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Pharmacists in all states authorized to administer influenza vaccines

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) is encouraging consumers to get immunized against influenza and to consider their local pharmacy as the site to receive their vaccine. Pharmacists in all 50 states including the District of Columbia are authorized to administer influenza vaccines and, as of June 30, 2010, more than 120,000 U.S. pharmacists have been trained to administer immunizations.

18 Aug 2010

MERI designated as Simulation Center of Excellence in State of Tennessee

Governor Phil Bredesen signed resolution #794 designating MERI as a Simulation Center of Excellence in the State of Tennessee. The resolution was introduced by Senator Mark Norris and signed on April 30, 2010.

18 Aug 2010

Trauma center care cost-effective for all patients: Report

Trauma center care not only saves lives, it is a cost-effective way of treating major trauma, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Injury Research and Policy. Although treatment at a trauma center is more expensive, the benefits of this approach in terms of lives saved and quality of life-years gained outweigh the costs. The study finds that the added cost of treatment at a trauma center versus nontrauma center is only $36,319 for every life-year gained or $790,931 per life saved.

18 Aug 2010

Florida doctors struggle to meet new standards for electronic records; Arizona faces sharp cuts in residency-training programs

"New federal standards unveiled last month require doctors to start using electronic medical records routinely, including logging patients' diagnoses and visits, ordering prescriptions, monitoring for drug interactions and making records accessible to other medical providers. ... Only about 20 percent of South Florida medical providers use electronic records now, experts said, and while many doctors are already making the change, some fear that older family physicians may one day close their practices rather than spend the money and time to go digital"

18 Aug 2010

Activists sue for documents detailing downfall of St. Vincent's Hospital

Community activists and former staffers of the now-shuttered St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City filed a lawsuit Monday saying the facility was brought down by mismanagement including things like golf outings that drew bills in excess of $250,000, The Associated Press reports. "The city's last Catholic-affiliated hospital filed for bankruptcy before closing in April, citing a debt topping $1 billion.

18 Aug 2010

Study examines surgical procedures in low-resource settings

A new study shows "that surgery can be safely performed in areas with minimal resources and little or no sophisticated technology," the Los Angeles Times' "Booster Shots" blog reports. The study, published in the Archives of Surgery, examines "almost 20,000 surgical procedures completed in resource-limited areas from 2001 to 2008" by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) (Roan, 8/16).

18 Aug 2010

Sec. of State Clinton discusses Global Health Initiative

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about President Barack Obama's $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI) during a speech on Monday at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Reuters' "Front Row Washington" blog reports (Ashburn, 8/16).

18 Aug 2010

Dysphagia impacts length of hospital stay and prognosis

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that hospitalized patients with dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, averaged a 40 percent longer hospital stay than patients without the condition. They also had a generally poorer prognosis. The research is published in the August issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

18 Aug 2010

Virginia creates health law panel, groups prepare for overhaul changes

Virginia has created a task force to slow health costs and implement health care reform even as the state is suing to stop a key mandate in the law, The Washington Post reports. Gov. Bob McDonnell "introduced the 24-member panel, comprised of legislators, health professionals, doctors and insurers, at a news conference Monday afternoon at the Capitol.

18 Aug 2010

Study finds black patients receive fewer opoid medications than whites

Black patients are prescribed fewer pain medications than whites and few women receive medications strong enough to manage their chronic pain, according to a study in the August issue of Journal of Pain.University of Michigan Health System researchers studied nearly 200 patients with chronic pain who sought help from a specialty pain center. Researchers analyzed the number and potency of medicines they were already taking and the adequacy of pain management.

18 Aug 2010

Cigna lobbies to define medical loss ratio on insurers' terms

Cigna has become a player in the insurance industry's lobbying on what should count as medical care under new rules governing health care spending, Kaiser Health News and McClatchy report. "The insurer has stayed in step with larger rivals such as Aetna and WellPoint in an often contentious dialogue with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners — a network of state regulators that's been charged with advising federal officials on implementing the health care law.

18 Aug 2010

Insurer mounts offensive and defensive strategies on health law

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Arlene Weintraub writes: "In the increasingly tense wrangling between the insurance industry and state regulators over the definition of what spending can qualify as medical care under the new health law, one of the loudest lobbying voices is a relatively small player: Cigna Corp" (Weintraub, 8/16).

18 Aug 2010

Pharmacy drug information confusing or lacking, study says

NPR: The Food and Drug Administration is about to make changes to drug information — often filled with technical medical jargon — to help consumers understand the risks and benefits of the drugs they take. "University of Florida professor Carole Kimberlin worked with colleagues to sample leaflets from some 400 pharmacies across the country recently at the request of the FDA. They found wide differences. 'Some of them were as little as 30 words, while others were over 2,500 words,' she says.

18 Aug 2010

Recession led to cuts in health system use

The New York Times: The recession is causing d people in the United States to cut their use of the health care system "much deeper than in countries with universal health care systems," a new report says. "The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that 'Americans, who face higher out-of-pocket health care costs, have reduced their routine medical care' much more than people in Britain, Canada, France and Germany.

18 Aug 2010

HHS awards $1 million grants to state insurance regulators

The Los Angeles Times: "The Obama administration is sending $1-million grants to state insurance regulators to help increase oversight of rising health insurance premiums, a key step in implementing the new healthcare law. The grants announced Monday, which went to all but five states, will enable many to expand public access to information about rate hikes and to hire experts to review what insurers want to charge.

18 Aug 2010

Equinox Surgical Solutions introduces SutureAssist device for streamlining suture management procedures

Equinox Surgical Solutions LLC today announced the launch of their new product, SutureAssist®, designed and developed by a minimally invasive, Board Certified, OB/GYN surgeon Dr. Warren Volker M.D., Ph.D. and his team to improve patient and surgical team safety. This proprietary device lets surgeons and scrub techs acquire, hand-off, dispose of and reload sutures with an efficient, one-handed motion resulting in significantly quicker wound closure and mitigation of both needle-stick risk to the surgical team and post-op needle management liability exposure.

18 Aug 2010

Cancer is the world's top 'economic killer,' report finds

The Associated Press: "Cancer is the world's top 'economic killer' as well as its likely leading cause of death, the American Cancer Society contends in a new report it will present at a global cancer conference in China this week. Cancer costs more in productivity and lost life than AIDS, malaria, the flu and other diseases that spread person-to-person, the report concludes.

18 Aug 2010

Health on the Hill – August 16, 2010

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey talks with Bloomberg News' Drew Armstrong and KFF's Jackie Judd about recent developments, including the latest on the medical loss ratio calculation and how much power states have to enforce provisions of the health law (8/16).

18 Aug 2010

ImPACKD, The Kidney Foundation of Canada launch online resource for CKD patients

Before today, millions of Canadians living with chronic kidney disease did not have a strong online advocacy presence. Improving Patient Advocacy in Chronic Kidney Disease and The Kidney Foundation of Canada are now joining forces to provide an effective resource. Together, they are launching www.impackd.ca, a microsite of www.kidney.ca that is specifically designed for Canadians affected by chronic kidney disease.

17 Aug 2010

HealthGrades honors Eastern Long Island Hospital with Outstanding Patient Experience Award

Eastern Long Island Hospital (ELIH) is among the top 15 percent in the nation for patient experience based on an analysis of patient surveys from 3,775 hospitals across the country by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization. By placing in the top 15 percent, ELIH received the 2010/2011 HealthGrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award(TM).

17 Aug 2010