Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

European agreement on injuries to health workers caused by 'sharps'

Unions and hospital employers have signed a Europe-wide agreement to set minimum standards for preventing injuries to health workers caused by 'sharps', including needles.

17 Jul 2009

Software improves patient satisfaction at discharge from hospital

When hospitalists use discharge communication software, patients and the outpatient doctors who carry out the care have better perceptions of the quality of the discharge process, according to new research published in the August issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

17 Jul 2009

With pressure building, Baucus, Reid weigh in on timeline

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Thursday that it is possible his committee could have a bipartisan deal by the end of the day, Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reports (Yoest, 7/16).

16 Jul 2009

Senate panel advances health-care overhaul, but battle lines sharpen

"President Obama's ambitious drive to overhaul the nation's $2.3 trillion health-care system cleared a key Senate committee yesterday. But the administration was promptly buffeted by criticism from some of the industry players and moderate Democrats it has courted for months, calling into question the prospects for a bipartisan landmark bill," The Washington Post reports.

16 Jul 2009

House Committees prepare for votes on health reform bill

Votes are planned Thursday in the House Education and Labor and Ways and Means committees on a $1.5 trillion plan to overhaul the nation's health care system, The Associated Press reports.

16 Jul 2009

Massachusetts hospital sues state over cost of universal care

"A hospital that serves thousands of indigent Massachusetts residents sued the state on Wednesday, charging that its costly universal health care law is forcing the hospital to cover too much of the expense of caring for the poor," according to the New York Times.

16 Jul 2009

Discovery of new transmission patterns may help prevent diarrhea-causing disease rotavirus

New vaccines have the potential to prevent or temper epidemics of the childhood diarrhea-causing disease rotavirus, protect the unvaccinated and raise the age at which the infection first appears in children, federal researchers reported in a study today.

16 Jul 2009

American Nurses Association stands with Obama in calling for healthcare reform now

American Nurses Association (ANA) members joined President Obama today at a White House press conference, sending a strong message to Congress that the country no longer can wait to reform health care as rising costs threaten the financial stability of families and their ability to access health care services.

15 Jul 2009

Turmeric spice and vitamin D may help clear amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer's

UCLA scientists and colleagues from UC Riverside and the Human BioMolecular Research Institute have found that a form of vitamin D, together with a chemical found in turmeric spice called curcumin, may help stimulate the immune system to clear the brain of amyloid beta, which forms the plaques considered the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

15 Jul 2009

Many Australian parents oblivious to the fact their children are overweight

The disturbing results showed that only 7.9% of children were considered to be overweight by their parents. However, this is a gross underestimation according to the recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report , which showed almost a quarter of all children (aged two to 12) are overweight or obese.

15 Jul 2009

Obama continues to press the importance of health reform

"Praising and prodding Congress at once, President Barack Obama on Wednesday said a vast reform of the nation's health insurance system is required to head off instability to families, industry and the government itself." He gave his remarks from the White House Rose Garden, where he was surrounded by nurses "to make his point," the Associated Press reports.

15 Jul 2009

Senate HELP Commitee completes health bill

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee "has passed legislation to revamp health care, becoming the first congressional committee to act on President Barack Obama's goal of overhauling the system this year," the Associated Press reports.

15 Jul 2009

Despite some progress, key senators say August deadline a longshot

One day after President Obama told lawmakers to speed up their pace, three key Finance Committee senators expressed doubts about meeting the President's August deadline for passing a reform proposal, Politico reports. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he doesn't "see how" his colleagues can confirm the new Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, and pass a health bill in the time left before the August recess.

15 Jul 2009

Economy squeezing access to health care

As unemployment rises, many Florida women are "turning to federally subsidized mammograms and pap smears, and county health officials are worried they could be overwhelmed," The Orlando Sentinel reports.

15 Jul 2009

Women veterans don't always get privacy at VA clinics

Veterans Affairs hospitals and outpatient clinics under review are not always complying fully with federal privacy requirements, often exposing women when they bathe or receive exams, according to government auditors, The Associated Press reports.

15 Jul 2009

Massachusetts' budget forces retreat from universal coverage

"The new state budget in Massachusetts eliminates health care coverage for some 30,000 legal immigrants to help close a growing deficit, reversing progress toward universal coverage just as Congress looks to the state as a model for overhauling the nation’s health care system," the New York Times reports.

15 Jul 2009

NPR examines Obama's 'broad' global health strategy; maternal health in Afghanistan discussed at congressional briefing

NPR reports on President Obama's "broad global health strategy," which would increase the amount of funding for family planning, maternal and child health programs to about a "half billion dollars" next year. According to NPR, "the U.S. has committed $230 million [over the next five years] directly to health in Afghanistan, whose government has already built 2,000 health facilities since the collapse of the Taliban regime" (Wilson, 7/15).

15 Jul 2009

Uninsured account for 20% of U.S. ER visits

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released new data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample -- the largest, all-payer emergency department database in the United States.

15 Jul 2009

Flu mortality formula is potentially misleading, say scientists

A standard calculation used in forecasting potential numbers of deaths during the swine flu pandemic risks misleading healthcare planners by being open to both over- and under-estimation of the true figures, say the authors of new research published today in the British Medical Journal.

15 Jul 2009

eHealth record system a step closer

The introduction of a national eHealth record systems appears to be progressing with delegates at the Australian Health Ministers' Conference agreeing to establishing a secure national system.

15 Jul 2009