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GOP lawmaker wants health IT study to focus on errors

Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting that the nation's push for electronic medical records include a study of the medical error rates associated with this technology.

12 Aug 2011

With panelists now in place, possible dynamics of a deal emerge

The special committee that will have to find $1.5 trillion in budget savings has a few members who will understand exactly what's at stake for Medicare and Medicaid. But others will only have a general idea — and it may be completely shaped by their political interests. Some of them won't have much of a health care background at all, but will have to get up to speed quickly.

12 Aug 2011

Boston health organizations plan merger

Partners HealthCare and Neighborhood Health Plan sign letter of intent for merger. In other hospital issues, Parkland Hospital In Dallas is in danger of losing Medicare accreditation and Conn. regulators are criticized.

12 Aug 2011

States slashing at least $4.7 billion from Medicaid plans

Reuters reports on a study of the state cuts by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Also, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is looking to expand its Medicaid business and a California study explores the high number of young people without insurance.

12 Aug 2011

Pelosi adds her picks to deficit reduction committee

With House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's selections now made for the 'super committee,' the panel is complete. The next step: analyzing what positions they will bring to the negotiations and what the likelihood is that the group will strike a deal.

12 Aug 2011

High levels of BPA found in paper currencies

The cash register receipts that people place near paper money in billfolds, purses, and pockets has led to a worldwide contamination of paper money with bisphenol A (BPA) - a potentially toxic substance found in some plastics, thermal paper and other products.

12 Aug 2011

First Edition: August 12, 2011

Kaiser Health News' Mary Agnes Carey and Politico Pro's David Nather talk to Jackie Judd about the now complete "super committee" and what it may mean for Medicare and Medicaid.

12 Aug 2011

Study confirms ability of Tru-D device to decontaminate surfaces in patient rooms

In an original article coauthored by John M. Boyce, MD; Nancy L. Havill, MT; and Brent A. Moore, PhD, "Terminal Decontamination of Patient Rooms Using an Automated Mobile UV Light Unit", the research team from the Hospital of Saint Raphael and the Yale University School of Medicine ". . . demonstrated that an automated, portable UV light device significantly reduced aerobic colony counts on high-touch surfaces in patient rooms.

12 Aug 2011

Renewed focus on veterans' coverage gap

From the critical moments after she suffered a gunshot wound to the head in January to her triumphant return to Congress last week for a vote on the debt-limit deal, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords owes her recovery in no small part to veterans with similar injuries.

12 Aug 2011

WHO declares end to global swine flu pandemic

"The World Health Organization is declaring an end to the global swine flu pandemic," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports.

12 Aug 2011

Experts troubled by global rise in c-section rates

Almost one-third of infants in the U.S. are delivered by caesarean section (c-section), a trend that is now growing globally, PRI's The World/PBS NewsHour reports. "The c-section rate in Thailand has reached 34 percent, in Vietnam, it is 36 percent, and in China, nearly half of all births are by c-section," the article states.

12 Aug 2011

Mount Sinai WTC program's to discuss health care of first responders affected by 9/11

The Mount Sinai Medical Center has taken the lead in developing the largest treatment and monitoring program for emergency responders, recovery workers, residents, and area workers who were affected by the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001.

12 Aug 2011

N.Y. revoking Medicaid from one clinic network

The N.Y. Health Department moves against a network of clinics run by a former N.Y. state senator while federal officials threaten to cut off funds to a well-known public hospital in Texas. In other hospital news, Dartmouth-Hitchcock hospital system in New Hampshire announces buy-outs as it tries to deal with a $96 million deficit, and nurses at a nonprofit hospital in Quincy, Mass., object to the proposal to sell the facility to a for-profit company.

12 Aug 2011

Study finds decrease in inpatient hospitalizations for the elderly with psychiatric diagnosis

Short-stay inpatient hospitalizations for children and adolescents with a psychiatric diagnosis increased significantly over a 12-year period (1996 to 2007) and decreased for the elderly, according to a report in the early online edition in Archives of General Psychiatry by Joseph C. Blader, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University School of Medicine.

12 Aug 2011

Spread of Polio in Pakistan threatening goal of eradication

With 63 cases of polio diagnosed in Pakistan this year, nearly double the number recorded in the same time period 2010, the U.N. "says that these findings suggest Pakistan could be the 'last polio reservoir worldwide' - the country standing in the way of eliminating only the second global epidemic disease after smallpox," the Atlantic Wire reports.

12 Aug 2011

Common barriers and strategies to implement new anti-MRSA practices in ICUs

Researchers from the Indiana University have identified common barriers and strategies for successfully implementing practice changes in Intensive Care Units.

12 Aug 2011

Feeling the budget squeeze, some states reduce kids' access to care

According to the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, a majority of state-level changes to Medicaid this year reduced benefits or reimbursement rates for children's services.

12 Aug 2011

Feed the future helping countries develop agricultural sectors

"Spearheaded by USAID, President Obama's food security initiative - Feed the Future - is helping countries develop their own agricultural sectors so they can feed themselves," USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah writes in a post on the agency's "IMPACTblog."

12 Aug 2011

What will the panelists bring to the 'super committee' negotiations?

News outlets report on the personalities and records of the people who have been named to the deficit panel, and attempt to handicap how their politics could play into the deficit-reduction dynamics.

12 Aug 2011

NPR examines how religious beliefs influence family planning in Pakistan

NPR's "All Things Considered" on Wednesday examined how Islam influences health and family planning decisions in Pakistan, one of Asia's fastest-growing populations.

12 Aug 2011