By: Saparja Nag  Mar. 28, 2018

Dexur analysts recently studied physicians in Michigan treating kidney and urinary tract infections and found that DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital's Dr. Leonard Ellison Jr. discharged the most Medicare inpatients with kidney and urinary tract infections with 190 total cases between January 2013 and December 2016. He was the only Michigan physician to account for more than 150 kidney and UTI discharges during the time period. The 2nd ranked Dr. Gary B. Langnas at Beaumont Hospital, Troy came in at 149 discharges over four years and was followed by Dr. Ghassan Atto of Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital and Dr. Kunadi Reddy of Genesys Regional Medical Center who tied for 3rd with 140 discharges each. Dr. Arash Kiarash, who practiced primarily at Beaumont Health, Taylor, and Dr. Naveed Mahfooz of St. Mary's of Michigan Medical Center each had 125 discharges, tying for 5th. The top 12 physicians for kidney and UTI discharge volume are shown the graph below.

By: Jeffrey Maser  Mar. 26, 2018

A Dexur study of inpatient Medicare claims data from CMS indicates that Dr. Margaret Laughlin Winkler of North Oaks Medical Center in Hammond accounted for 28 discharges with pneumonia in 2016, the most of any physician in Louisiana. Furthermore, Dr. Winkler accounted for 106 pneumonia discharges between 2013-2016, ranking 4th. In 2016, the 2nd highest volume physician was Dr. Kirit Patel of Willis - Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport with 27 discharges followed by Dr. Wen Liu, who also practices at Willis - Knighton, with 26 discharges. Dr. Cesar Ramirez-Astacio ranked 4th with 25 discharges, while splitting time between Iberia Medical Center in New Iberia and AMG Specialty Hospital - Lafayette. Five physicians had 22 discharges to tied for 5th in the rankings with three of these physicians practicing at Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma.

By: Saparja Nag  Mar. 22, 2018

Among the top 50 highest volume Maryland surgeons who treated gastrointestinal hemorrhages, Dr. Naveen Kumar Gupta of Suburban Hospital had the lowest readmission rate at 14.30%, according to a recent analysis by Dexur. The 2nd ranked Dr. Michael Patrick Moran of the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center was the only other physician in Maryland to have a readmission rate under 15%, at 14.90%. Ranking 3rd was Dr. Daniel K. Daniels, who practiced mainly at Peninsula Regional Medical Center, with 15% of his GI hemorrhage Medicare patients readmitted. Dr. Robert D. Mathieson of MedStar Union Memorial Hospital had a readmission rate of 16.70% ranking 4th, while Dr. Vedapurisan Viswanathan rounded out the top five with a rate of 16.90%. The remaining physicians ranked 6th through 10th by lowest readmission rates can be seen in the graph below.

By: Jeffrey Maser  Mar. 21, 2018

Dr. Dinakara Shetty, of Houston Medical Center in Warner Robins, accounted for 119 total renal failure discharges between 2013-2016, the most of any Georgia physician. Dr. Osaguona Osa of Redmond Regional Medical Center in Rome ranked 2nd with 117 discharges. Houston Medical Center's Dr. Javed Fazal and Dr. Mohammad Al-Shroof ranked 3rd and 4th with 111 and 104 discharges, respectively. Dr. Bamidele A. Ajibola of Gwinnett Medical Center - Lawrenceville, located in Lawrenceville, ranked 5th with 100 discharges. These were the only five physicians in the state to account for 100 or more renal failure discharges during the time period.

By: Saparja Nag  Mar. 14, 2018

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center's Dr. Michael S. McNevin was Washington's top discharging colorectal surgeon with 330 total discharges between January 2013 and December 2016. No other physician in the state performed more than 200 discharges within the same time period. Dr. Shalini Rao Kanneganti of St. Joseph Medical Center came the closest with 179 discharges. Following closely in 3^rd was Dr. Luay Ailabouni of Kadlec Regional Medical Center who discharged 172 Medicare patients undergoing colorectal procedures. Multicare Good Samaritan Hospital's Dr. Christopher Neuman Petty was the last physician in these rankings to discharge more than 150 colorectal Medicare inpatients with 156 discharges. Ranking 5^th was Dr. Phillip Dean, who practiced primarily at Covenant Medical Center, with 122 discharges. Physicians that were ranked 6^th through 10^th ranked in discharge volume performed between 114 through 107 procedures and can be seen in the graph below.

By: Saparja Nag  Mar. 09, 2018

Dexur analysis recently determined that the top physicians performing spinal fusion (except cervical) procedures in New Jersey were Dr. James Arthur Sanfilippo and Dr. Kristen E. Radcliff for both the highest discharge volume and lowest SNF discharge rate. Dr. Sanfilippo performed the most spinal fusion except cervical procedures at 135 total discharges. Dr. Radcliff saw 132 discharges between 2013 and 2016. There were also four other physicians who discharged more than 100 spinal fusion patients between 2013 and 2016. Dr. Gino Chiappetta discharged 127, followed by Dr. Orin K. Atlas who had 125 cases. Dr. Nasser Ani ranked 5th overall with 122 discharges and Dr. George Salem Naseef ranked 6th with 114 discharges. In terms of SNF discharge rate, Dr. Sanfilippo and Dr. Radcliff far exceeded all other physicians as they were the only two physicians with rates under 20%. Dr. Sanfilippo's spinal fusion except cervical patients were only discharged to SNFs 12.1% of the time while Dr. Radcliff had a SNF discharge rate of 14.8%. The next lowest SNF discharge rate was 20.8% for Dr. Keith Michael Rinkus.

By: Saparja Nag  Mar. 06, 2018

Of major Michigan physicians treating pulmonary edema and respiratory failure Medicare inpatients, Dr. Padmaja Manne of Henry Ford Allegiance Health had the lowest 30-day readmission rate at 18.7%, based on a Dexur analysis. Dr. Rupali Abhijit Paradkar, also of Henry Ford Allegiance Health, had the 2nd lowest readmission rate of Michigan physicians for this condition at 22.0%. Dr. Salvador Rojas, who practices at another campus of the same health system, Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, saw 22.2% of his pulmonary edema and respiratory failure patients readmitted. Dr. Christopher Thomas Doig of Garden City Hospital and Dr. Vanessa Marie Hereford of St. Joseph Mercy Livingston tied for 4th place with a readmission rate of 22.7%.

By: Jeffrey Maser  Mar. 05, 2018

A study from Dexur analysts indicates that Dr. R. Bryan Griffith, who practices primarily at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, reported 664 hip and knee replacement discharges from Medicare inpatients between 2013 - 2016, the most of any physician in Louisiana. In fact, Dr. Griffith was the only physician in the state to report over 600 hip and knee replacement discharges during the timeframe. Dr. Nathan P. Cohen of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital in Lake Charles ranked 2nd with 586 discharges, Dr. Steven M. Atchison of Specialists Hospital Shreveport in Shreveport ranked 3rd with 582 and Dr. Cambize Shahrdar of Willis-Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport ranked 4th with 579. Dr. Scott Yerger of Lafayette General Medical Center in Lafayette ranked 5th with 543 and Dr. Sidney L. Bailey of St. Francis Medical Center - Downtown in Monroe ranked 6th with 534. These six physicians were the only physicians in Louisiana with over 500 hip and knee replacement discharges over the four year time period.

By: Jeffrey Maser  Feb. 28, 2018

A study from Dexur analysts on Medicare inpatient stent procedure discharge data shows that Dr. Sasidhar Guthikonda of Piedmont Fayette Hospital in Fayetteville, Georgia accounted for the lowest 30-day readmission rate of any physician in the state between 2013-2016 at 8.2%. Dr. Christopher R. Leach of Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville ranked 2nd at 8.8% and Dr. James Michael Ware who shares his time between Redmond Regional Medical Center and Floyd Medical Center, both in Rome, ranked 3rd at 10%. Dr. Charles Frederick Jackson, also of Redmond Regional Medical Center ranked 4th at 11.2% and Dr. Ahad Manzoor Ul Hassan of Hamilton Medical Center, located in Dalton, ranked 5th at 11.6%.

By: Saparja Nag  Feb. 26, 2018

An analysis of Medicare inpatient claims data by Dexur determined that only three physicians practicing in Massachusetts reported more than 100 discharges with kidney and UTI-related diagnoses during a four-year time period - Dr. Gagandeep Dhingra, Dr. Manuel Gerardo Paz, and Dr. Mohammed Jaleel. Dr. Dhingra discharged 108 total kidney and UTI Medicare inpatients between January 2013 and December 2016, followed by Dr. Paz with 106 discharges. Dr. Jaleel was close behind at 104 discharges. These three physicians also were in the top five for DRG-690, one specific diagnosis-related group classified under kidney and UTI. Dr. Paz ranked 2nd overall with 73 DRG-690 discharges. He was only surpassed by Dr. Hans C. Jeppesen who ranked 5th for total kidney and UTI discharge volume with 94 discharges. Dr. Dhingra saw 72 Medicare inpatients ranking him 3rd for DRG-690 discharge volume between January 2013 and December 2016. Dr. Jaleel treated 55 DRG-690 Medicare inpatients, ranking 5th.