The vast majority of doctors in New York say they feel pressure from insurance companies to prescribe certain medical treatments, sometimes at the expense of what is best for the patient, according to a new survey.

The survey, conducted by the Medical Society of the State of New York, is based on responses to a questionnaire filled out by more than 1,200 New York doctors in September.

Overall, 90% of physicians said they changed the way they treat patients based on restrictions from an insurance company, and 92% said incentives and disincentives offered by insurance companies regarding treatment options “may not be in the best interest of patients.”

Based on the results, 87% of physicians said they sometimes feel pressure to prescribe a treatment based on cost. About 93% of physicians said insurance companies have required them to change prescriptions in the past.

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North Shore-LIJ Breaks Ground on $300 Million Women’s Hospital

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System has broken ground on a $300 million women’s hospital in Queens, the largest construction project in the hospital’s history.

The new 10-story Katz Women’s Hospital, named for the chairman of the health system’s board, Samuel Katz, and his wife, Iris, will be situated adjacent to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, an 809-bed hospital in the New Hyde Park section of Queens. The hospital is part of the North Shore-LIJ network, which includes 15 hospitals in Queens and Nassau County.

The new women’s hospital will feature 88 private patient rooms, and hospital officials said they expect the project to be completed in 2011.

Hospital officials also said the project coincides with the construction of the Katz Women’s Hospital at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, which is set to get under way later this month.

“Both will reflect our commitment to family-centered care, and both will become synonymous with service, comfort, and elegance,” the president and CEO of North Shore-LIJ Health System, Michael Dowling, said in a statement.

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‘Dirty Dozen’ Restaurants Named

A state senator from Westchester, Jeffrey Klein, yesterday released a list of the city’s “filthiest” restaurants. Topping the list of the “Dirty Dozen” was El Barrio Restaurant on East 110th Street in Manhattan, which received 204 violation points during a recent health department inspection, and Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, which racked up 182 violation points. Reached by telephone, a manager at El Barrio Restaurant, Rafael Merino, said he was unaware of the senator’s report, but said health inspectors visited the restaurant last week and “we passed that inspection.”

Mr. Klein’s report was based on 100 restaurants that had the worst inspection reports, according to the city’s health department. Insects were observed at 55% of the lowest-ranked restaurants. Mice were observed in 52% of the lowest-ranked restaurants.

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Diabetes ‘Congress’ to Convene in city

More than 80 physicians, health experts, and policymakers will convene in New York City starting tomorrow for the First World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes. The two-day conference seeks to address the growing field of interventional diabetes treatment, including surgery. Hosted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, the congress is expected to draft an agenda of health policy initiatives to expedite treatment and research in the field.

The field of interventional diabetes treatment, including surgery, has received attention in recent months as a new treatment option for diabetic patients. About 24 million Americans suffer from diabetes.

“The epidemic growth of type 2 diabetes has created a race + time to find new approaches to treat and understand the disease,” the director of the congress and a surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian, Dr. Francesco Rubino, said in a statement.

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Columbia Recruits Expert in Organ Transplantation

An expert in multiple-organ transplantation, Dr. Tomoaki Kato, has been appointed as director of liver and intestinal transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

Previously, Dr. Kato, a native of Tokyo, served as director of pediatric liver and gastrointestinal transplantation at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

In March, he led the first reported surgical case in which doctors removed and partially reimplanted six organs in order to remove an abdominal tumor.

esolomont@nysun.com