Hospital News and Research

RSS

2010 issue of Johns Hopkins Nursing explores new collaborative opportunities

When it comes to healthcare, an innovative team approach is essential to providing excellent patient care, advancing research, and educating future healthcare providers. The fall/winter 2010 issue of Johns Hopkins Nursing explores how today's nurses work to bridge disciplines and discover new collaborative opportunities.

23 Nov 2010

Ontario Cancer Plan third edition to address growing needs

The third edition of the Ontario Cancer Plan (OCP) ensures our cancer system serves the changing and growing needs of Ontarians. The Cancer Plan outlines priorities for cancer services, sets a course to transform cancer services from the patient perspective, and is driven by a commitment to quality across the cancer journey - from prevention to survivorship or palliative care - as the most effective way to manage cancer.

23 Nov 2010

Medicalis to showcase Radiology Collaborative Workflow Solutions at 96th RSNA

Medicalis today announced the commercialization of its next generation Radiology Collaborative Workflow Solutions™ offering providers a sophisticated technology platform to enhance productivity and ensure the delivery of measureable high-quality radiology care. For the first time, the company will showcase its three groundbreaking Collaborative Workflow Solutions at the 96th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), Nov. 28 – Dec. 2, in Chicago (Booth 4050).

23 Nov 2010

Rates of hospital emergency department use greater among women and low-income, older and rural Americans

Americans age 18 and older made over 98 million trips to hospital emergency departments in 2008 for problems ranging from broken bones to heart attacks, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This represents 78 percent of the overall nearly 125 million visits that year.

23 Nov 2010

GFAP levels predict brain injury, death in critically ill children on ECMO

Johns Hopkins Children's Center scientists have discovered that high blood levels of a protein commonly found in the central nervous system can predict brain injury and death in critically ill children on a form of life support called extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO.

23 Nov 2010

As hospital system expands, patients advocates worry

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jordan Rau, working in collaboration with KQED and NPR, reports: "Sutter Health's gleaming $618 million Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, scheduled to open here in February, is filled with doctor- and patient-friendly features.

23 Nov 2010

Largest genomic study of human medulloblastomas

Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumors of childhood, with 40 to 50 percent overall mortality. One of the greatest challenges in treating them is that they vary substantially from patient to patient. In the largest genomic study of human medulloblastomas to date, researchers from Children's Hospital Boston, together with collaborators, have identified six subtypes with distinct molecular "fingerprints" that will improve doctors' ability to direct and individualize treatment.

23 Nov 2010

Health workforce faces challenges with economic downturn, effort to improve quality of care

The Los Angeles Times: Although healthcare has been one of the most reliable "generators of new jobs in California," the situation is changing. A "lousy economy has caught up with an industry once considered virtually immune to downturns. The sector, which employs about 1 in 10 Californians, has stalled at a time when healthcare employment continues to grow nationally.

23 Nov 2010

WHO report calls for countries to improve access to health services

Tens of millions of people are pushed into poverty each year as a result of rising costs for health care, the World Health Organization said Monday as the agency released a report on financing health systems and universal coverage, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports.

23 Nov 2010

Late-preterm babies at increased risk for cognitive, emotional problems

Late-preterm babies - those born between 34 and 36 weeks - are at an increased risk for cognitive and emotional problems, regardless of maternal IQ or demographics, according to new research published by Michigan State University researchers in the current edition of the journal Pediatrics.

23 Nov 2010

Medicare making changes to acknowledge telemedicine's growing use

American Medical News: Through teleconferencing technology, doctors are able to treat patients who live far away without access to a specialist. "Nationwide, telemedicine increasingly is being used to bridge gaps in access to care in rural and other medically underserved communities that have a hard time recruiting physicians.

23 Nov 2010

Debt woes keep harsh guidelines aloft, forge unlikely alliances

A controversial debt panel's advice was initially thought to be heading nowhere fast, but a surprisingly broad consensus that action must be taken to avoid a debt crisis has kept negotiators at the table and given the recommendations unexpected buoyancy, The Washington Post reports.

23 Nov 2010

Mergers among hospitals and doctors spur consumer concerns, The NY Times reports

The New York Times: "[E]ight months into the new law there is a growing frenzy of mergers involving hospitals, clinics and doctor groups eager to share costs and savings, and cash in on the incentives [provided in the overhaul]. They, in turn, have deployed a small army of lawyers and lobbyists trying to persuade the Obama administration to relax or waive a body of older laws intended to thwart health care monopolies, and to protect against shoddy care and fraudulent billing of patients or Medicare.

23 Nov 2010

UC San Diego designated as Blue Distinction Center

UC San Diego Health System has been designated as a Blue Distinction Center for Spine Surgery and a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement. This honor is awarded to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality health care in certain specialty medical areas by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

22 Nov 2010

State roundup: Calif. stem cell research; Mass. prisons change HIV medicine procedure; Native Americans' high suicide rates

When millionaire Silicon Valley real estate developer Bob Klein launched his ballot drive to create a $3-billion state fund for stem-cell research in 2004, he pitched it as a way of taking politics out of science and focusing on cures.

22 Nov 2010

North Sunflower Medical Center to deploy McKesson health IT solutions

As part of its mission to become the first critical access hospital in Mississippi to demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health record EHR) technology, North Sunflower Medical Center plans to deploy a suite of McKesson information technology solutions. The new systems will replace paper-based records and disparate technologies and address duplicate data entry challenges with communications capabilities designed to automate outdated manual processes and better coordinate care.

22 Nov 2010

Big hospital clout dictates premiums

In a story for KQED, done in partnership with Kaiser Health News, Sarah Varney reports: "Over the last decade and a half, Sutter has gradually accumulated hospitals and amassed a roster of doctors who contract exclusively with the company.

22 Nov 2010

Patient Safety Technologies third quarter revenues increase to $4.1 million

Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. today announced financial results for its third quarter of 2010 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2010.

22 Nov 2010

Research roundup: Health IT and malpractice; Wide variation in hospital rates; Income and insurance offerings

New England Journal of Medicine: Medical Malpractice Liability In The Age Of Electronic Health Records - "Providers can expect a varied and shifting landscape of medical liability risks and benefits as the adoption of [electronic health records] EHRs unfolds," write the authors who explore the ways EHRs may bring about long-term changes in standard of care and affect the course of malpractice litigation.

22 Nov 2010

Cerner products achieve CCHIT Complete EHR certification

Cerner Corporation announced today that PowerChart®, FirstNet®, ProFile®, HealthSentry®, Cerner Healthe, Cerner® Health Record, IQHealth® and P2Sentinel™ 2007.19.12 and P2Sentinel™ v4.2.1 is 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a Complete EHR on Oct.28, 2010 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology - Authorized Testing Certification Bodies, in accordance with the applicable Hospital certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

22 Nov 2010