New report finds improvements in hospital performance

Meanwhile, Reuters reports on the quality of weekend care at stroke centers and nursing homes are trying to reduce their use of powerful antipsychotic drugs for patients with dementia.

The New York Times: Report Finds Improved Performance By Hospitals
In the latest advance for health care accountability, the country's leading hospital accreditation board, the Joint Commission, released a list on Tuesday of 405 medical centers that have been the most diligent in following protocols to treat conditions like heart attack and pneumonia. Almost without exception, most highly regarded hospitals in the United States, from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., did not make the list (Sack, 9/14).

Reuters/MSNBC: Stroke Centers No Worse At Weekend Treatment
Hospitals that have been designated as "stroke centers" may provide just as good care on the weekend as on weekdays, new findings suggest. That's important because previous studies have hinted that people who come to the hospital after having a stroke don't do as well if they're admitted over the weekend, when nurses and specialists might be stretched extra thin (9/14).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Nursing Homes Try To Reduce Use Of Powerful Antipsychotic Drugs For Dementia Patients
Antipsychotics are meant primarily to help control hallucinations, delusions and other abnormal behavior in people suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but they're also given to hundreds of thousands of elderly nursing home patients in the U.S. to pacify aggressive and paranoid behavior related to dementia (9/14).