tougher enforcement actions." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15718  1/14/2010 © New York Times First aid responders and doctors tried to triage the massive number of injured in Haiti as the death toll estimate rose to 45,000. They didn't even have aspirin, much less anesthesia. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15683 By Mary Jo Melone 1/14/2010 © Health News Florida  The fish 'n' chips at St. Pete's "Moon Under Water" Restaurant may taste terrific, but when you see the calorie count you may never pick up the fork. The restaurant's unusual in that it offers diners nutritional information. A state senator will again try to get all restaurants to follow suit. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15688 By Christine Jordan Sexton 1/13/2010 © Health News Florida The state’s largest insurance companies on Wednesday said they have signed a voluntary pact committing them to cover routine medical treatments for cancer patients who enroll in clinical trials.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15696 1/13/2010 © Health News Florida A $302,000 grant that will enable Health News Florida to expand its original reporting in Miami, Tallahassee and elsewhere in Florida was announced by the  John S. and James L. Knight Foundation on Wednesday.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15672 By Christine Jordan Sexton 1/12/2010 © Health News Florida TALLAHASSEE—Florida’s Republican-controlled state government is gearing up to fight federal health care reform even before the law passes. State Sen. Don Gaetz vows to "roll back provisions in this bill."  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15616 By Christine Jordan Sexton 1/8/2010 © Health News Florida  The largest health insurer in Gov. Charlie Crist's "Cover Florida" program says it is losing money, signaling that the voluntary approach to providing affordable health insurance is in trouble.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15626 1/8/2010 © Health News Florida In Florida, an estimated 90,000 low-income senior citizens can now get more generous prescription drug benefits through the "Extra Help" program in Medicare, according to the state Department of Elder Affairs. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15597 By Mary Jo Melone 1/6/2010 © Health News Florida Hundreds of would-be travelers who booked cruises through Florida travel agents but had to cancel because of illness complain the trip cancellation insurer didn’t pay.  Even though the losses run into millions of dollars, the Division of Financial Services says there is little it can do under state law. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15538 By Mary Jo Melone 12/23/2009 © Health News Florida Floridians Wanda Hubbard and Arthur Schlichting have a few things in common. They both had colonoscopies. Both suffer from kidney disease. And both have filed lawsuits against the makers of the drugs they took to cleanse their bowels before the tests. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15451 By Mary Jo Melone 12/17/2009 © Health News Florida Richard Glazer's travel insurance should have covered his hospital bills in Turkey, but it didn't, leaving him owing $38,000. Now Florida officials are cracking down on travel agencies that used an unlicensed insurer. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15465 12/17/2009 © Health News Florida About 2.4 million people will gain insurance coverage in Florida by 2019 if the Senate health-care bill passes, according to a report to be released next week by the consumer health organization Families USA. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15449 By Carol Gentry 12/16/2009 © Health News Florida Florida’s two senators don’t agree on much when it comes to health reform. But on Tuesday night, they both voted in favor of allowing consumers to buy U.S.-approved prescription drugs at lower prices from other countries. Their unity was not rewarded, though. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15432 12/16/2009 Miami Herald In a first, the bullet-scarred pancreas from a service member who was shot in Afghanistan was flown to University of Miami, where insulin-producing cells were salvaged and flown back to be dropped into the man's liver.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15429 By Carol Gentry 12/15/2009 © Health News Florida When her sedation wore off during a routine colonoscopy, a patient cried out in pain and repeatedly begged the doctor to stop. But he didn't. Was he legally entitled to continue? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15426 12/15/2009 Politico Pres. Obama has asked Senators to the White House today to rescue the "last chance" for health reform. LeMieux spoke against the bill on YouTube and Nelson spoke for it on the floor. Meanwhile, Politico explains how the parties have switched sides on Medicare. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15383 By Carol Gentry 12/11/2009 © Health News Florida The Florida Department of Health unit that prosecutes physicians is undergoing a makeover to get rid of a backlog of complaints following a “fiasco” in October, top lawyers for DOH told the Board of Medicine. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15382 By Gary Fineout 12/11/2009 © Health News Florida State auditors report that requiring college students to have health insurance could raise the cost of an education by $1,250 a year. But some universities signal they want to enact such a requirement if the legislature will let them. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15355 By Mary Jo Melone 12/10/2009 © Health News Florida  The nation’s leading cryogenics organization lost a legal ruling in Tampa today to prevent an autopsy on a 48-year-old man who wanted his body frozen until he could be brought back to life. After the hearing, the medical examiner said he will keep cuts to an absolute minimum. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15368 By Christine Jordan Sexton 12/10/2009 © Health News Florida Roberta Kelley Bradford, the incoming Medicaid director for Florida, will be paid $150,000 a year at a time when the program has a deficit of $462 million. AHCA's chief called Bradford "incredibly smart and talented." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15348 By Christine Jordan Sexton 12/9/2009 © Health News Florida Frustrated with what they view as subpar efforts to snuff out Medicaid fraud, legislators on Tuesday threatened to stall the confirmation of Tom Arnold as the new Secretary for the Agency for Health Care Administration. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15347 By Carol Gentry 12/9/2009 © Health News Florida The Senate defeated Sen. John McCain's motion Tuesday evening to send health reform back to committee, a move that would have killed it, but during the debate GOP senators used Democrat Bill Nelson as a verbal punching bag. Earlier, the state’s senators split their votes on party lines in defeating an abortion amendment.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15327 By Carol Gentry 12/8/2009 © Health News Florida A cushion for 800,000 Florida seniors against cuts to Medicare Advantage plans under the pending Senate health bill would be extended to all 10.6 million beneficiaries enrolled in the plans under an amendment by Republican Sen. John McCain. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15316 By Carol Gentry 12/8/2009 © Health News Florida An embarrassing goof like doing surgery on the wrong side -- or even the wrong patient -- can happen to absolutely anyone. The latest icon to fall into the error trap is Dr. Alexander Brickler of Tallahassee, a former national "Family Doctor of the Year.”  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15315 12/7/2009 © Associated Press A new report says scams in Miami- Dade brought half a billion dollars in Medicare payments for home health-care into the county last year, more than the entire rest of the nation combined. Many "patients" got big-screen TVs or free maid service. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15328 12/8/2009 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida has notified policyholders in Manatee County that they may no longer be able to use the county's largest hospital system as of Jan. 1 because of a breakdown in contract negotiations. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15274 By Carol Gentry 12/4/2009 © Health News Florida The Florida Board of Medicine voted unanimously Friday to revoke the license of Emanuel Falcone, a senior psychiatrist at Florida State Prison until officials learned that he had lost his New York license for sexual abuse of a patient suffering from multiple-personality disorder. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15263 By Carol Gentry and Mary Jo Melone 12/4/2009 © Health News Florida The Florida Attorney General's Office, which has sued a Tampa company that it says made misleading claims for a $95,000 back-treatment machine, says it will seek restitution for chiropractors who lost money on the machines and wants them to file complaints. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15262 12/3/2009 © Health News Florida Armed with documents that show drugmakers will get back most of the $80 billion they had promised for health reform, Sen. Bill Nelson introduced an amendment to the Senate health package today that would require them to give up $106 billion in "extra profits" over 10 years. The money would plug the Medicare drug gap and reduce the deficit, he said.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15259 By Christine Jordan Sexton 12/3/2009 © Health News Florida Florida’s lagging physician workforce could get a shot in the arm under versions of the health care reform bill being debated in Washington. Both the House and Senate bills would provide more residency slots for Florida. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15230 By Gary Fineout 12/2/2009 © Health News Florida State Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander says he'll push to end free health insurance for state officials next session. Now House budget chief David Rivera says "everything is on the table" in the search for savings, including the perk for nearly 27,500 state workers and lawmakers. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15193 By Carol Gentry 12/1/2009 © Health News Florida A Tampa company that makes and sells back-pain machines to chiropractors used deceptive claims and should pay nearly $100 million, the Florida Attorney General's Office says. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15136 By Janan Talafer 11/25/2009 © Health News Florida  Davis Freeman's hands shook; he staggered and fell. His customers would conclude he was a drunk, he realized, unless he revealed the truth. So he sat down at the computer, opened his e-mail and began to write. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15135 By Carol Gentry 11/24/2009 © Health News Florida Citrus Health Care, which was under Medicare suspension all year, has been granted a reprieve for 2010 – in the nick of time. Enrollment season has begun.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15133 11/22/2009 © St. Petersburg Times Elizabeth Garrett, 93, had fallen several times and her medications made her dizzy. But she had no one to drive her to the doctor or the store, and she had a valid driver's license, so off she went. (Part 2 of this series on older drivers continues today.) http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15114 11/21/2009 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel Stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld, who smokes 10 marijuana cigarettes daily to help him cope with pain from a congenital disorder, is one of only four Americans who gets his stash free from the federal government. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15073 By Mary Jo Melone 11/20/09 © Health News Florida When they hear “You have herpes,” some people look for a support group. Others sue. One of the latter is a 57-year-old Ruskin woman who is suing her ex-boyfriend, a millionaire since he won the Florida Lottery.    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15077 11/19/2009 © St. Petersburg Times Because of their exposure to swarms of children, Mall Santas say they should receive swine-flu vaccine. But local health departments say they're not on the priority list. Pinellas' spokeswoman Maggie Hall said: "Our supplies are so small; I'm sorry, Santa."    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/15052 11/18/2009 ©  CNN Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a breast cancer survivor, blasted changes to exam guidelines suggested by an advisory panel, saying they imply that women can't handle the hassle of false positives. In other screening news from Bradenton, a clinic employee demonstrating a scanner got a surprise. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14948 By Ruth Morris 11/17/2009 © Health News Florida Robert Clark of Belleair and other Christian Scientists in Florida are lobbying to include prayer treatments in health insurance coverage. This is creating a stir among policy analysts. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/15029 11/17/2009 © Health News Florida The League of Women Voters, AARP and 18 other non-profits will hold an experimental "Community Conversation on Health Care" this evening on both sides of Tampa Bay simultaneously, connected by live Web-streaming.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14995 By Christine Jordan Sexton 11/13/2009 © Health News Florida  Florida is preparing to make the health histories of more than 1 million Medicaid patients accessible to 80,000 doctors, clinics and hospitals in the state on a secured-access system, the project director said Thursday. The aims: improve patient care, avoid duplication. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14994 Some e-mail systems cannot read the embedded link to the Health News Florida survey that was sent out Thursday. If that happened to you, we apologize. Click on the headline above to reach the survey. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14957 11/12/2009 © Health News Florida Alcohol and drug abuse place a $43-billion annual burden on Florida's economy, according to a study released in Tallahassee today. It says that instead of putting money into prevention, the state tends to do its spending after-the-fact on injuries, illnesses, traffic accidents and crime. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14936 By Mark Holan 11/11/2009 © Health News Florida If neurosurgeon David McKalip gave the impression that he was retiring from political activism after last summer’s e-mail dispute, the retreat didn’t last long. Tomorrow he will speak at the grand finale of the Tea Party Express bus tour.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14898 By Carol Gentry 11/10/2009 © Health News Florida Many in Congress and elsewhere favor letting insurers sell health policies across state lines to offer customers lower premiums. The argument against it? Consider what happened in Florida. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14864 11/7/2009 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel Sen. Bill Nelson told a conference on tainted drywall Friday that he's seeking help from two federal agencies and is frustrated that he hasn't heard back from Florida legislators on his request to use unspent federal block grant money to help homeowners. "If Louisiana can do it, why can't we?" he asked. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14836 By Carol Gentry and Ruth Morris 11/5/2009 © Health News Florida When Medicare shopping season begins Nov. 15, Florida beneficiaries who are interested in an HMO or other Medicare Advantage plan will have to drink from a fire hose to select one. Companies are offering 352 options here, more than in any other state.    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14827 11/5/2009 © Broward Bulldog Cardiologist Zachariah P. Zachariah and two other Broward physicians are close to a deal to settle SEC charges of insider trading, according to court records. Zachariah had been set for trial next week; he is a former chairman of the Florida Board of Medicine.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14809 By Gary Fineout and Christine Jordan Sexton 11/4/2009 © Health News Florida Republicans in the state House say health reform will make Medicaid costs “unsustainable” and are asking Florida's senators to vote 'No." Reform supporters question how officials came up with their numbers. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14786 By Carol Gentry 11/3/2009 © Health News Florida Federal sanctions imposed on WellCare Health Plans in March were lifted Tuesday, in time for Medicare sales season. The notice reveals that some of the company's managers were caught trying to alter documents before a federal audit. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14813 By Christine Jordan Sexton 11/4/2009 © Health News Florida Following a meeting with Sen. Don Gaetz, the state’s largest health insurer is examining its policies for providing health insurance to cancer patients who undergo clinical trials. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14779 By Carol Gentry and Mary Jo Melone 11/3/2009 © Health News Florida  Sean Shaw, Florida's Insurance Consumer Advocate, is shopping around for a lawmaker brave enough to take on the medical lobby. He wants to outlaw balance-billing, a common practice that sticks patients with big bills their plan won't cover. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14773 11/3/2009 © Pensacola News-Journal Experts at an FSU symposium say tanker collisions and coastal storage facilities that are susceptible to hurricane storm surges are more threatening than drilling rigs and pipelines. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14715 By Carol Gentry and Christine Jordan Sexton 10/30/2009 © Health News Florida Florida lawmakers have been wary of federal health reform in part because it uses Medicaid to cover many of the uninsured. They say the program is already busting the budget. But an expert on Medicaid policy says the expansion would be "good for Florida." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14679 10/29/2009 © Miami Herald From the house staff at Jackson Memorial to the president-elect of the AMA, Florida doctors and nurses in quite different venues expressed support Wednesday for health-reform legislation that includes a public option, although there's disagreement on some details. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14675 By Christine Jordan Sexton 10/28/2009 © Health News Florida Sen. Don Gaetz is telling insurance companies and HMOs in Florida that they're going to be required to cover policyholders who have cancer when they enter clinical trials. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14673 By David Gulliver 10/28/2009 © Health News Florida If Congress lets the subsidy for COBRA run out, my family will join hundreds of thousands of Floridians who depend on it; we'll be added to the 3.7 million Floridians who lack coverage. It's scary. (Get a national overview of the dilemma from Kaiser Health News). http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14656 By Gary Fineout 10/27/2009 © Health News Florida  As the public option gained momentum in Washington, Florida officials uniformly condemned it today. Gov. Charlie Crist said that his Cover Florida plan is "a better way to go" because it doesn't need tax support. Few have signed up. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14605 By Carol Gentry 10/23/2009 © Health News Florida Florida Sen. Bill Nelson isn't really "comfortable" with the idea of letting states opt out of including a public plan in national health reform, his spokesman said today. As a former Insurance Commissioner, "he saw first-hand the power the industry's lobby wielded in the Florida Legislature." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14579 By Mary Jo Melone and Carol Gentry 10/22/2009 © Health News Florida Consumers and their advocates are sharply criticizing a push by Florida members of Congress to kill a competitive-bidding process on medical equipment – a pilot program aimed at saving Medicare billions of dollars. Bob Poller, who owns an ad agency in Miami, said the lawmakers should be "ashamed." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14554 By Carol Gentry and Mary Jo Melone 10/21/2009 © Health News Florida Today's launch of competitive bidding for home-health equipment in nine metro areas, including Central and South Florida, could save taxpayers and beneficiaries billions of dollars, Medicare officials say.  But some members of Congress from Florida are out to kill it. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14541 By Gary Fineout  10/21/2009 © Health News Florida A state employee has dropped a lawsuit that accused state health-regulation chief Holly Benson of improper political interference in her prior job. That clears an obstacle that had sat between Benson and her expected run for Attorney General.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14552 10/21/2009 UF news release University of Florida College of Medicine researchers studying a common anesthesia-safety procedure called "Sellick's maneuver" have discovered that it does, indeed, work -- but for reasons entirely different from standard thinking about anatomy. Their findings will be on the cover of a journal. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14479 By Mary Jo Melone 10/16/2009 © Health News Florida The obituary of Samuel Hamad, former pharmaceutical-company magnate and prominent Sarasota philanthropist, said his death last December was from "complications" following a liver transplant. But his family's lawsuit says he actually died because someone involved in the transplant goofed. If true, that means no one -- no matter how rich, well-connected or prominent -- is safe from medical errors. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14462 By Christine Jordan Sexton 10/15/2009 © Health News Florida Holly Benson, one of the chief architects of Florida’s controversial "Medicaid Reform" project, has resigned effective Oct. 28. Her letter says only that she wants to pursue other "opportunities," but she's expected to make a run for Attorney General. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14461 By Carol Gentry 10/15/2009 © Health News Florida Update: Palm Beach Sheriff's Office has confirmed the arrest of six protesters at the Humana office in West Palm Beach today on charges of trespassing. Floridians for Health Care, a group that supports a single-payer plan, staged the sit-in. Meanwhile in Congress, as KHN reports, the subject of a public plan has re-emerged. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14467 10/15/2009 © Health News Florida Workers' compensation insurance will go down 6.8 percent in Florida next year, making it one of the 10 states with the lowest rates in the country, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced today. He linked the drop to caps enacted on attorneys' fees in workers' compensation cases. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14438 By Christine Jordan Sexton 10/14/2009 © Health News Florida The Florida Board of Pharmacy on Tuesday voted to make the generic versions of the common thyroid drug Synthroid more readily available -- a decision that could eventually save consumers and the Medicaid program millions of dollars. Almost all other states have already taken this step. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14413 By Carol Gentry 10/13/2009 © Health News Florida Are Florida consumers paying millions of dollars a year more than they need to for a common thyroid drug because of an out-of-date regulation? FDA and 48 states think so. Today, Florida's Board of Pharmacy voted to overturn the rule giving Synthroid preference, but its maker is expected to challenge that. Updated Tuesday 7:30 p.m. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14399 10/13/2009 © Sarasota Health News An old law still on the books would require Sarasota County taxpayers to pay all hospitals for care of the uninsured, not just Sarasota Memorial, and the for-profits are demanding some money. The fight moves to the Legislature.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14332 10/8/2009 © Health News Florida  Update: Nasal mist vaccine against H1N1 "swine flu" vaccine began arriving in Florida today starting with St. John's and Jefferson counties, state health officials say. No information on when and where to get vaccinated is available yet on CDC and state Web sites. In other flu news, the Herald reports on what businesses are doing to prepare.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14330 10/7/2009 News Service of Florida  Medical malpractice insurance rates in Florida were down 10 percent last year, marking the fifth year in a row for reductions. Nurses saw even greater average decreases, but dentists and chiropractors didn't. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14307 By Carol Gentry 10/7/2009 © Health News Florida Florida’s Board of Medicine has voted to complain to the Florida Bar about a lawyer who urged a malpractice insurer to settle rather than try to defend an Arab doctor in South Florida. Board members called it discriminatory and "despicable."   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14287 10/6/2009 © Health News Florida Florida has received more than $65 million in federal grants to help families and individuals who are homeless or nearing eviction, the Department of Children and Families announced today. Miami-Dade and cities within it are getting more than $14 million.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14276 10/6/2009 ©  Fort Myers News-Press Every area of Florida except Daytona Beach and Tallahassee showed above-average billing for doctors' services in Medicare last year, according to a GAO report. The state was already a national outlier by 2000, yet recorded a big jump in billings per patient by 2008. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14202 By Carol Gentry 10/2/2009 © Health News Florida Federal charts released Thursday show that while the number of Medicare plans in Florida is smaller in 2010 than this year, there are still plenty: four dozen drug plans and a host of full health plans -- from 29 in Gadsden to 66 in Broward -- including some with zero premiums. (See full story for links.) Also see Kaiser Health News'  national view. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14200 By Carol Gentry 10/2/2009 © Health News Florida A Bradenton woman who agreed to wear a wire into the office of the doctor she said sexually accosted her -- Bradenton internist Gangadhara Rao Chapalamadugu -- told the Board of Medicine today that Rao should go to jail, and board members agreed after seeing complaints from six other patients. But their jurisdiction involves only medical practice; they accepted voluntary relinquishment  to keep him from ever practicing medicine in Florida again. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14195 By Gary Fineout 10/1/2009 © Health News Florida When it comes to providing health care to Florida’s nearly 4 million uninsured, Gov. Charlie Crist urges “no government mandates” and “no tax dollars involved.”  But Crist himself gets free health insurance, which covers all the usual health services, courtesy of the taxpayers, and so do other state officials. Crist says he sees no reason to change that. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14140 By Christine Jordan Sexton 9/29/2009 © Health News Florida Gov. Charlie Crist told two national cable news programs this morning that his Cover Florida program could serve as a model for national reform and distanced himself from his previous support for the Florida KidCare program. Crist is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate against a conservative. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14121 9/29/2009 © Associated Press Most workers who have no health insurance point to the cost, but distrust of insurers plays a role too. Even some RN's are going bare, including Mary Pitman of Vero Beach and Laura Silverthorn of Tampa.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14083 By Carol Gentry 9/25/2009 © Health News Florida Two doctors who are being sued over the high-profile death of Boca Raton teen-ager Stephanie Kuleba will not have to worry about the Board of Medicine. Confidential state documents show the state dropped its investigation months ago, and that the girl's parents were turned away when they tried to offer evidence. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/14047 By Mary Jo Melone 9/24/2009 Health News Florida Florida patients have a right to ask for hospital records about past mistakes. But do they have the right to every report, every x-ray, every single piece of paper for the last 75 years?  Tampa’s largest hospital says no and has gone to court to fight it. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/14004 9/22/2009 © Kaiser Health News Humana, Florida's largest Medicare Advantage company, is under investigation by the government for sending letters to senior citizens telling them pending legislation could hurt them and urging them to lobby against it -- a possible violation of federal law. All plans have been sent warning letters. Here is Humana's letter.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13967 By Christine Jordan Sexton 9/18/2009 © Health News Florida Florida Health Choices, a struggling state-sponsored health insurance program, is being managed by Tallahassee lobbyist and political operative Lauren McCarthy, who receives $5,000 a month for part-time work. Meanwhile, state records still list her as representing private clients with ties to the health-care industry.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13968 By Carol Gentry 9/18/2009 © Health News Florida Even though WellCare Health Plans is still under federal sanctions barring it from marketing or selling its drug and HMO plans to Medicare beneficiaries, the Tampa-based insurer is advertising for sales people, indicating it thinks the suspension will soon be history. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13945 By Ruth Morris 9/17/2009 © Health News Florida In Washington, D.C. today, 400 of the country’s most prominent healthcare experts unveiled a letter to Congress demanding action on the uninsured and rising costs. And it was all the brainchild of a professor who lives on quiet Anna Maria Island.    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13903 By Christine Jordan Sexton 9/15/2009 © Health News Florida Florida Health Choices, touted by Republican lawmakers last year as a solution to the state’s high rate of uninsured, has been even less successful than Gov. Charlie Crist's "Cover Florida." Sixteen months after both plans were created, Health Choices still has no insurers or businesses signed up. (Part 1) http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13910 9/15/2009 From a press release Safichia Chew, a senior at FSU's College of Nursing, has won one of just 13 scholarships in the nation for undergraduates from the National Institutes of Health. She plans to study health disparities in the minority community. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13866 By Carol Gentry 9/11/2009 © Health News Florida While 64 physicians have lost or given up their state medical licenses in the past four years, none of those actions flowed from the passage of the “3 strikes and you’re out” amendment to the Florida Constitution, state records show. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13838 McMillen By Carol Gentry 9/10/2009 © Health News Florida Using a malpractice case involving a child with an amputated foot, Orlando attorney Scott McMillen has filed a court challenge to legislative limits on “3 strikes and you’re out” -- a 2004 amendment aimed at dangerous doctors. The limits prevent court cases from counting as strikes.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13849  9/10/2009 © Health News Florida A state senator says he will again push for a law requiring children ages 4 through 7 to sit in a booster seat while riding in a car. The National Transportation Safety Board has called on Florida to enact stricter standards. Here is information from the American Academy of Pediatrics on the reasons for using booster seats. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13828 9/9/2009 © Health News Florida Florida has passed an unhappy milestone in the H1N1 “swine flu” fight, becoming one of just six states where flu activity is “widespread” according to a CDC map. Today's state health report shows 77 Floridians have died. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13778 9/6/2009 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune When Congress reconvenes Tuesday to begin overhauling the health-care system, few states will have more at stake than Florida. But because the state has no one in a leadership position in the issue, few will have less of a voice.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13734 By Christine Jordan Sexton 9/3/2009 © Health News Florida A program designed to reduce lawsuits against obstetricians by providing lifelong care to brain-damaged children injured at birth is at the center of a class action lawsuit.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13684 9/1/2009 Health News Florida St. Petersburg psychologist Ronald Droz, accused of conducting a long-term sexual relationship with one of his patients, has been placed on probation by the Florida Board of Psychology. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13631 By Christine Jordan Sexton 8/28/2009 Health News Florida He is perhaps the biggest champion of the "medical home" concept - letting physicians coordinate care for patients -- but Rep. Ed Homan will nevertheless sit on the sidelines this fall when a task force meets to discuss how to implement it in Florida Medicaid. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13630 By Carol Gentry 8/28/2009 © Health News Florida A report about the state dropping complaints against 49 doctors because it missed the filing deadline drew surprise from some in Tallahassee, but not from a group in Washington that tracks states’ medical discipline. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13595 By Carol Gentry 8/27/2009 © Health News Florida More than four dozen complaints against Florida doctors—including some that involved patients' deaths — have been dropped without action in recent weeks because the state Department of Health missed the deadline for filing an official complaint. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13588 By Christine Jordan Sexton  8/26/2009 © Health News Florida A registered nurse who cares for indigent and uninsured patients was suddenly thrust into a top position on health-care spending in the Florida House. But don't expect Rep. Denise Grimsley to be soft on Medicaid. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13580 8/26/09 © Tallahassee Democrat Gadsden County, which has one of the  highest infant mortality rates in the state, has received $3.75 million in federal funds for its Healthy Start program. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13562 By Carol Gentry and Mary Jo Melone 8/25/2009 © Health New Florida Florida’s Board of Medicine has dismissed charges of substandard care against a Central Florida physician in the same case that brought a medical malpractice settlement of $1 million.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13512 8/23/2009 © St. Petersburg Times The paramedics saw a car zoom past at 90 mph; it turned out to be their next call. When they arrived at the scene, a deputy pointed at Andrew Hall, lying on the ground in a fetal position. "There's your patient," he said. "And there's his leg over there."  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13506 8/23/2009 © Miami Herald Schools' first lessons may be on how to avoid spread of novel H1N1 "swine" flu. The Times-Union reports some hospitals are limiting visitors. Palm Beach Post says so far, so good on children's vaccine trials. A 22-year-old pregnant Tampa woman dies, Times reports, but baby survives. Also, a Q&A. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13502 By Christine Jordan Sexton 8/21/2009 © Health News Florida UPDATED --At long last, the University of Florida analysis of Medicaid Reform is in, and it concludes that the controversial program does, indeed, save money. Critics called it "meaningless" because HMOs have not yet turned in data on patients' actual encounters with the health-care system. But the health plan association president called it "excellent." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13470 By Gary Fineout 8/20/2009 © Health News Florida WellCare Health Plans gave illegal campaign contributions to dozens of Florida’s legislators and top officials -- including the current attorney general, top health regulator, Senate President and House Speaker -- between 2005 and 2007, according to a Florida Elections Commission report. There is no indication the recipients knew the donations were illegal. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13465 By Carol Gentry 8/19/2009 © Health News Florida An erroneous report warning that health reform would bankrupt Florida Medicaid was the result of a misunderstanding between a reporter and AHCA, the agency says. The e-mail trail shows AHCA played a large role in the mix-up. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13445 8/17/2009 Tampa Tribune In an HBO special, which airs tonight, former USF football player Nick Schuyler talks about being the lone survivor of a boat accident in February. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13441  8/18/2009 St. Petersburg Times Surgeon David J. Ciesla, chief of Tampa General's trauma center, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor that stemmed from an April incident in which he hid a bullet in his glove after removing it from a suspect. He's not saying why, but documents released Monday help fill the void. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13430 By Carol Gentry 8/17/2009 © Health News Florida A sky-is-falling prediction on Friday that pending federal health-reform legislation would bankrupt Florida Medicaid was wrong, according to a simple reading of the bills.  The Agency for Health Care Administration was the source for the information, which appeared in two major newspapers. How did that happen? (Ed. note: this story was updated at 3:25 p.m.) http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13398 By Carol Gentry 8/14/2009 © Health News Florida Hospital patients may want to start wearing big name tags. Apparently those little ID bracelets aren't enough, judging by two cases that came before the Board of Medicine today.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13374 By Christine Jordan Sexton 8/13/2009 © Health News Florida Even though Florida Medicaid already faces a deficit, HMOs are getting a 3 percent premium increase to treat the poor, elderly and disabled. State officials point to the actuaries. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13377 8/13/2009 (c) Tampa Tribune Tampa's town hall meeting on health reform last week, featured on national TV news because it led to shouting and scuffles, has propelled several participants into fame -- or infamy.  Other town hall coverage:  Tallahassee; Fort Walton Beach; South Florida; and Lakeland. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13352  8/12/2009 (c) Sarasota Health News Florida Medical Association is drafting a letter to the AMA protesting its support of the current House version of health reform, including the creation of a public plan to compete with the private sector. Meanwhile, the Orlando Sentinel reports that faith leaders from all over Central Florida met to express support for health care for all. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13347  8/11/2009 U.S. Census Bureau Two rural counties in Florida stand at the extremes on the health insurance scale, according to a new report based on 2006 Census estimates. The rate of uninsured in Baker County, on the Georgia line near Jacksonville, was just 15 percent; in DeSoto County, just east of Sarasota, it was over 38 percent. See where your county comes in. (Ed. note: Scroll down a bit to find the chart.) http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13344 8/11/2009 © St. Petersburg Times The pygmy rattler didn't survive its encounter with Ester Orrino, 87, who walloped it with her cane. But before its demise it bit her; she's recovering at a hospital.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13323 8/9/2009 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel Florida led the nation for the fourth consecutive year in violence against the homeless in a report released Saturday, with 30 attacks last year, including three deaths. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13325 8/9/2009 © Florida Today Half a dozen women apparently have been duped into working as caregivers for a middle-aged man who pretends to be brain-damaged. Their duties included changing his diaper. Investigators say he's not breaking any law. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13332 8/10/2009 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune As a non-profit, Venice Regional Medical Center lost millions. But after Health Management Associates' $30 million investment, patients have come back, making this a record year. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13299 By Christine Jordan Sexton 8/7/2009 © Health News Florida Gov. Charlie Crist suggests his Cover Florida plan as a model for national health reform. Many disagree, including the company that's sells the most policies.  Only 1 in 1,000 eligibles have signed up; in fact, the number of uninsured in the state has reportedly grown since it was introduced in January. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13290 8/7/2009 © St Petersburg Times Bitter divisions over health reform exploded in Tampa Thursday night as a crowd of 1,500 shouted and shoved outside what had been billed as a town hall meeting. Rep. Kathy Castor tried to address the crowd but was drowned out. See video. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13270 By Carol Gentry and David Gulliver  8/6/2009 © Health News Florida Eli Lilly & Co. says it paid 10 Florida doctors more than $30,000 in the first quarter of this year for making presentations to other physicians about drugs the company makes. One internist gave 41 talks for $65,000. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13268 8/5/2009 U.S. Dept. of Justice All 19 of those arrested by federal agents in connection with a massive oxycodone-trafficking ring in Pasco County earlier this year have pleaded guilty, federal officials announced. They operated out of an auto body shop in Hudson and sent "doctor shoppers" throughout Tampa Bay. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13253 By Carol Gentry  8/4/2009 © Health News Florida About 1 million Medicaid patients were wrongly dropped from the August eligibility rolls over the weekend because of a computer glitch, the Agency for Health Care Administration has confirmed. AHCA says the 400,000 who are enrolled in managed care were never at risk, though, since plans had already sent their names to doctors' offices. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13236 8/4/2009 © Kaiser Health News The most recent TV commercial from Conservatives for Patients' Rights on health-insurance legislation is full of misleading statements and outright whoppers, according to the non-partisan academic group FactCheck.org. The anti-Obama group and its ads are funded by multimillionaire Rick Scott of Naples.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13246 8/4/2009 ©  Sarasota Herald-Tribune It is illegal to sell unpasteurized milk for human consumption because it can harbor pathogens such as Listeria and E. coli. But it's not illegal to drink it, and a growing number of people are doing it.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13252 8/4/2009 © Florida Trend Allen DiMaria, an insurance analyst for the Division of Workers' Compensation, invented a computer tracking system to find employers violating the law. He and other state workers in health and insurance fields are receiving awards for inventions that saved taxpayers millions of dollars. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13192 By Gary Fineout  7/31/2009 Health News Florida The Florida fund that pays the health care bills for tens of thousands of state employees will become insolvent in two years unless something drastic is done, state economists say. A top state senator says it's time to end the free health-insurance perk that legislators and 26,000 state workers enjoy. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13189 By Carol Gentry 7/31/2009 © Health News Florida State Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty confirmed Thursday that regulators are looking into whether some Florida health plans have been using a flawed database to figure out how much to pay out-of-network doctors. If so, patients may have been paying more than their share of the bill for years. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13144  By Carol Gentry 7/29/2009 Health News Florida CDC will announce today its plans for providing swine-flu vaccine free to all who want it, setting up a logistical challenge for state health officials: They'll have to manage vaccination campaigns for both the seasonal and swine flu at the same time. Also, researchers report  that pregnant women should get priority for swine-flu vaccine. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13155 7/28/2009 © Reuters WellCare Health Plans Inc. reported quarterly earnings on Tuesday that surged above forecasts, helped by tighter controls on expenses and unexpectedly high Medicare reimbursements, sending shares up 23 percent late in the day. Also, AP reported that Health Management Associates, a hospital company based in Naples, saw its second-quarter profits rise 91 percent.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13136 By Carol Gentry 7/28/2009 © Health News Florida Seven doctors recently appointed to a state panel aimed at controlling pill mills have only a few weeks to decide how pain medicine can legally be practiced in Florida. Meanwhile, the Miami Herald reports, a city in Broward may use zoning rules to bar pain clinics. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13093 7/25/2009 St. Petersburg Times St. Petersburg neurosurgeon David McKalip resigned as president-elect of the Pinellas County Medical Association on Friday after apologizing for forwarding an e-mail that included a picture of President Obama dressed like a witchdoctor. McKalip, an opponent of both insurers' and government interference in medical practice, said he's going to take a break from medical politics. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13051 By Carol Gentry 7/23/2009 © Health News Florida State officials don’t appear to have learned much from the WellCare Medicaid fraud scandal -- which climaxed in May with federal criminal fraud charges -- because they haven't tightened contracts or laws enough to prevent a recurrence, according to an advocacy group.  The Medicaid agency says that's not so. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13040 By David Gulliver and Carol Gentry 7/22/2009 © Health News Florida Judging by Florida’s online healthcare guide, Jackson Health System in Miami is among an elite group of 14 best hospitals for treating heart attacks. But a federal site shows Jackson as among the country’s worst. Which are we supposed to believe? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/13034 By Phil Galewitz 7/22/2009 © Kaiser Health News Health-care leaders from 10 communities that have succeeded in reforming from big spenders to low-cost, high-quality centers were honored in Washington on Tuesday at an event sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Tallahassee was one of the 10. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/13017 By Carol Gentry 7/21/2009 © Health News Florida Small business owners know the cost of insuring themselves and their workers; some have two or three jobs to pay the premiums. But they also know that skipping preventive care could cost them their lives. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12993 7/18/2009 © Palm Beach Post The premature baby of a woman with swine flu died Saturday morning at Wellington Regional Medical Center after doctors tried to deliver her. Aubrey Opdyke, the mother, remains in critical condition on a ventilator.  CDC's latest case count for FL: 1,288 cases, 12 deaths. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12970  By Carol Gentry 7/17/2009 © Health News Florida Even though health care is the nation’s hottest political issue, no elected officials are among the five Florida finalists for a magazine contest called the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.” In fact, you may not have heard of some of them. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12952 7/17/2009 © St. Petersburg Times David J. Ciesla, medical director of Tampa General's trauma center, has been charged with a misdemeanor -- lying to law-enforcement officers. They say he took a bullet out of a suspect but denied he had it so that he could keep it. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12944 By David Gulliver 7/16/2009 © Health News Florida Hospitals affiliated with state medical schools were Florida’s big winners in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of "America's Best Hospitals."  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12925 By Carol Gentry 7/15/2009 Health News Florida Jerry Kidd hasn't left the house much the past three years because half his face is missing. Why? A medical mistake -- a delay in the biopsy report -- and a "limited insurance" policy that didn't cover surgery. He had to wait all this time for Medicare. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12928 7/15/2009 From a press release Families USA, an advocacy organization that favors expansion of health coverage to the uninsured, released a study today that forecasts rising numbers of uninsured as health costs go up. It predicts 556,000 Floridians will lose coverage between January 2008 and December 2010. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12903 7/14/2009 © Health News Florida In what analysts are calling a "major shakeup," the Defense Department is switching two of its regional Tricare  contractors -- including the one that manages health benefits for hundreds of thousands of Floridians on active duty, their dependents, and military retirees. Humana will take an estimated $3.8 billion hit. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12856 By Carol Gentry 7/10/2009 © Health News Florida Wondering where the federal stimulus went? Almost $69 million has been pumped into 44 community health centers in Florida this year, according to federal documents. The money should raise the number of patients served from 852,000 to about 1 million.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12857 7/10/2009 © Miami Herald Health officials held a national swine-flu summit on Thursday to prepare for a massive immunization program this fall, starting with schoolchildren. Breaking news: 2 more Floridians die of swine flu, both from Miami-Dade, bringing official toll to 9.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12832 7/9/2009 © Health News Florida Two more deaths in Florida from H1N1 swine flu have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control for Florida, the Department of Health announced today.    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12829 7/9/2009 USA Today/Health News FL Manatee Memorial had the highest death rate in the state for heart failure patients in a comparison of Medicare data 2005-08. It also ranked among the worst 10 in death rates for heart attack and pneumonia. Four other hospitals made the 10-worst lists in two diagnoses. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12831 7/9/2009 © Health News Florida Brenda Grey Miller, 57, who worked as a registered nurse at a radiation oncology center in Sun City Center, near Tampa, for 18 months was actually an imposter, according to the Department of Health.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12802 http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12794 By Mary Jo Melone and Carol Gentry 7/7/2009 © Health News Florida A Winter Haven couple, arrested last month on charges of practicing medicine without a license, are no longer using their Asyra System to “diagnose” a wide variety of ailments and prescribe supplements. But the system is still being used across the country – including in Florida. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12788 7/7/2009 South Florida Sun-Sentinel A criminal investigation is under way in the tampering of an energy drink from Colorado distributed through a company in the Orlando area. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12791 7/7/2009 Palm Beach PostAn aide to a former state senator has tried for five years to get Florida legislators to extend the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse, but says he could not overcome opposition from the Florida Catholic Conference. Now he has launched a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12785 7/7/2009 St. Petersburg Times Some doctors and case managers routinely failed to complete the paperwork that's legally required for prescribing powerful psychiatric drugs for children, according to a new state study http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12744 By Carol Gentry 7/2/2009 © Health News Florida Could a Floridian become the face and voice of health reform? Summer DeMichael of Navarre Beach, a 25-year-old Crohn's disease patient, stars in a new pro-reform TV commercial that features real sick people -- but photogenic ones. "I think Americans deserve better," she says. "This is one promise the politicians need to keep." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12758 http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12722 7/1/2009 © Health News Florida Spurred by high unemployment, Florida Medicaid enrollment grew by more than 13 percent in the past year to almost 2.5 million, according to new state data. Still, only two of three Floridians who qualify for Medicaid are enrolled. (Editor's note: An earlier version of this story listed the incorrect enrollment). http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12720 7/1/2009 © St. Petersburg Times An advisory panel to the FDA has recommended curbs on acetaminophen, the basic ingredient in the well-known headache pill Tylenol. Too much of it can cause liver damage, they say, and it can be deadly in combination with narcotics. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12702 6/30/2009 © Health News Florida Deaths in Florida from oxycodone, the prescription painkiller suspected in the death of performer Michael Jackson, rose by 33.5 percent last year over the year before, according to a report from state medical examiners. The worst danger zone for oxycodone deaths was St. Petersburg. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12701 6/30/2009 © Health News Florida Overall quality of health care in Florida was given a rating of "weak,” just below the average zone, in a new federal report. Diabetes and respiratory care scored worst. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12689 6/28/2009 © St. Petersburg Times An autopsy of Billy Mays of Tampa, ubiquitous TV pitchman for everything from cleaning products to health insurance, has concluded that he died of heart disease. Mays, 50, pitched insurance products at the www.icanbenefit.com Web site and on TV (see the commercial on YouTube). He was found dead in his bed Sunday morning. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12661 By Carol Gentry 6/26/2009 © Health News Florida Patients enrolled in popular health plans sponsored by large insurers have been paying more than they really owed for out-of-network treatment for years, according to a Senate committee report. If  it's correct, consumer advocates say, the state should go after it. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12651 By Carol Gentry 6/25/2009 © Health News Florida Florida, where health care is serious business, has attracted a battle of TV ads by proponents and opponents of a public plan in health reform. An independent fact-checking group says both group's ads are misleading. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12621 ..in jail ...before By Maya Bell 6/24/2009 © Health News Florida Now that he has a green light from the state, dermatologist Hal Ridgway hopes to be back in practice in a month or two, with his bipolar disorder, drinking problem and history of relapses under control. As an old friend put it: “Doctors get sick, too, and as long as he treats his disease, it will be OK.’’  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12599 By David Gulliver 6/23/2009 © Health News Florida A decade ago, Sarasota Memorial created a program that cut readmission rates for congestive heart failure patients to a tiny fraction of what they had been, and saved money in the process. Other hospitals could do it, too. But data show most of them haven't. (Last in a series.) http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12602 6/23/2009 © St. Petersburg Times Vladimir Martin, who called himself "doctor," has been jailed on charges of practicing without a license. The St. Petersburg Times reported last year that Martin ran 17 clinical trials of new drugs for pharmaceutical companies before a patient blew the whistle. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12601 6/23/2009 Health News Florida A prison mental-health company says the reason it lost its contract with Florida's Department of Corrections in April was that a high-ranking DOC official wanted to help a friend get a job with the company that won, News Service of Florida reports.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12607 6/23/2009 © WFLA.com Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida told Moffitt Cancer Center it would pay for multiple myeloma patient Patricia Zimmerman's stem-cell transplant. But at the last minute, the insurer changed its mind. Zimmerman went on TV to protest, and the decision was reversed again. Pure coincidence, a spokesman said. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12590 6/21/2009 © St. Petersburg Times Medicare spends a staggering $16,351 a year per Miami patient, more than double what it costs in Sarasota. Yet Sarasota costs more than Atlanta. Florida's unabashed spending appears to have no benefit, and some significant downsides. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12547 By Maya Bell and Carol Gentry 6/19/2009 © Health News Florida  Hal Ridgway, 58, a Palm Beach County dermatologist who racked up six drunken-driving arrests and served two prison terms has persuaded state health authorities that he can stay sober and safely treat patients again. His attorney calls him the "poster boy for rehabilitation." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12545 6/18/2009 From a press release Gov. Charlie Crist has signed SB 462, which creates the Prescription Monitoring Database Program, into law, according to Sen. Mike Fasano's office. The bill is aimed at repairing Florida's reputation as a pain-pill mill where addicts and pushers go to "doctor-shop." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12541 Brown-Waite 6/18/2009 Kaiser Health News A Senate committee began the long slog on health reform Wednesday, but no Floridians are on that panel.  Where are they? On TV. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite touted the GOP plan, which was announced without details,  on Youtube. Meanwhile, CNN interviewed Democrat Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, who has had seven surgeries for cancer, about her insurance coverage. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12528 By Carol Gentry 6/17/2009 © Health News Florida Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida has ordered mental-health providers to begin getting permission before treating the company's members if they want to get paid. The new rule affects millions of preferred-provider plan customers -- including state employees. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12509 By David Gulliver 6/16/2009 © Health News Florida  (Part 3 in a continuing series) Congestive heart failure defies  those fighting unnecessary hospital readmissions. Last year, at least 500 more Floridians with this condition returned through the “revolving door” within two weeks of discharge than the year before, at an estimated cost of $4 million. How did your hospital score? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12503 6/16/2009 © Tallahassee Democrat In his speech to the AMA on Monday, the President cited Tallahassee Memorial Hospital for its quality-improvement progress, calling it one of the "islands of excellence" in the health care system. See AM News for more coverage of the address. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12471 6/12/2009 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel Health officials are investigating the death of dentist Edward Nacht from a massive bacterial infection that struck after he and three friends ate lunch in the club restaurant after a round of golf, and all got sick. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12454 By Bill Hirschman 6/12/2009 © Health News Florida A hospital system in Broward got tired of seeing the same expensive patients cycling through its emergency room instead of getting preventive care in a lower-cost clinic. So the staff set out to find those patients -- even if meant going door to door. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12413 By Carol Gentry 6/10/2009 © Health News Florida Broward surgeon Bernard Zaragoza is clearly an expert on gallbladders: Harvard-trained, board-certified, with close to 2,000 successful removals. But anyone can make a mistake. On Oct. 2, 2007, he made one that will dog him forever. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12407 6/9/2009 © St. Petersburg Times A $1-a-pack tax boost on cigarettes that takes effect July 1 could send more smokers to the Internet to order e-cigarettes -- essentially steel tubes that contain a battery, a nicotine cartridge and an atomizer that makes a smoke-like white mist.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12356 6/5/2009 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel The Florida Board of Medicine leveled stricter-than-usual penalties today against doctors found to have doled out narcotic painkillers excessively or improperly. A bill that would give the board more authority over rogue pain clinics awaits action from the governor. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12335 By Carol Gentry and David Gulliver 6/4/2009 Health News Florida  Patients at some Florida hospitals were much more likely to have an unexpected return following knee- or hip-replacement surgery last year than those who had the procedure at other hospitals, new state data show. These potentially preventable readmissions cost Floridians a bundle. Special report: Florida hospitals' "revolving door syndrome, " Part 2. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12285 By David Gulliver and Carol Gentry 6/3/2009 © Health News Florida  A year ago, Florida won applause by becoming the first state to disclose hospitals' rates of readmission, a measure of the quality of care. Now the first year's comparison data are in, and they show that the problem has gotten worse, not better. See chart for specifics.  Tomorrow, Part 2: Which hospitals do best on joints? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12304 6/3/2009 © Tampa Tribune Gov. Charlie Crist has signed a bill making it easier for families to enroll uninsured children in KidCare. Next year's battle: expanding coverage to more children. Another bill he signed will give judges authority to assign volunteers to represent children in bitter divorces.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12308 6/03/2009 © Miami Herald Miami has asked Gov. Charlie Crist to move 70 convicted sex offenders living under a causeway who say they can't find anywhere that's legal. The city says the encampment is too close to a public park. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12305 6/3/2009 © St. Petersburg Times Two of six cardiologists who were suspended from performing angioplasties at an HCA Hospital several years ago -- and sued over it -- have begun doing the procedures at another HCA hospital nearby.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12281 6/2/2009 Health News Florida Ben Wilcox of Tallahassee, a former journalist who was director of Common Cause Florida until its recent closing, has joined Health News Florida Inc. as executive director, the news service announced Monday.  Founder Carol Gentry remains the editor. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12282 6/2/2009 Health News Florida A national health news service launched Monday in Washington, D.C., has hired The Palm Beach Post's Phil Galewitz, one of the most experienced health journalists in Florida, for its reporting staff. Galewitz will start with Kaiser Health News on June 15.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12297 6/2/2009 © Pensacola News-Journal The widow of Benny Martin, who died in 1995 of lung cancer, was awarded $30 million -- most of it punitive damages against the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company. It's the largest award of the seven tobacco cases that have gone to trial so far in Florida. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12250 5/29/2009 Health News Florida A hard-fought battle between business and the trial bar ended Friday when Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law a bill that reinstates fee caps for attorneys representing plaintiffs in workers' compensation cases -- a cap that lawyers said made it quite difficult for injured workers to find an attorney. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12243 By Carol Gentry 5/29/2009 © Health News Florida  Eight states are leaders in developing a modern system of electronic medical records and are therefore in an ideal position to gain an early share of $17 billion in federal stimulus money, Tampa-based consultant Laura Kolkman says. Florida is not among them.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12235 5/29/2009 © Bradenton Herald Internist C.G. Rao, arrested on charges of sexually molesting five patients and accused of other incidents that now are beyond the statute of limitations, has agreed not to see patients while his legal cases are pending. Bail was set at $20,000. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12222 By Carol Gentry 5/28/2009 © Health News Florida Nearly half of the state's hospitals have never reported a single incident of physician discipline to a databank set up to protect patients from questionable doctors, a consumer group reported Wednesday. Earlier this year, the same group cited Florida's Board of Medicine as particularly weak. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12223  By Christine Jordan Sexton 5/28/2009 Health News Florida Opponents of a bill backed by Florida’s doctors released a poll today that contends Floridians are on their side of the fight. But the Florida Medical Association dismissed the results, saying the poll questions were "skewed to get the answers they wanted." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12207 Shaw  By Christine Jordan Sexton 5/27/2009 © Health News Florida  The heat keeps rising over a bill pushed by doctors that would force insurers to change the way they pay. An attorney says it may be unconstitutional, and state Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Shaw urges the governor to veto. But the docs plan TV ads. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12168 5/25/2009 © Florida Times-Union A 4-year-old in St. Johns County who snapped his femur a month ago became the first child to have his bone fitted with a stainless steel plate designed specifically for children. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12153 By Carol Gentry 5/22/2009 © Health News Florida  An  online petition to ban the painkiller OxyContin, posted two weeks ago in Tampa, has attracted more than 2,000 signatures and is headed for a national audience at an FDA meeting next week. Doctors who treat pain patients view the petition as "very dangerous." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12133 By Christine Jordan Sexton 5/21/2009 © Health News Florida Insurance companies and HMOs should be required by law to spend at least 85 percent of their revenue on their customers' health expenses, according to Florida Public Interest Group. Most in Florida don't.    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12121 5/21/2009 (c) Health News Florida WellCare Health Plans' termination of 360 employees, announced Wednesday, would seem to fall into the category of bad news. But not to Wall Street. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12112 By Christine Jordan Sexton 5/20/2009 © Health News Florida Two health insurers in Florida control so much business that they've stifled competition and fueled health inflation in the state, according to a report released today by consumer advocates. They are lobbying for a public-plan alternative. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12090 5/19/2009 © Gainesville Sun The Department of Children and Families' internal audit on Kristina Hepp, the 4-year-old found dead in her father's home, concludes her parents had little experience with children and that her mother resisted offers of help. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12075 5/16/2009 © Palm Beach PostState Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, his spokeswoman says. A former Senate President, King has been a moderating force in the right-leaning Legislature. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12057 5/15/2009 © Health News Florida Goldman Sachs' monthly survey of prices for medical care and health insurance found a 5.1 percent price hike for group medical plans in April, the biggest jump in over four years. It came even as the industry was assuring President Obama that it was serious about cost controls. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12019 By Christine Jordan Sexton  and Carol Gentry 5/14/2009 © Health News Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's mailbag is full of letters and e-mails about an insurance bill that hasn't even arrived at his office yet. Consumer groups seek a veto, while doctors' groups implore Crist to sign it. The finger-pointing has become downright personal for at least one consumer advocate. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12021 5/14/2009 © USA Today Qforma, a New Mexico firm that combs databases to identify opinion leaders in the medical field, includes 364 Florida doctors on the list. Find out who's on it. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/12017 5/13/2009 From combined sources Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday he's giving close scrutiny to a bill that would restore fee caps on plaintiffs' lawyers in workers compensation cases, a do-over of a bill declared unconstitutional last year. He'll have to multitask, though, because the $66.5 billion budget bill could arrive today. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12007  5/12/2009 © AP/Sentinel Former U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello, now a vice president at Disney Children's Hospital in Orlando, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to forcing New York State employees to handle her personal chores when she was health commissioner there. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11999 By Carol Gentry 5/12/2009 © Health News Florida Good thing WellCare Health Plans is awash in cash. In addition to the $80 million it's paying to avoid criminal prosecution for Medicaid fraud, the company said it expects to pay at least $50 million more to settle a related civil case. Plus tomorrow it has to pay $152 million to settle a debt.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11995 5/12/2009 From combined sources In a year when the state was strapped, nearly everyone expected to get their budgets cut. But oddly enough, it didn't turn out that way for health and human services agencies. Spending for them grew by nearly $2.7 billion, according to News Service of Florida.' http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/11997 5/12/2009 © Miami Herald A powerful committee chair, Sen. Ronda Storms of Brandon, has asked two state agencies to investigate the Broward psychiatrist who prescribed controversial medications for a 7-year-old who hanged himself.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/12000 5/12/2009 © Palm Beach Post On Monday, the health industry promised to cut $2 trillion over the next decade. President Obama called it "historic."  But you know how skeptical journalists are. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11978  5/11/2009 From a news release Florida now has 55 confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu, more than double the number announced Friday, according to the State Department of Health. Dade and Broward counties lead the state with 10 cases each. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/11976 5/11/2009 © Orlando Sentinel Homeless man Rosevelt Richardson has been in and out of Orange County Jail 123 times, more than any other inmate. Such men are typically homeless, with either mental illness, substance abuse or both. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11953 By Christine Jordan Sexton 5/8/2009 © Health News Florida A little-noticed provision in a Medicaid bill now on the way to Gov. Charlie Crist will double the life of valuable permits to construct 37 new health facilities -- hospitals, nursing homes and hospices. The bill could come under fire from rivals when they find out about it. (See project list). http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/11948  5/8/2009 © Miami Herald Carmen Lourdes del Cueto, a Miami physician who pleaded guilty in March to a $10 million Medicare scam, gave the same plea Thursday to a separate $19.5 million theft she carried out with four other doctors and the owner of an HIV infusion clinic. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11941 By Carol Gentry 5/7/2009 Health News Florida Controversial Floridian Richard L. Scott has been popping up on cable-news ads that claim President Obama wants to nationalize and ration health care. Now an independent fact-checking organization has labeled the ads “very misleading.” http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11922 Bennett By Gary Fineout and  Carol Gentry 5/6/2009 Health News Florida Legislative budget negotiators could have provided health coverage for 75,000 uninsured children if they had been willing to give up their own free insurance premiums in the budget they'll be voting on this week. But they weren't. "It's an unbelievable great perk," said Sen. Michael Bennett, R-Bradenton, a millionaire. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11911 By Carol Gentry 5/5/2009 Health News Florida WellCare Health Plans Inc., Florida's largest Medicaid HMO contractor, was charged with felony health fraud Tuesday and has agreed to pay $80 million to defer prosecution, U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton announced. The Tampa company used a subsidiary to hide $40 million that should have been spent on the poor and uninsured, including children. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11899 By Carol Gentry 5/4/2009 Health News Florida WellCare Health Plans Inc., the only Florida-based health company in the Fortune 500, left analysts scratching their heads when it announced Monday that it will drop a profitable line of business, one that accounts for 110,000 Medicare customers. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11813  4/28/2009 © Health News Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater announced Tuesday morning that budget conferees will begin meeting at 4 p.m. today to iron out differences in their spending plans and that the legislative session, which was supposed to end Friday, will be extended by a week. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11663 4/16/2009 Staff and wire report The Senate Judiciary Committee gutted a bill that imposes attorney fee caps in workers’ compensation cases Wednesday, to the delight of trial lawyers. But another committee thought to be friendlier to business interests is expected to restore it. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11639 4/14/2009 From combined sources A bill called “the most important mental health bill” in 30 years passed a House panel on Monday and will come before a key Senate committee on Wednesday. The bill would divert many of the state’s 70,000 mental patients from prisons to treatment. Its only opposition is the cash-strapped budget.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11570 By David Gulliver 4/9/2009 © Health News Florida Lake County Health Department figured out how to head off premature births, keep obstetricians from fleeing the county, and save taxpayers a million dollars a year.  That's why they're one of the big winners of an innovation-in-government contest this year. (See the other big winners). http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11571 By David Gulliver 4/9/2009 © Health News Florida When we set out to do a "good news" story about state workers winning awards for innovation, we thought they'd be pleased. A few phone calls, a quick story, and everybody's happy, right? Ha. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11565 By Gary Fineout 4/8/2009 © Health News Florida For the third time in two years, a controversial state-funded program meant to steer women away from abortion has become a flashpoint in the state budget. The Senate version takes out the $2 million for “crisis counseling,” while the House’s keeps it intact.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11547 By Christine Giordano 4/7/2009 © Health News Florida How did Juan Asensio-Gonzalez, one of the most respected trauma surgeons in the country, leave a 13-inch clamp inside a patient? The man who literally wrote the book on trauma surgery apologizes. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/11554 4/7/2009 © Fort Myers News-Press A rift over funding of health and welfare issues led Rep. Juan Zapata, R-Miami, to resign Monday as chair of House Human Services Appropriations. One of the issues causing the rift is the proposed privatization of the state's largest mental hospital. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11546 By Christine Giordano 4/7/2009 © Health News Florida Declaring they have “zero tolerance for fraud,” members of the Florida Board of Medicine revoked the license of a Winter Park doctor who had falsely advertised himself as an expert in pain management. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11539 By Christine Giordano 4/6/2009 © Florida Health News Fort Myers plastic surgeon Marc Schneider accepted a reprimand and $10,000 fine from the Board of Medicine on Friday as a “fair” end to state charges that he mishandled a breast-reduction to the point that the patient got gangrene. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11514 By Carol Gentry 4/3/2009 © Health News Florida  Florida pays managed-care plans $2.5 billion a year to make sure Medicaid patients in the state get proper preventive care and treatment. New data from 2008 show Florida plans' performance fell far below the national average, and near the bottom in care for infants, pregnant women and the mentally ill. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11502 By Gary Fineout 4/2/2009 © Health News Florida Florida could miss out on millions in federal aid that would benefit children unless the Legislature makes changes now to the KidCare program, a new study shows. Time is running out. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11489 By Carol Gentry 4/2/2009 © Health News Florida Some patients travel to get a price break, but how many take their surgeons with them? Last month, Miami-area surgeon Arnon Krongrad flew to Trinidad with one of his prostate cancer patients so that the uninsured man could afford the procedure he wanted. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11484 By Gary Fineout 4/1/2009 © Health News Florida Today, at the midpoint of the 60-day legislative session, abortion opponents are frustrated, along with families who need KidCare and advocates for community mental health. Lawmakers are so focused on the $6-billion budget crisis there's time for little else. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11473 By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/31/2009 © Health News Florida Lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol have called for an end to Medicaid fraud. Today a House council considers a one-year ban on new home health agencies in South Florida. And the Senate debates giving state officials more power to bar abusers from the system. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11454 3/30/2009 © Florida Health News Medicaid Reform could branch off in a new direction under a proposal that could emerge from a House committee this week. It would set up "medical homes" for patients using community health centers, based on the famed Mayo Clinic model of having a whole team consulting on a patient's needs in one site. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11424 By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/27/2009 © Florida Health News A Senate budget proposal would cut Medicaid payments 3 percent to hospitals, nursing homes and HMOs and cripple the second phase of “Reform.” It would restore Medically Needy funding, a condition for receiving federal stimulus funds. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/11417 3/27/2009 © Palm Beach Post Studies have found little benefit to the PSA blood test used to screen for prostate cancer, yet doctors still push it. Patients, too. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11374 By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/25/2009 Florida Health News  Nearly 1,000 Floridians, most of them middle-aged women, have signed up for a new state-promoted insurance program that requires participating companies to take all comers. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11351 By Carol Gentry 3/24/2009 © Florida Health News Federal authorities have ordered private Medicare plans to stop paying hundreds of dollars in “referral fees” to sales agents who steer a beneficiary to a company for enrollment. The practice, which came to light in a Florida Health News article, was seen as an attempt to evade federal caps on sales commissions. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/11364 3/24/2009 From a news release Today Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration drew down $363 million in federal stimulus funds to help with deficits in late 2008, Gov. Charlie Crist's office announced. Later today AHCA will request $412 million more for the current quarter. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11302 By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/20/2009 © Florida Health News Two state agencies worried about drugs getting into the water supply are pushing nursing homes to stop flushing them down the toilet. What they're suggesting instead involves a blender and, believe it or not, kitty litter. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11299 Castor By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/19/2009 © Florida Health News  Florida had 5.8 million residents who went without health coverage at some point in 2007-08, nearly 3/4 of them for more than six months, according to a report released today by a patient advocates' group. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said it shows "Florida has a lot at stake in this health care reform debate." http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11273 3/19/2009 Florida Health News Well, it's happened again: Florida scored worse than the national average, from a public-health standpoint, in all categories in a report on births for 2007: More teen mothers, more unmarried mothers and a lot more Caesarean births. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11269 By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/18/2009 © Florida Health News Two lawmakers have asked Gov. Charlie Crist to investigate a miscue by the Florida Board of Nursing, which met last month in violation of the Sunshine Law. Now the board will have to hold a do-over in April so that its actions will be official.   http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11249 3/17/2009 © Florida Health News Without elaborating, WellCare Health Plans signaled on Monday that it may have to pay more than it had hoped to settle a fraud investigation that became public knowledge when the company's Tampa headquarters were raided by FBI agents in October 2007. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11227 Klasko 3/16/2009 © Florida Health News A lot of doctors say they can't afford to adopt electronic prescribing. Others need technical help. Today, USF's top doctor Stephen Klasko and Allscripts Inc. announced an end to both barriers with free software and 1-on-1 in-training in doctors' offices in up to 10 counties. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11194 By Carol Gentry 3/12/2009 © Florida Health News For 20 years, a Pinellas doctor has been getting into trouble with prescription painkillers; sometimes it’s from his own addiction, sometimes from prescriptions he writes for drugs leading to patient deaths. It's the kind of case that might be useful in the Legislature's consideration of a state database for prescriptions.    http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11178 By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/12/2009 © Florida Health News Gov. Charlie Crist’s proposed budget would remove a funding threat to five county health departments that was due to take effect in September as part of Medicaid Reform. Public health advocates are cheering, but will the Legislature go along? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11152 By Christine Giordano 3/11/2009 © Florida Health News Citrus Health Care, which reported big losses last year, may have been the victim of more than a bad business climate. Patricia Syling, described in court documents as former director of compliance – the one in charge of keeping the company honest -- is accused of stealing $1.3 million. The FBI is said to be investigating. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11127 By Carol Gentry 3/10/2009 © Florida Health News USF psychiatrist Michael Bengtson advises the Florida Medicaid program on which drugs need to be readily available.  But even he can't always get the drugs his patients need, he says, because the process is "murky." Consumer groups agree; they've formed a coalition to keep drugs available at a time of budget cuts. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11115 3/10/2009 © Florida Health News How good are Medicare beneficiaries at shopping for the best deal in insurance coverage? Not very, according to a study that has significant implications for Florida because of the staggering number of choices here. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11074 By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/6/2009 © Florida Health News  With consolidation on the minds of cash-strapped state officials, some are jumping on a new report by government auditors suggesting a joint effort on buying and packaging prescription drugs. Rep. Kevin Ambler, R-Tampa, estimates it could save $30 million a year. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11058 Paul Metts 3/5/2009 © Florida Health News On Friday, Florida Health News published a report from a former state health official estimating that counties and hospitals will both take a big hit if Medicaid Reform expands. Many reacted in alarm, as the Florida Times Union reports. Today, Paul Metts tells how he arrived at his conclusions. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11035 By Christine Jordan Sexton 3/4/2009 © Florida Health News Last year, Senator Durell Peaden was Gov. Charlie Crist’s health-care point man. But he won’t be carrying the ball for the governor this year. Peaden has filed a "thwart bill" to kill Crist’s attempted merger of the Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/11036  3/4/2009 (c) Florida Health News Physicians United Plan lost $4.4 million in Florida in the first nine months of 2008, a new state report on managed-care plans shows. But Universal Health Care, which had at one time been in distress, has turned things around.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/11014 By Gary Fineout 3/3/2009 © Florida Health News Requiring women to get an ultrasound screening before they can have an abortion, an issue that roiled the past two legislative sessions, is back. This time, its odds of passage have improved.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10965 By Carol Gentry 2/27/2009 © Florida Health News A former state health official says if Florida’s Medicaid Reform plan is expanded statewide it will cost hospitals nearly $4 billion a year in uninsured emergency-room visits and make it difficult for patients to get immediate treatment. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10962 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/27/2009 © Florida Health News Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s Cover Florida plan got most of the attention in last year's legislative session, but it wasn’t the only health-insurance initiative that passed. The forgotten one, Florida Health Choices, is finally coming together. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10944  2/26/2009 © Florida Health News Even if you take Miami out of the mix, Florida cities still vary in medical spending for no obvious reason,a new report using 2006 Medicare data shows. For example, Panama City spent significantly more per person than Pensacola or Tallahassee. Why? Sarasota and Bradenton spent less than Tampa and St. Petersburg. Why? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10921 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/25/2009 © Florida Health News Gov. Charlie Crist is reportedly preparing to recommend a merger of the two largest state health agencies into one, a proposal that would affect thousands of state employees. He also wants to keep Medicaid “Reform” unchanged and increase the fees doctors and HMOs get for treating the poor. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10911 By Carol Gentry 2/25/2009 Florida Health News Pres. Barack Obama told the nation Tuesday night that the nation must get control of health spending immediately: "Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year." His supporters are urging Floridians to echo that call to their members of Congress. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10907 By Carol Gentry 2/24/2009 © Florida Health News WellCare drug-plan members left reeling from last week's federal crackdown on the Tampa company are not stuck in WellCare for the rest of 2009, after all. They have options. Medicare officials did not make that clear until Monday afternoon, after Florida Health News raised questions.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10885 2/23/2009 © Miami Herald Blackjack was made legal in Florida last year. Now helplines say they get nearly as many callers reporting addiction to blackjack as they do poker. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10879 2/22/2009 © Miami Herald About 300 new treatment beds for mentally ill jail inmates were added two years ago. Now Florida is again running out of bed space. What that means is more cases like Amy Kern, the woman who thought she was attacking Satan when she beat her grandmother to death. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10886 2/21/2009 Miami Herald Two children who conducted a hunger strike to protest their mother's deportation got help from a group of adults who should  have known better, says columnist Myriam Marquez. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10882 2/22/2009 © Palm Beach Post Twenty years ago most drug trials were done in academic medical centers. Today, doctors in the community are getting paid to do the trials, giving patients access to the newest medications. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10855 By Carol Gentry 2/20/2009 © Florida Health News Federal authorities suspended WellCare Health Plans from enrolling new Medicare customers as of March 7, saying the Tampa-based company has the worst complaint ratio of any major contractor in the country. But analysts say that, given the timing and WellCare's already-tarnished reputation, it won't hurt much either. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10846 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/19/2009 © Florida Health News  The battle to abolish an obscure Medicaid spending panel has taken on the trappings of a full-fledged political campaign with a mailout of 25,000 colorful fliers that demand: "Abolish the LIP Council!" But do voters have any notion what the LIP Council is? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10829 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/18/2009 © Florida Health News TALLAHASSEE—Despite spending hundreds of millions each year on Medicaid HMOs, state officials say it may be at least another year before they really know what they’re buying because the data that would provide the answer still need “cleaning up.”  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10782  By Carol Gentry 2/13/2009 © Florida Health News Some Florida doctors now require patients to sign an agreement promising not to post Internet comments about them without permission. Some say it's "an attempt to steal the consumer's right to free speech," but doctors say it's a matter of fairness. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10781  2/13/2009 © Orlando Sentinel Cindy Conyers of Melbourne lost her insurance when she lost her job. So even though she has symptoms of appendicitis -- pain, fever, vomiting -- she's putting off a trip to the  hospital. "I owe them thousands already," she says. At least 3.8 million Floridians are faced with the same tough choice when they're ill. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10759  2/12/2009 © Florida Health News A state report that rates health plans participating in Medicaid Reform on a wide range of performance measures has been quietly posted at a state Web site. The format makes it of little use, according to an analysis by a group critical of the Reform pilot. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10749 By Christine Jordan Sexton 2/11/2009 © Florida Health News A House spending panel today is looking at the Low Income Pool Council's blueprint on how to divvy up $948 million in Medicaid funds to Florida hospitals. Meanwhile, some business groups are running TV ads that accuse council members of conflicts of interest.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10737 2/11/2009 Compiled from multiple sources The U.S. Senate passed its version of the economic stimulus package Tuesday 61-37, cutting $5 billion in health insurance subsidies for laid-off workers and $2.8 billion for prevention but adding $10 billion for medical research. As for Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reports the House would send $3.5 billion compared with the Senate's $1.7 billion. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10751  2/11/2009 St. Petersburg Times Sharhonda Lindsay, 32, of Thonotosassa turned herself in on Tuesday on charges of practicing medicine without a license. Police say two women were hospitalized after Lindsay injected them with a silicone-like substance called Hydrogel. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10698 By Carol Gentry 2/9/2009 © Florida Health News Women have two openings below the belt, which don't look anything alike. What are the odds that a doctor would get them mixed up and do a procedure on the wrong one -- not just once, but twice? http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10665 By Carol Gentry 2/6/2009 © Florida Health News Some Medicare health plans in Florida are paying insurance brokers $300 to $500 for every beneficiary they refer to the company for enrollment. Some brokers are troubled by the easy money and worry that Medicare authorities will make them pay it back. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleView/article/10672 By Carol Gentry 2/6/2009 © Florida Health News The Florida Board of Medicine revoked the license of an abortion-clinic doctor on Friday, finding him guilty of medical malpractice in a 2006 case involving a fetus allegedly born alive and stuffed in a biohazard bag.  http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10666 2/6/2009 © St. Petersburg Times Racist and sexist jokes aren't the only no-no's in company e-mails, a consultant to the medical-device industry told managers in Orlando on Thursday. They also shouldn't say things like "Stop the shredding!" http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10636 2/3/2009 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune The new Speaker of the Florida House shows no thirst for power. Rep. Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, said his grandsons are the only ones he wants to impress. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10598 2/1/2009 © Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The economic stimulus bill throws a lifeline to laid-off workers by helping them keep their health insurance. Some Medicaid cuts will be reversed, and geek jobs in medicine will grow. http://www.healthNewsFlorida.org/index.cfm/go/public.articleGo/article/10507  1/26/2009 © Reuters Florida's cut in premium payments to Medicaid HMOs will result in a reduction of about $35 million in revenue to Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans this year, according to new SEC documents the company filed today.  WellCare said its net income dropped significantly for 2008 because of costs associated with a federal and state fraud investigation that began in October 2007 and is still going on.