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WHO says confirmed H1N1 deaths worldwide reach 1,800

According to the latest WHO report out Wednesday, the number of confirmed H1N1 (swine) flu deaths since its emergence in April has reached 1,799 - a jump from 1,462 deaths since the agency's last update, Agence France-Presse/the Australian reports.

20 Aug 2009

GHX OnDemand AP software-as-a-service solution helps hospitals reduce invoicing processing costs

A growing number of healthcare providers are using the OnDemand AP(SM) solution by GHX to automate and streamline their accounts payable processes, reducing invoice processing costs and cycle time, and improving internal controls and cash flow management. With OnDemand AP, hospitals can receive 100 percent of their invoices electronically, even from suppliers who do not currently support electronic invoicing. By eliminating the need for manual data entry and accelerating invoice approval, hospitals can reduce invoicing processing costs by more than 80 percent.

20 Aug 2009

The Gambia introduces pneumococcal immunisation programme

The Gambia, Minister of Health Dr. Mariatou Jallow administered the first dose of the pneumococcal vaccine to Gambian children at a rural clinic outside Banjul today. Joined by the Gambia’s Vice President, Mrs. Isatou Njie-Saidy, Dr. Jallow and hundreds of Gambian citizens celebrated this historic event, which marks the first step in the rollout of the Gambia’s national pneumococcal immunisation programme.

19 Aug 2009

API Healthcare offers new business analytics solution for enterprise workforce information analysis

API Healthcare, the leading provider of human capital management solutions to the healthcare industry, today announced the availability of its new Business Analytics solution, a software application that provides hospitals and health systems with a centralized source for analyzing workforce information across the enterprise.

19 Aug 2009

Cancer Institute of New Jersey expands hospital network

Enhancing its strong presence as a statewide leader in cancer care and providing patients with additional access to cancer programs, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) Network of hospitals has formally welcomed Mountainside Hospital as its newest Clinical Research Affiliate.

12 Aug 2009

Emphasis on quality reduces deaths in hospitals, report finds

A new report finds that a focus on quality reduces the number of deaths in U.S. hospitals, specifically saving 47,000 lives a year and preventing 92,000 complications.

10 Aug 2009

CDC expands existing vaccine distribution partnership with Mckesson to include H1N1 flu vaccine

McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) today announced that its current partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been expanded to include preparations for H1N1 flu vaccine distribution. The CDC currently has a contract with McKesson for distribution of its public-sector purchased adult and pediatric vaccines, including those distributed through the Vaccines for Children Program.

10 Aug 2009

CHRISTUS Health strikes partnership with Elsevier for implementing CDS solutions at 25 hospitals

Elsevier has announced that Dallas-based CHRISTUS Health, one of the top 10 Catholic health systems in the U.S., will install five of Elsevier's online clinical decision support (CDS) solutions to meet the diverse and evolving clinical decision support needs of its physicians, nurses and pharmacists.

10 Aug 2009

Advocate Health Care leads Thomson Reuters' list of top 10 U.S. hospitals

Thomson Reuters today released an unprecedented study identifying the top 10 U.S. health systems based on their hospitals' clinical performance.

10 Aug 2009

Take Care Health Systems now offering nebulizer treatments for acute respiratory distress

Take Care Health Systems is now offering nebulizer treatments, when clinically appropriate, for clinic patients exhibiting acute respiratory distress.

6 Aug 2009

Maternal mortality; health system strengthening, Opinions

Columnist Nicholas Kristof examines maternal health in developing countries in his latest New York Times opinion piece. Kristof describes a Pakistani woman's birth experience to illustrate the sort of "dramas" that "play out constantly in poor countries" where one "woman dies a minute from complications of pregnancy or childbirth somewhere in the world, and 20 times as many suffer childbirth injuries," he writes.

30 Jul 2009

System 50 years out of date for chronic illness

Many people with chronic health conditions have more than one disease, which makes caring for them much more complex. Unfortunately, the way our health system is structured now, and the way it is paid for, reflects the health needs our society had about 50 years ago.

27 Jul 2009

Health care experts examine top performing, low cost communities

Talk about health care reform efforts has focused largely on all that is wrong with the current system. In contrast, an event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., examined best practices in ten top performing communities where they spend less and have better quality of care.

22 Jul 2009

Efforts to 'fix' Medicare payments at center of reform

The Wall Street Journal reports: "A plan to end a program that would cut government payments to doctors is emerging as the flash point in the debate over whether President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health system would increase the federal budget deficit.

20 Jul 2009

Diet rich in fish helps prevent dementia

According to experts over 24 million people worldwide are thought to suffer from dementia, and many of these people live in low and middle-income countries.

20 Jul 2009

Families struggle in low-, middle-income countries to pay for health care, study shows

IRIN examines a Health Affairs report that found "one in four families living in the world's poorest countries borrows money or sells assets in order to afford health care" (7/15).

16 Jul 2009

Obama addresses Ghana's parliament, reiterates U.S. global health initiative

During his visit to Ghana over the weekend, President Obama praised the country for its achievements while calling on African leaders to take responsibility for the future of the continent, CNN reports. "Despite the progress that has been made - and there has been considerable progress in parts of Africa - we also know that much of that promise has yet to be fulfilled," Obama said during a speech before the Ghanaian parliament (7/11).

13 Jul 2009

Hospitals, after agreeing to cuts, push ahead with a full agenda

With the Obama administration's help, hospitals are moving aggressively to resolve their biggest objections to legislative proposals to overhaul the health system.

8 Jul 2009

Health indicators in South Africa vary by district, report indicates

In South Africa - "the quality of health care, including access to HIV prevention and testing services," largely depends on which of the country's 52 districts a resident lives in - according to findings in the latest District Health Barometer (DHB), an annual report by Health Systems Trust, IRIN reports. "Some of the inequities highlighted by the [report] can be traced to differences in health spending," IRIN writes.

8 Jul 2009

U.S., Russia to cooperate on health goals

The White House announced on Monday that the U.S. and Russia have signed on to a "memo of understanding" to cooperate on several public health and medical science projects, ModernHealthcare.com reports.

7 Jul 2009