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Hospital jobs hurt in some places, expand in others, as recession pinches

Although some hospitals are feeling the pinch of the recession on their budgets, 400 low-income and unemployed residents are receiving job-training and placement at local hospitals to tap into the need for workers. "The Youth Policy Institute, a local nonprofit managing the program, opened its doors to applicants in March and has already enrolled about 400 trainees.

20 Jul 2010

AU Summit focusing on maternal, child health begins in Uganda

Delegations arrived in Kampala, Uganda, for the start of the 15th African Union (AU) Summit, which begins Monday, the Daily Monitor reports (Muyita/Kasasira, 7/19).

20 Jul 2010

Abortion fight again heats up over high-risk pools, other health reform news

Anti-abortion activists have "scored a victory" after a decision last week by the Obama administration to not allow the new high-risk pools in America to cover most abortions, The Associated Press reports.

20 Jul 2010

Practice nurses increase GP short consultations

The increased role of nurses in general practice is the primary driver of recent increases in short GP consultations, a general practice researcher from the School of Public Health says.

19 Jul 2010

Applying a supermarket strategy to patient-specific marketing

Some hospitals are using a "customer management system" to "market to patients and physicians the same way supermarkets do -- by sending information they think a customer needs or wants based on their history," American Medical News reports. "The use of CRM software by the health industry is aided by the increasing automation of data ranging from physician referrals to electronic medical records.

19 Jul 2010

Mental health care suffers as recession hurts state's bottom lines

Mental health budgets are suffering as a lingering recession affects state bottom lines in America, Stateline reports. "States have taken the lead role in publicly funded care for the mentally ill, and paid the majority of the expenses. Even through recessions, the states have steadily increased their mental health budgets every year to meet increasing demand.

19 Jul 2010

Unidine, Xanitos enter strategic partnership

Unidine Corporation, a leading provider of food service management to healthcare and businesses, and Xanitos, Inc., an innovator in EVS management systems for hospitals, today announced a strategic partnership to offer combined food and dining service management and EVS management for hospitals that desire superior quality, personalized attention and the convenience of two industry leaders that share a common philosophy.

19 Jul 2010

Bayat Foundation commences construction on 50-bed maternity hospital in Lashkargah

The Bayat Foundation laid the cornerstone to begin construction on a 50-bed maternity hospital in Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand, Afghanistan's largest province. When completed later this year, the Fatema Bayat Maternity Hospital will include an operation and recovery room, pharmacy, waiting hall, kitchen, and power system to provide vital access to quality medical care.

19 Jul 2010

New health care leaders named

News outlets report on new leadership appointments at key health care groups.

19 Jul 2010

International Health News: German hospitals worry over end of compulsory military service; Britain tops study on end-of-life care

The Wall Street Journal: German hospitals are worried that the end of compulsory military service could hurt their workforce as most young German men end up fulfilling their duties there and in other public-service venues. "Increasingly … conscription's main impact has little to do with military training at all.

19 Jul 2010

Bay Area Hospital implements Unibased ForSite2020 periOperative Resource Management System

Unibased Systems Architecture, Inc. today announced Bay Area Hospital (BAH) in Coos Bay, Oregon successfully implemented the Unibased ForSite2020® periOperative Resource Management System (ORMS). BAH contracted with Unibased for the complete ForSite2020 surgery management system suite in December 2009 with the goal of achieving total perioperative automation and moving forward with their hospital-wide electronic health record (EHR) initiative.

19 Jul 2010

e-MDs selected for IFMC's HITREC Preferred Vendor List

e-MDs, an industry leader in the development and implementation of electronic health record (EHR) and practice management (PM) solutions, announced they have been chosen for the IFMC's Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (HITREC) Preferred Vendor List. The list represents the best products designed to help smaller practices and clinics achieve meaningful use of EHRs.

19 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: Public opinion and health reform; Hospitals and cost cuts; Medicare fraud 'gusher'

Less than four months after Congress approved historic health care reform legislation, the Obama administration has been making good progress in bringing some early benefits to fruition and issuing rules to guide the reform process. Despite all of the critics' hype and scare tactics, some polls suggest that the public perception of reform is slowly improving (7/18).

19 Jul 2010

KHN column: When bad news about health reform isn't bad

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, done in collaboration with The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes: "The weekend's newspapers included a pair of headlines about health care reform. And they were probably not the kind that reform advocates like to see" (7/19).

19 Jul 2010

Erie County Medical Center to implement Allscripts EHR

Allscripts announced today that Erie County Medical Center Corporation, a 550-bed academic medical center in Buffalo, has selected the Allscripts Electronic Health Record (EHR) for 100 of its physicians to enhance the quality of patient care, improve physician and patient communications, and better manage the cost of care delivery in 24 outpatient clinics.

19 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 19, 2010

Today's headlines include the latest news regarding the politics of implementing health reform as well as developments from the international AIDS conference now underway in Vienna.

19 Jul 2010

Sen. Roberts lashes out at recess appointment of Berwick

"Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts is taking aim at President Barack Obama for making a recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as the new head of the federal agency overseeing Medicare and Medicaid," CNN reported.

19 Jul 2010

Businesses, states seek solutions to rising health insurance costs

News outlets, including The New York Times, reported on health insurance in light of the new law: "the country's biggest insurers are promoting affordable plans with reduced premiums that require participants to use a narrower selection of doctors or hospitals.

19 Jul 2010

Center for Regulatory Effectiveness concerned over undue influence by agency on tobacco advisory panel

The watchdog group Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) today urged the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to assure that advice provided by a tobacco advisory committee on menthol cigarettes is "independent and not influenced by agency staff" in accordance with federal law.

17 Jul 2010

AHRQ: 12M people with mental health, substance abuse problems visited emergency department in 2007

Nearly 12 million visits made to U.S. hospital emergency departments in 2007 involved people with a mental disorder, substance abuse problem, or both, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This accounts for one in eight of the 95 million visits to emergency departments by adults that year.

17 Jul 2010