Payment differences of up to €10,000 per patient can arise due to differing coding methods, Saolta Hospital Group CEO Maurice Power has said.

A pilot procurement scheme has meant that between four and six hours per week per ward of clinicians’ time has been returned to front-line activity.

After almost 10 years in the planning, a €22 million state-of-the-art facility housing Ireland’s first Integrated Ambulatory Care Centre will facilitate GPs and St Luke’s Hospital to integrate for better patient outcomes, Niamh Mullen reports.

Ed Madden, BL, looks at a recent Court of Appeal case in which an insurance company appealed against the decision of the High Court in a case involving the refusal of the company to pay a benefit of €250,000 on foot of a mortgage protection policy.

Dr Gerry Mansfield may be right to be worried about future generations of GPs giving away their professional autonomy, writes Dr Dermot J Ward.

The Department of Health (DoH) is undertaking a further assessment in conjunction with the State Claims Agency (SCA) to assess the options for lowering medical indemnity caps “solely for those most impacted by the increase in the subscription rates”.

Access to hospitals for elective work must be tackled, the Minister for Health has said.

GP out-of-hours activity has increased by 10,000 patients in 2015 and community intervention team (CIT) activity — which is particularly focused on relieving pressures in emergency departments (EDs) in hospitals — has increased by 30 per cent compared to last year.

Ireland’s premier surgical training college has embarked on a major five-year initiative to enhance its research capacity, according to RCSI’s Director of Research Prof Ray Stallings.

Neither the Exchequer nor families could bear the considerable additional cost of Universal Health Insurance (UHI), in terms of subsidies or increased insurance premia, Gary Culliton reports.