Healthcare News

RSS

Reactions -- even threats -- continue to emerge over lawmakers' reform votes

Lawmakers are considering how health care reform will change their prospects for office as some tout the law amid threats from the public.

8 Apr 2010

U.S. Well-Being Report for March 2010

Please be advised that Gallup and Healthways, Inc. today released the Gallup-Healthways Monthly U.S. Well-Being Report for March 2010.

8 Apr 2010

Negative consequences of inadequate nursing handoffs: Best practices need to be identified

A systematic review of nursing handoff literature found that minimal research has been done to identify best practices, despite well-known negative consequences of inadequate nursing handoffs. The article was published in the April issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN).

8 Apr 2010

Hospital TV remotes are potential reservoir of bacteria

According to RID (Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths) over thirty billion dollars is spent each year in the US on hospital-acquired infections. (Infections caught while hospitalized). These very preventable infections cost an additional $15,000.00 on average per patient infected and kill more people in this country than AIDS, breast cancer and car accidents combined.

8 Apr 2010

Altarum Institute forms new center to focus on macro-economics of health spending

Altarum Institute President and CEO Lincoln Smith today announced the formation of the Altarum Institute Center for Studying Health Spending. The center will be a part of Altarum's internal Systems Research and Initiatives group and will focus on the macro-economics of health spending, health workforce, government outlays, and long-term fiscal sustainability.

8 Apr 2010

Survey reveals retiree confidence in Medicare eroding

A March 2010 independent survey of 1,472 retirees covered by Medicare revealed that while 59% are "very" or "somewhat" confident Medicare will be available the rest of their lives, just 20% have the same confidence it will be here for the succeeding generation. In fact, 62% of respondents are not confident that Medicare will be here for their children.

8 Apr 2010

Individuals should act now to prepare for major tax hikes: Kahler Financial Group

The ink is barely dry on the health care bill but individuals should act now to prepare for major tax hikes and possibly higher interest rates, which could increase borrowing costs and require the need to reallocate some investment assets. That's the call from fee-only financial planner Rick Kahler, president of the largest financial planning firm in the seven-state Midwest region, Kahler Financial Group.

8 Apr 2010

Common myths about teens dispelled

The new book, The Teen Years Explained: A Guide to Healthy Adolescent Development, dispels many common myths about adolescence with the latest scientific findings on the physical, emotional, cognitive, sexual and spiritual development of teens. Authors Clea McNeely and Jayne Blanchard from the Center for Adolescent Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, provide useful tips and strategies for real-life situations and experiences from bullying, to nutrition and sexuality.

8 Apr 2010

UTHealth awarded $15.3M for establishing HIT REC

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has been awarded $15.3 million to establish a Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (REC).

8 Apr 2010

ICRC will nearly triple aid to combat food shortages, drought in Niger and Mali

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced Tuesday that it plans to increase aid to Niger and Mali, "where several million people are suffering from serious food shortages triggered by drought," SAPA/News24 reports.

8 Apr 2010

HHS Secretary to discuss benefits of health reform for America's seniors in a webchat

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Assistant Secretary for the Administration on Aging Kathy Greenlee will host a webchat tomorrow, Thursday, April 8, to discuss the benefits of the new health reform law as it relates to America's seniors.

8 Apr 2010

Impact on primary care access and health costs is 'uncertain'

"Rather than asking whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does everything to improve access and lower costs, we should ask how it compares with the status quo," the American College of Physicians' senior public policy adviser said in a paper published online today in Annals of Internal Medicine, the flagship journal of ACP.

8 Apr 2010

Saint Mary's and Sierra Neurosurgery Group partner to create Nevada's first Brain Tumor Center

Saint Mary's and Sierra Neurosurgery Group have partnered to create the region's first Brain Tumor Center in an effort to speed up the time between diagnosis and treatment.

8 Apr 2010

Consumer engagement program for diagnostic imaging services

More consumers than ever before are seeking additional knowledge to make more informed decisions, especially when it comes to their health care.

8 Apr 2010

AP examines anticipated changes to U.S. National Security Strategy, use of health diplomacy

The Associated Press looks at some anticipated changes to the "National Security Strategy, a document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventive war." The article focuses on the prospective strategy changes, but notes that the "revisions are part of a larger effort about which the White House talks openly, one that seeks to change not just how the U.S. talks to Muslim nations, but also what it talks to them about, from health care and science to business startups and education."

8 Apr 2010

Unique collaboration in fetal medicine among Columbus' healthcare professionals

The Columbus Fetal Medicine Collaborative has been formed by Mount Carmel Health System, OhioHealth, The Ohio State University Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital joining together to provide optimal outcomes for high-risk expectant mothers and their babies with suspected fetal abnormalities.

8 Apr 2010

Educating individuals about healthcare costs could lead to efficient use of healthcare system

Educating individuals about the costs of healthcare could save money and lead to a more efficient use of the healthcare system, report policy researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Public Health. The study is the first to assess the effect of knowledge and perceptions of cost-sharing levels (the percentage of cost borne by individuals out of total healthcare costs) on self-reported and actual behavior.

8 Apr 2010

Dubai conference calls for more coordinated approach to global health

Marking the conclusion of the three-day Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development (DIHAD) conference Tuesday, conference attendees called for humanitarians to adopt a more coordinated approach to tackling global health needs, the National reports. "Speakers, including health professionals and officials from international organisations, stressed the need to share medical knowledge and innovations during a crisis, citing the recent Haiti earthquake," the newspaper writes.

8 Apr 2010

L.A. Care Health Plan receives $15.6M federal grant to establish HITEC-LA

L.A. Care Health Plan, the nation’s largest public health plan, announced today that the organization has received a $15.6 million federal grant to establish the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center, called HITEC-LA, that will help doctors in L.A. County adopt and use Electronic Health Records in a meaningful way.

8 Apr 2010

Further delay in the trial of Dr. Jayant Patel

There is yet another delay in the Dr. Jayant Patel manslaughter trial. Justice John Byrne gave the jury a day off on Thursday agreeing to meet on Friday. He parted with encouraging words to the jury saying, "During the Second World War, so I'm told, at times when things were quiet for the soldiers, they were often encouraged with the words of (17th century poet John) Milton from three centuries earlier: `They also serve who only sit and wait'…I mention this because your involvement today now ceases and it will be not necessary for you to be involved in the trial for the rest of the day."

8 Apr 2010