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Default options for medicine, healthcare

Anyone who has ever tried to set up an internet account or wants to make a purchase on a company's website, has experienced the ‘default option,' an event or condition that will be set in place if no alternative is actively chosen.

3 Oct 2007

Michigan Senate approves Medicaid estate recovery bill

The Michigan Senate on Thursday approved legislation that would require the state Department of Community Health to develop a program to recoup costs paid by Medicaid for people who lived in nursing homes or received in-home care services before their death, the Detroit News reports.

2 Oct 2007

Medicare part B premiums to increase by 3.1% in 2008 to $96.40 per month

CMS on Monday announced that the standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B, which covers physician visits and outpatient hospital care, will increase by $2.90, or 3.1%, to $96.40 in 2008 -- the smallest increase since 2000, when the premium remained the same, the New York Times reports.

2 Oct 2007

New York announces funds for hospitals to be closed or merged

The 23 hospitals and seven nursing homes in New York state that will be closed or merged with other facilities will receive more than $360 million to pay for legal costs associated with the closures and to pay debts, state health officials said, the New York Times reports (Kershaw, New York Times, 9/29).

2 Oct 2007

Caribbean health authorities promise to reduce healthcare-associated infections

Health authorities from the Caribbean say they will work to reduce healthcare-associated infections through a series of actions that include getting healthcare providers to improve hand hygiene.

2 Oct 2007

Wilmot Cancer Center adds gastrointestinal, brain cancer experts

Three specialists in gastrointestinal and brain cancers recently joined the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center to meet the growing need in the Rochester and Upstate New York region.

1 Oct 2007

Nursing - the best job in the world!

As the University of Hertfordshire welcomed its new cohort of just under 300 nursing students, an academic at the School of Nursing and Midwifery deems that nursing is the best job in the world.

1 Oct 2007

Health care interventions that tackle health disparities

Studies show that minority patients generally receive a lower quality of health care compared to white patients.

29 Sep 2007

Polyclinics not the answer to improving care in London

Although there is a case for changing how some NHS services are provided in London, Government proposals do not build on the best aspects of the NHS, could result in damaging fragmentation and may not produce the predicted cost savings, or improvements in patient care, that the Government envisages, the BMA warns today (27/9/07) in its response to Lord Ara Darzi’s review of healthcare in London.

27 Sep 2007

Agfa HealthCare finalizes implementation of fully integrated cardiology suite at Belgian Hospital

Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic imaging solutions, announces today that it has completed the installation of its IMPAX(TM) Cardiovascular Suite at the AZ Imelda hospital in Bonheiden, Belgium.

27 Sep 2007

Lean manufacturing principles boost efficiency at rural hospital

The emergency department at Meadows Regional Medical Center in rural Vidalia, Ga., has achieved what would make most hospitals across the nation envious: a 44 percent reduction in average length of stay per patient, a 10 percent boost in patients served and a 92 percent patient satisfaction rate.

26 Sep 2007

WHO essential emergency training to save lives and prevent disability

WHO is expanding its programme to train health care staff in low- and middle-income countries in essential emergency, basic surgery and anaesthesia skills.

25 Sep 2007

USC receives $7.5 million for Comprehensive Center of Excellence in Minority Health

In an effort to stem the rise of childhood obesity and related health risks, the University of Southern California (USC) has received a $7.5 million grant to launch a Comprehensive Center of Excellence in Minority Health.

25 Sep 2007

The value of preventive health services in the U.S.

An estimated 63.5 million U.S. adults visited a physician for a preventive health or gynecological examination each year between 2002 and 2004, at an annual cost of approximately $7.8 billion, according to a report in the Sept. 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

25 Sep 2007

Increasing elderly population poses huge challenges in cancer care

Huge challenges face healthcare professionals and policy makers in planning for, and providing cancer care over the next decade or so.

25 Sep 2007

Care by a hospital-based general physician strongly associated with shorter length of hospital stay in patients

Patients at an academic medical center who are cared for by a hospital-based general physician may have a shorter length of hospital stay than those who are not, especially if the patients require close monitoring or complex discharge planning, according to a report in the September 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

25 Sep 2007

The cancer burden in the developing world

Only a few years ago cancer was considered to be a disease of westernised, developed countries, but now the burden is increasingly falling on less developed countries, a leading epidemiologist told ECCO 14, the European Cancer Conference.

25 Sep 2007

The cost and value of that annual preventative health check up

Even though as many as an estimated 63.5 million American adults visit their doctor for a preventive health or gynecological examination each year, the value of such visits is a controversial issue.

24 Sep 2007

New Australian initiative to combat shortage of pathologists, radiologists

In an Australian first, medical students at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) will be able to work towards specialisation in Pathology or Radiology while enrolled in their undergraduate Medicine program.

24 Sep 2007

Unanticipated consequences of healthcare information technology

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) have developed a framework to help hospital managers, physicians, and nurses handle the tough challenges of implementing health information technology (HIT) by directly addressing the unintended consequences that undermine safety and quality.

18 Sep 2007