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Sometimes a hospital stay does not mean you’re admitted

This Kaiser Health News story by Susan Jaffe, produced in partnership with The Washington Post, looks at an increasing use of hospital observation care for Medicare beneficiaries rather than admission as an inpatient.

7 Sep 2010

Watsonville defies state's decree on water fluoridation

The city of Watsonville, California is continuing to defy the state's decree that all cities with a population over 10,000 fluoridate their water supply if an outside entity is willing to provide funding for the installation and operation of the facilities necessary.

7 Sep 2010

Popularity of e cigarettes increase despite FDA's stance

Electronic cigarette sales and popularity continues to increase on a daily basis despite the US Food and Drug Administration's attempts to label the products as unsafe and untested for their intended purpose. Thousands of electronic cigarette reviews online dispute the stance of the FDA, many of them stating that the products have not only been tested, but by and large have been found to be less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

7 Sep 2010

NHS Choices unveils typical signs, symptoms of cancer

More than 1/3 people in the UK will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime.The good news is that some cancers can be cured if detected early enough. The key is to be aware of unexplained changes to your body, and to know the common signs and symptoms of cancer.

7 Sep 2010

Swarovski's '22 Ways To Say Black' auction proceeds to benefit cancer charities

SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS has commissioned 22 of fashion's most notable known names and talented newcomers to design one-of-a-kind little black dresses for the initiative 22 Ways To Say Black. On September 20, 2010 at the acclaimed gallery, Phillips de Pury & Company in New York City, under the high-patronage of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the one-of-a-kind dresses will be auctioned off by Simon de Pury, with 100% of the proceeds to benefit the American Cancer Society and La ligue nationale contre le cancer in France.

7 Sep 2010

IBM announces computing projects to produce clean, safe water

IBM's World Community Grid, a worldwide network of PC owners helping scientists solve humanitarian challenges, today announced several computing projects aimed at developing techniques to produce cleaner and safer water, an increasingly scarce commodity eluding at least 1.2 billion people worldwide.

7 Sep 2010

NextGen executes agreement with MKMG to deploy EHR solution

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. and leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, today announced it has executed an agreement with Mount Kisco Medical Group, PC (MKMG) to deploy NextGen Ambulatory EHR (Electronic Health Record), NextGen Practice Management, and the NextGen Patient portal.

7 Sep 2010

Survey outlines German physicians' attitude towards end of life practices

Discussions about end of life practices in Germany have been almost taboo for over half a century, but now intense debate is underway as professional bodies review their guidelines to physicians caring for the dying. A new study out today in Palliative Medicine, published by SAGE, reveals that German physicians do hasten death in some cases, against current ethical guidelines - sometimes without sufficient patient involvement.

7 Sep 2010

Public and private expenditure in long-term elderly care

The September Policy Brief by Ricardo Rodrigues and Andrea Schmidt aims to present information on the current picture of public and private expenditure on long-term care for older people and to discuss the challenges of financing care. Moreover it provides preliminary results on potential redistribution effects of home care benefits (based on SHARE data).

7 Sep 2010

Study finds increase in patient traffic to hospital emergency departments

About 17 percent of all visits to hospital emergency departments across the United States could be treated at retail medical clinics or urgent care centers, potentially saving $4.4 billion annually in health care costs, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

7 Sep 2010

An overview on low-carbohydrate diets

Headlines make news, but don't read too much into current headlines about a recent study titled "Low-Carbohydrate Diets and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality," published in the September 7, 2010, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. Although the headlines may say the study suggests that long-term adherence to a low-carb diet based heavily on animal protein may reduce lifespan, Dr. Funga, who was the lead author of the study, says that her research "is not representative of popular low-carb eating plans

7 Sep 2010

RWJF unites civil rights organizations to reverse childhood obesity

A $2 million initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is bringing together five civil rights organizations with the prominence and strength to help reverse childhood obesity, especially in African-American and Latino communities where the epidemic continues to hit hardest.

7 Sep 2010

Endocrine Society releases new clinical practice guideline on congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Today, The Endocrine Society released a new clinical practice guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). The guideline features a series of evidence-based clinical recommendations developed by an expert task force.

7 Sep 2010

Consumers misinterpret low carbohydrate claims to have health benefits: Study

Food manufacturers advertise a variety of foods on grocery store shelves by using nutrient claims on the front of packaging. A study in the September/October issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior evaluates how consumers are interpreting certain carbohydrate-related content claims and the effects of claims on consumer perceptions of food products. Findings from this study reveal that consumers misinterpret low carbohydrate claims to have health benefits and weight loss qualities beyond their nutrition facts.

7 Sep 2010

Berwick planning Medicare test sites for new health care models

The Boston Globe, "Newly installed Medicare chief Donald Berwick, keeping a low public profile after encountering controversy over his appointment, is moving quickly behind the scenes to seed the US health care system with 100 to 300 sites to test new models of caring for patients.

7 Sep 2010

Employees pay more for health insurance while wages remain stagnant

Despite growth in the economy, the economic climate for American workers hasn't improved much since last Labor Day, and they are significantly worse off on most measures than they were a decade ago, according to the third annual Labor Scorecard compiled by Rutgers' School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR). While August's unemployment rate was 9.6 percent, 0.1 percent lower than last August, the figure is about 2.5 times August 2000's 4.1 percent.

6 Sep 2010

Red Cross provides help and shelter from Hurricane Earl

The American Red Cross has provided help and shelter from North Carolina to New England as Hurricane Earl and its winds and rain moved up the Atlantic Coast.

6 Sep 2010

To win senior votes, some campaigns focus on Medicare fears

With Labor Day weekend the traditional start of intense campaigning, some news coverage focused on seniors' health care.

6 Sep 2010

Employers urged to ensure top priority for workplace safety

A leading Scottish lawyer has urged employers to make sure safety is always their top priority after a man suffered a serious brain injury whilst working.

4 Sep 2010

Threat of agricultural pesticides to vultures may also risk human health

While vultures across Asia teeter on the brink of extinction, the vultures of Cambodia are increasing in number, providing a beacon of hope for these threatened scavengers, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other members of the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project.

4 Sep 2010