March 2012

Medical Briefs

Census Data on Health Insurance Coverage

The number of people with health insurance increased to 256.2 million in 2010 from 253.3 million in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report of health insurance coverage using data from 2010. The report found that the number of people covered by employment-based health insurance fell from 170.8 million (56.1%) in 2009 to 169.3 million (55.3%) in 2010. The percentage and number of people covered by government-provided health insurance rose to 95 million (31%) in 2010 from 93.2 million (30.6%) in 2009.

Physicians Generate Big Revenues for Hospitals

How valuable are physicians to their affiliated hospitals? Very, according to a study conducted by Merritt Hawkins, a national physician search firm. It found that family and general internal medicine physicians each generate an average of more than $1.6 million in net revenue for their affiliated hospitals.

Lack of Communication During Patient Handoffs

A wide perception gap exists between primary care physicians and specialists over how often they transmit and receive information on patients during patient transfers, according to a 2011 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study found that 69.3% of primary care physicians said they send a patient’s history to specialists all or most of the time. However, only 34.8% of specialists said they receive that information. For their part, 80.6% of specialists report they send consultation results to referring physicians all or most of the time, while only 62.2% of primary care physicians report they receive such information.

Med School Enrollment up 3%

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) set a target of a 30% increase in medical school enrollment to help alleviate projected physician shortages. Recent data show that U.S. medical schools are on target to reach the 30% goal by 2017. Total applicants to medical schools rose by 2.8% to 43,919 in 2011, according to data released by the AAMC. The number of students who enrolled in medical school in 2011 rose by 3% over the prior year to 19,230 students.