'RAP' Doctor Billing Controversy Continues Physicians, hospitals and health insurers have defeated a proposed state law that would have forced insurers to cover out-of-network physicians' charges consumers incurred at in-network hospitals. TED GRIGGS

Emergency Rooms Get Ready for Hurricane Season In the aftermath of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav one year ago, Louisiana's emergency rooms are gearing up for the 2009 storm season. Lessons learned from these storms, as well as 2005's Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, are leading to upgrades at hospital ERs from New Orleans' levees to Cameron's coast. LISA HANCHEY

Louisiana Works to Secure HIT Stimulus Money Louisiana health officials hope detailed plans, such as forming workgroups to address nearly every information technology issue, and ongoing implementation efforts will help the state secure a big chunk of federal stimulus dollars. TED GRIGGS

Does The HIT Stimulus Money Mean Smooth Sailing – Or Rough Seas? The cheerleading is fast and furious. The federal government and various medical organizations continue to hail the nearly $19 billion health information technology portion of President Obama's economic stimulus as the catalyst needed to break down barriers to widespread use of electronic health records. Yet there's an undercurrent of caution among providers, HIT entrepreneurs and the popular media. SHARON H. FITZGERALD

Physician Spotlight

Dr. Robert Anderson ER Doc Faces Own Close Call At age 45, Dr. Robert Anderson was living the good life. An avid golfer and non-smoker, the emergency medicine physician aced his 2006 physical, scoring low on cholesterol and hypertension tests and running the stress test treadmill "into the ground." But, his family history of heart trouble – his grandfather died at 43 after a series of heart attacks, followed by his father at the same age – prodded him to try out a then-experimental test, a CT coronary angiogram. While his fellow ER physicians at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital joked and high-fived after their scans, they fell silent when Anderson got his result – a major blockage in the left anterior descending artery (LAD). LISA HANCHEY