LMH was created by Special Act of the State Legislature in 1961, requiring a local vote for the charter to become effective. That vote failed in 1963. Without any changes to the Special Act, the State instead just passed another special bill establishing the Hospital Board. There appears never to have been a public vote […]
The Lee Memorial Health System is a Florida Municipal District, authorized by Government Charter to operate hospital services in Lee County, Florida. It is now the only provider of hospital services in Lee County, Florida – owning each and every one of the hospitals currently operating here. In addition, LMHS aggressively pursued the rest of […]
In the last weekly blog, we learned that medical error is the third leading cause of death: “Metrics For A New ‘Patient Centric Safety Movement’”. Since the IOM and Johns-Hopkins studies referenced there, the news has grown worse: The Washington Post now reports medical errors are the third leading cause of death. Quality Fraud is a […]
According to the Institute of Medicine in the 1990’s, an estimated 100,000 people died as a result of medical mistakes every year in the U.S. (a number that has more than doubled, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins University). The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is a Congressionally mandated, non-profit research body. Their initial […]
Daraprim was first made available in 1952. It treats toxoplasmosis and cystoisosporiasis, diseases caused by eating undercooked food and other digestive problems – often with no detectable symptoms. Turing Pharma, operated by Martin Shkreli, bought this old drug in August of 2015, immediately jacking up the price of Daraprim from about $13 a pill to […]
The experts call it “emergent properties”: malware and bugs that attack medical devices through outdated software used by medical offices, clinics and hospitals. Study Finds Medical Device Flaws Go Unfixed. “TrapX staff traced back attacks to compromised PCs associated with radiation oncology systems, PACS (picture archive and communications systems) that serve multiple different radiologic systems.The […]
In 1999, HHS announced 371 criminal indictments for health care billing fraud, up 61% from the previous year[1]. DOJ convicted 396 Defendants for health care fraud, filed 2,278 civil matters relating to health care fraud and excluded 2,976 providers from billing Federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid as a result of fraud[2]. These cases included […]
Five-year-old Abby Muszynski was born with a brain malformation that causes seizures and respiratory failure. http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/health/health-care-refugees-part-1/ Abby’s family is leaving Florida to get her proper health care. The Muszynskis’ older high school aged children will be left behind. Why are they doing this? Because Florida’s Medicaid program will not pay for Abby’s treatment. This dates […]
“…patients have to learn to diagnose themselves before they know which specialist to call.” The Problem On November 13, 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation notified 21st Oncology (based here in Ft. Myers) to that over two million patients’ confidential records and data in 21st Century’s possession and control had been collected and sold by […]
Instead of learning the obvious lessons from the HMO/PPO example (http://thethompsonlawfirm.net/access-to-healthcare/), industry leaders and their lobbyists in the nineties prevailed on the Florida legislature for a different solution – one that took more skin out of the hide of consumers. Industry leaders used an organized public relations campaign to pass “tort reform” and laws limiting […]
