JUNE 1, 2017
Blue Cross Blue Shield to launch ER policy (features MAG CEO)
WABE
Starting in July, health insurance provider Blue Cross Blue Shield will stop covering emergency room visits it deems unnecessary. | READ MORE
New Medicare cards offer greater protection to more than 57.7 million Americans
CMS.gov
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is readying a fraud prevention initiative that removes Social Security numbers from Medicare cards to help combat identity theft, and safeguard taxpayer dollars. | READ MORE
[MagMutual] pitches restructuring plan at state hearing 
Georgia Health News
Georgia’s top medical malpractice insurer seeks a corporate restructuring to boost its flexibility to pursue future growth, company officials said Wednesday. | READ MORE
Expanded medical marijuana law grows Georgia program
Georgia Health News
More than 100 new patients have received permission to use a form of medical marijuana in Georgia this month, bringing the statewide total of people using the product to more than 1,800 less than three years after the state began the program. | READ MORE
New bill intends to repeal limits on physician-owned hospitals
Medical Xpress
A new bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would repeal the federal law essentially banning construction of physician-owned hospitals and making it difficult for these facilities to grow, according to a report published by the American Medical Association (AMA). | READ MORE
Northwest Georgia Public Health on high alert for Zika as mosquito season arrives
Rome News-Tribune
Mosquito season is arriving and with it the threat of mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus, now firmly entrenched in the U.S., and the emerging infectious disease, first appearing here in late 2015 and whose horrific effects we’re still learning about, Zika virus. | READ MORE
Albany Environmental Health Department preps for mosquito season
WALB
Memorial Day marked the unofficial start of summer, and in Georgia, but health officials say mosquito season is also here. | READ MORE
Ohio attorney general sues 5 drug-makers over opiate crisis
Associated Press
The Ohio attorney general sued five drugmakers on Wednesday, accusing the companies of perpetrating the state's addictions epidemic by intentionally misleading patients about the dangers of painkillers and promoting benefits of the drugs not backed by science. | READ MORE
How a 1980 letter fueled the opioid epidemic 
Associated Press
Nearly 40 years ago, a respected doctor wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine with some very good news: Out of nearly 40,000 patients given powerful pain drugs in a Boston hospital, only four addictions were documented. | READ MORE
For immigrant workers, corporate health plans can be an awkward fit
Georgia Health News
The Shaw Family Health Center "removes common barriers to health care by offering convenient, high quality, low cost health care for associates and their families." |READ MORE
Lee County residents fire off questions about proposed hospital
WALB
Dozens of South Georgians fired off questions and concerns about the proposed Lee County hospital at a summit hosted by the county on Thursday night. | READ MORE
Most consumers would leave a health care provider that was struck by ransomware
Healthcare IT News
About 68 percent of U.S. consumers would consider leaving their healthcare provider if it was negatively impacted by ransomware, according to a survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers conducted by end-point security vendor Carbon Black.| READ MORE
Advertise with MAG: Please contact Tom Kornegay at 678.303.9260 or tkornegay@mag.org if you are interested in running an ad in the Georgia Pulse, which is a weekly compilation of media reports that are related to health care and the medical profession. It is sent to more than 6,000 physicians in Georgia.
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Medical Association of Georgia
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Atlanta, GA 30339
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