Morgan Medical Center — Morgan County’s acclaimed state-of-the-art community hospital — is now actively recruiting for a variety of nursing and clinical positions. These jobs offer developmental opportunities, and competitive salaries and benefits, while allowing healthcare professionals the chance to make a difference. Nursing positions include openings in the medical ... Continue Reading
A Patient’s Perspective: How The Commons at Lake Hearn changed their mind
I have never liked going to the doctor. Each office was the same: austere white walls, harsh fluorescent lights, a chemical scent that lurked around every corner, and every waiting room felt aloof and stale. And the worst part? Having to take so much time out of my day to get there, idling at red lights and dodging busy intersections. One of my doctors relocated to an ... Continue Reading
How Medical Laboratories Can Continue to Support Women in STEM
By Christian Fletcher
The world of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has made many remarkable strides in the last 50 years, including in the medical laboratory arena. Increasing the population of women working in these fields is one of these progressions. In 2019, the number of female STEM professionals reached 27%, tripling the percentage from the 1970s. But despite more ... Continue Reading
On the Dangerous Illusion of “Normal” and the Good Business of Empowering People with Data
By Christian Fletcher
A Deadly Average There's this story about the first combat airplane cockpit, designed in 1926 by the U.S. Army. Big believers in standardization, the military first calculated the dimensions of the "average" male pilot, then designed the seat, pedals, stick, and all the rest to fit this average man. By the 1950s (and with the creation of the Air Force), the military was trying ... Continue Reading
Atlanta Man Finds Relief From Metastatic Spine Tumors Thanks to Two Innovative Therapies Working Together to Relieve Pain
Having cancer is challenging enough, and if it metastasizes or moves into surrounding bone, it can be extremely painful — making every day even more challenging. That’s what happened to Peter, 57. Peter was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2012. Years later, the cancer recurred, and Peter sought care at Cancer Treatment Centers of America outside Atlanta. Peter ... Continue Reading
Continued COVID-19 Testing: The Key to Unlocking the Pandemic
By Christian Fletcher
As we near the two-year mark, the pandemic remains unpredictable. However, one thing we know for certain about COVID-19 is the invaluable importance of continued testing. This was true in the beginning, it still is today, and it will be tomorrow. Early in the pandemic, we quickly ramped up testing through our companies LifeBrite Laboratories and ... Continue Reading
Rural Hospitals: Saving Lives and Communities
By Christian Fletcher
Rural hospitals are arguably more important now than ever before. A small community relies heavily on its local hospital. It serves as a hub and a key component of an area’s healthcare landscape and economic well-being. These hospitals play an ever-increasing role in stabilizing patients during some of the most emergent times of their lives. A stroke or heart ... Continue Reading
Webside Is the New Bedside: Professional Practices for Virtual Patient Visits
Bedside manner is truly an art and its success is rooted in the personal interaction and rapport that is built between patient and physician. With telemedicine being pushed to the forefront, “webside manner†is emerging as the virtual analog and becoming an important skill to create and maintain a trusting patient relationship.  With the rapid incorporation of ... Continue Reading
COVID-19 Is Changing Liability Risks and Litigation in Healthcare
By Bill Fleming, Chief Operating Officer, The Doctors Company, and a Leader of the TDC Group of Companies
Across the spectrum of care, healthcare delivery is changing as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, creating additional pressures to maintain patient safety and shaping new liability risks for hospitals, group practices, and solo physicians. Understanding how these new risk exposures are unfolding is the first step to taking protective measures. Mr. Fleming offers his ... Continue Reading
Informed Consent Refresher
By Robert Morton, CPHRM, CPPS, Assistant Vice President, Department of Patient Safety and Risk Management, The Doctors Company True informed consent is a process of managing a patient’s expectations; it is not just a signature on a document. Achieving an accurate diagnosis requires the patient to provide accurate information to the physician. The physician must ... Continue Reading
Breast Density Notification Law Info for Medical Professionals
By Lynn Baxter, MD
A new law takes effect in Georgia on July 1, 2019 requiring facilities that perform mammography to add specific verbiage to lay-language results letters for patients with dense breast tissue. This verbiage will alert patients that they have dense breast tissue, which, while not abnormal, may mask cancers on mammography and may also increase the risk of breast cancer. It will ... Continue Reading
Transcarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR): Reversing Flow to Move Carotid Surgery Forward
By Siddharth Patel, MD, Northside Hospital
Stroke continues to plague this country with nearly 800,000 new cases yearly. The vast majority are ischemic, but more importantly, potentially preventable. Carotid occlusive disease, often silent until it is too late, represents a significant source of emboli in ischemic strokes. Appropriate screening with carotid duplex ultrasonography can identify at risk populations. ... Continue Reading
When Should I Consider a Cervical Disc Replacement Instead of a Fusion?
By Keith Osborn, M.D. Spine Program at Northside Hospital Orthopedic Institute, Atlanta, Georgia
Since first being described in 1955 by Robinson and Smith at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has remained the gold standard for treatment of cervical disc disease with radiculopathy. Like most surgical treatments, however, there are problems that can occur as a result of surgery. Some of these, like loss of movement, are easily ... Continue Reading
EMTALA: What On-call Physicians Need to Know
By Karen Civali
In 1986, Congress enacted the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. Section 1867 of the Social Security Act imposes specific obligations on Medicare-participating hospitals that offer emergency services to provide a medical screening examination (MSE) when a request is made for ... Continue Reading
A Trap for the Unwary
What You Need to Know Before Billing Services Furnished by One Provider under another Provider's NPI By Emma Cecil, JD Senior Regulatory Attorney, The Institute at MagMutual An Oklahoma physician agreed in August 2017 to pay the government $580,000 to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act ("FCA") by causing false claims to be submitted to Medicare for ... Continue Reading
