Paying for graduate medical education: the debate goes on.

The debate over Medicare payments for graduate medical education has been conducted under the premise that such payments cover the added costs of training. Standard economic theory suggests that residents bear the costs of their training, implying that the additional costs of teaching hospitals are not attributable to training per se but to some combination of a different patient care product, unmeasured case-mix differences, and the costs of clinical research. As a result, payment for the additional patient care costs at teaching hospitals should come from the Medicare trust fund; any subsidies for training should come from general revenues.

Does managed care mean more hassle for physicians?

Using the results of a 1995 nationally representative survey of physicians, this paper examines the relationship between exposure to managed care and resources expended by physicians on administrative and insurance matters. Our measures of managed care exposure are the degree to which a physician experiences a variety of managed care techniques (i.e.

Imaging renal masses.

Imaging plays a crucial role in the detection, characterization, and post-operative follow-up of renal masses. With rapidly advancing technology, imaging techniques are continuously evolving. This review will discuss the current modalities and techniques available for renal imaging, and recent developments.