Pennsylvania Health Law Lawyer & Attorney : Fox Rothschild LLP : serving Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, Upper Darby Twp

According to a recent online Wall Street Journal article, Walgreen Co. is taking definitive steps to expand further into the workplace health center arena. Specifically, Walgreen has announced its plans to acquire two worksite health-center companies in an effort to build its business as a manager of on-site health centers at large companies. The work-site health centers are in addition to Walgreen’s in store clinics.  According to the WSJ article, once the deals are completed, Walgreen will have more than 500 worksite and retail health centers in 40 states. Walgreen’s announcement further confirms the growing trend by big box and national chain stores (e.g., Walmart) to try to reach health care consumers where they work and shop instead of making consumers seek out health care providers.

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According to a recent alert on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website, physicians and other providers are required to begin using a new ABN form when services are expected to not be covered by medicare.  According to the alert, beginning Monday, March 3, 2008, physicians may use the revised ABN for all situations where Medicare payment is expected to be denied. The revised ABN replaces the existing ABN-G (Form CMS-R-131G), ABN-L (Form CMS-R-131L), and NEMB (Form CMS-20007). CMS will allow a 6-month transition period from the date of implementation for use of the revised form and instructions. Accordingly providers and suppliers must begin using the revised ABN no later than September 1, 2008.

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According to an article in the New York Times, Aetna will soon begin offering a new service to help enable patients to research their own specific medical conditions. Specifically, Aetna’s SmartSource Service will allow patients to link online research with their own medical records and claims data.  While a better patient educated patient population holds hope for cutting down on unnecessary medical expenses, there is also the possibility that patients will use this kind of service to exercise self-help rather than seeking professional care. Nevertheless, Aetna’s move is a sign of the times and Aetna is not the only one delving into this arena. According to the Times article, other companies like Google and Microsoft have similar plans. Physicians should begin preparing to deal with patients who are better educated about their own health care conditions than ever before.

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More not-so-good news for Pennsylvania: according to an article in the Times Tribune, Pennsylvania Medical Society officials are predicting a shortage of physicians in Pennsylvania in the foreseeable future.  Citing the Society's recently released demographic report (See The State of Medicine in Pennsylvania), the article suggests that Pennsylvania could be short 10,000 doctors within 10 years.  Pennsylvania's physician population is aging, with a large percentage of physicians approaching retirement age.  According to the article, 50% of Pennsylvania's physicians are over the age of 50.

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