
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Dr. Robert Rizzo, head of Brigham & Women’s Cape Cod Hospital cardiac surgery program, was arrested for assault and battery, accused of running over a trooper’s foot with his car after an altercation at Boston’s Logan airport.
Rizzo was picking up his wife at the airport when he picked a fight with a state trooper who asked him to move his car, according to a report from the Boston Business Journal.
Tempers flared and Rizzo allegedly ran over the trooper’s foot with his car and drove off. He was later arrested in the Ted Williams Tunnel. A hospital spokesperson said Brigham is aware of Rizzo’s arrest, but did not comment about his employment status.
Americans have little faith in Obamacare implementation, poll says
While most Americans want to keep national healthcare reform, a majority also believe that roll-out is not going smoothly, according to a new poll from United Technologies and National Journal Congressional Connection. Recent news that the administration is delaying employer-based insurance mandates is contributing to the public’s perception that enforcement is not going well, according to the National Journal.
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Detroit filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, leaving its creditors, including the medical equipment producer Smith & Nephew (FTSE:SN, NYSE:SNN), out of luck. The full list of institutions that loaned money to the struggling Motor City was published and quickly rescinded last week. Detroit is sitting on $18.5 billion in debt, and despite a current court case debating the legality of the bankruptcy, it’s unlikely the 100,000 lenders will see their cash any time soon.
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Only 11% of surveyed doctors think that the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges will actually be open on the Oct. 1 deadline. The survey, conducted by, LocumTenens.com,
also revealed that a majority of doctors are "not at all familiar" with the specific rules of the insurance exchanges like the claim process, insurance contract rates, coverage terms and other important mechanisms.
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Physician medical societies are throwing their weight behind a new bill that would replace Medicare’s controversial sustainable growth rate, the current method of determining physician payments. More than 20 groups have pledged support for the bill, approved by a Congressional subcommittee on Tuesday.
The new payment method would provide docs with 5 years of stable Medicare payments at a reimbursement rate growing 0.5% per year. Then, physicians would be able to choose quality measures to report, but can also opt out of the quality-incentive program in some cases.
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