Two tracks for Shared Savings Accountable Care Organizations

The final regulations governing Medicare accountable care organizations were released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in October, and they represent a sea change in healthcare’s future...

You took your vitamins faithfully, drank lots of OJ, and ate all the things the experts said to eat. You’ve avoided touching germy things and you’ve washed your hands raw...

Ten area hospital employees and two area physicians were honored by the Birmingham Regional Hospital Council of the Alabama Hospital Association (AlaHA) for their dedication to the health care field...

The teenager and the 60-year-old talked for an hour. At the end, the woman said, “How did someone so young get so wise?”...

The Proposed Plan and Their Tenuous Future

Overshadowed by the sewer crisis and the resulting bankruptcy, county-run Cooper Green Mercy Hospital’s fate still floats in the ether. With the affiliated nursing home now sold, the future of the hospital itself continues to fluctuate.

Wendell Potter knows what success feels like...

Dr. Ray Watts: Orchestrating Brain Research, Supporting the Orchestra

Experts weigh in on challenges of anesthetizing the elderly

When knee pain persists even following total joint replacement, what's the next step? If stronger drugs and higher doses don't take the edge off the discomfort, are patients left simply having to learn to live with the pain and the limitations it causes in everyday life?

Nephrology Vascular Lab Maintains Health of Dialyzing Portals

What can be a fairly straightforward procedure in other patients takes on a new level of risk in a dialysis patient.

"There's a huge quality of life benefit in how patients feel after nocturnal dialysis. It's a functional improvement," says Rusty Brantley, MD, with Nephrology Associates.

New Strategies Take On Old Challenges—and Evolving Complications

Redefining The Future

A More Effective Strategy For Managing Health Care Costs?

In the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, Congress required a permanent and national Recovery Audit Contractor ("RAC") program to be in place by January 1, 2010.

Birmingham Medical News

On July 1, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed payment rule for 2012 for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Under the proposal ...

The change in healthcare is shifting the recruiting market.

Dr. Everitt Simmons: Making the Transition from ER to Wound Care

Switching specialties after some 30 years would seem to be a traumatic event for a physician. But Everitt Simmons, MD, who now practices at Shelby County Medical Center's...

The first incentive checks for implementing electronic health record (EHR) software are rolling into Alabama practices. "It's nice to see it come into play after all this waiting and talking about it," says Nancy Ellis, vice president of MediSYS.

Alabama’s Healthcare Community Pulls Together To Deal With Disaster

When tragedy strikes on a massive scale, doctors, nurses and rescuers often find themselves in the eye of the storm, fighting with all their skills to save lives and ease suffering.

Ocular Trauma Center

Traumatic eye injuries affect more than 17,000 people annually, in the U.S. alone.

Lung cancer kills almost 160,000 Americans each year, making it the number one cancer killer in the U.S. One of the reasons lung cancer is so deadly is that it has been all but impossible to detect the disease early.

St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital

After evaluating population growth and community needs in the Pell City area, as well as the age of the current St. Clair Regional Hospital, officials at St. Vincent’s decided a new facility was needed to meet the health care demands ...

"It's the most potent infectivity-enhanced CRAd we've ever investigated," Ronald D. Alvarez, MD, said, describing the 5/3 Δ 24 chimeric virus. The new Conditionally Replication Adenovirus has been modified to increase its ability to selectively seek out and destroy ovarian cancer cells.

New Strategies In PCOS, Infertility and Cancer

Exploring The Insulin Connection

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders affecting fertility in women. In addition to irregular cycles and hormone imbalances, there are changes in lipid metabolism and increased risk for other health problems.

Earlier this year, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (HHS) both enforced and settled allegations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule violations.