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New research offers significant insights into the long-term impact of a major disaster on routine surgical services

New research published in the September issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons offers important insights into the long-term impact of a major disaster on routine surgical services in a hospital. In the study, researchers at Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, LA, showed that although Hurricane Katrina resulted in a significant loss of surgical staff and an increase in the number of uninsured patients undergoing operations, greater cost efficiencies were achieved.

25 Sep 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

A study appearing in the Journal of Infectious Diseases explores how well access to safe drinking water reduces rates of diarrhea experienced by 6-month-old infants born to HIV-infected mothers following weaning.

25 Sep 2009

IRIN examines how user fees have kept most vulnerable from accessing healthcare

IRIN examines how fees for medical services have kept poor populations from accessing services, in light of the recent announcement by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that he was launching a program aimed at greatly reducing such fees in Malawi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nepal and Burundi.

25 Sep 2009

No medical errors in the month of July as widely believed: Study

New research published in the September issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons challenges the widely held belief that more medical errors occur in teaching hospitals during the month of July due to the influx of new graduates from medical and nursing schools - also known as the "July Phenomenon." The study shows no differences in in-hospital mortality rates, number of days in the intensive care unit (ICU) or on ventilator support, or minutes spent undergoing resuscitation for trauma patients in July compared with results for other months of the year.

25 Sep 2009

Careful follow-up after eradication therapy for peptic ulcer needed

Although it has been demonstrated that Helicobacter pylori causes gastric cancer, it is still controversial that whether H. pylori eradication therapy is effective in primary prevention of gastric cancer. This is especially important for Yamagata Prefecture, a region of Japan with the second highest incidence of gastric cancer in the world.

25 Sep 2009

Tenet Healthcare announces the completion of its registered public offering of convertible preferred stock

Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) announced today that it has completed its previously announced registered public offering of 7.0% mandatory convertible preferred stock by selling 345,000 shares, including 45,000 shares sold pursuant to the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares, at a public offering price of $1,000 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $345 million.

25 Sep 2009

Non-AIDS-defining malignancies more prevalent among HIV-infected patients than non-HIV patients

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that non-AIDS-defining malignancies such as anal and lung cancer have become more prevalent among HIV-infected patients than non-HIV patients since the introduction of anti-retroviral therapies in the mid-1990s.

25 Sep 2009

The Australian Institute of Policy and Science awards Dr Jake Baum for malaria research

Research aimed at developing drugs that stop malaria parasites from spreading throughout the body has seen Dr Jake Baum, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, named a Young Tall Poppy by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science.

25 Sep 2009

Folotyn approved for the treatment of Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Folotyn (pralatrexate), the first treatment for a form of cancer known as Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma (PTCL), an often aggressive type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

25 Sep 2009

American Diabetes Association to launch a movement to encourage Americans to fight diabetes

In recognition of American Diabetes Month® in November, the American Diabetes Association will be launching a movement to encourage Americans to confront, fight and Stop Diabetes(SM).

25 Sep 2009

Pelosi continues push for public plan in house bill

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepped up her push for a publicly run health plan that has divided congressional Democrats, saying it could 'save enormous amounts of money,'" The Wall Street Journal reports. "Congressional aides said including a government-run plan for people under 65 in the health overhaul could save as much as $100 billion, if such a plan were to pay health-care providers the low rates used by Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly."

25 Sep 2009

Health officials anticipate 6 million H1N1 vaccine doses by early October

U.S. health officials announced Thursday that "[m]ore than six million doses of swine flu vaccine will be available by the first week in October, more that twice as many as had been recently expected," The New York Times reports.

25 Sep 2009

Senate public plan advocates ready for finance committee face-off

Some senators in the Senate Finance Committee want to debate and vote on a public health insurance option that would compete with private insurers.

25 Sep 2009

Canadian doctor: Dutch health care system could work in U.S.

Kaiser Health News features an interview with Dr. Robert Ouellet, the immediate past president of the Canadian Medical Association, who "recently participated in a fact-finding mission to five European countries to learn ways to improve the Canadian system. What he found, he said, could also offer lessons for the United States" (Villegas, 9/25).

25 Sep 2009

State round-up: Warnings, coverage and violations in health care

Modern Healthcare: "States would have up to one year to repay the federal government a share of the money they recoup from fraudulent or improper Medicaid payments, under an amendment approved by the Senate Finance Committee. Under current law, once state inspectors identify fraudulent practices, they have 60 days to return a portion of the federal dollars back to the government. Under the new amendment, states would instead have a full year to make those payments while expanding the role of recovery audit contractors" (DoBias, 9/24).

25 Sep 2009

At Finance Committee, fireworks surround efforts to add drug discount, eliminate individual mandate

The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday defeated an amendment that sought to squeeze more money out of pharmaceutical companies to help pay for the costs of changing the health care system. The panel's vote was a victory for President Obama and Finance Chairman Max Baucus.

25 Sep 2009