As the already known complications to its demise have increased by the minute, there may be some detectable pauses in the partisan zeal to give the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, the bum’s rush. That’s because the legislation’s repeal-and-replace proponents — despite seven years and several dozen U.S. House votes to roll back the ACA….
Continue ReadingMedical Records
Big Pharma, Big Soda spending big to battle ballot measures
Just some quick updates on some topics that the blog has followed in recent days: Big Soda, Big Pharma spending big to battle ballot measures The Fall 2016 elections that have caused such cconsternation will be done, none too soon. But not before Big Soda and Big Pharma have poured millions of dollars to oppose….
Continue ReadingSouth Dakota high court won’t force hospitals to disclose why they let a bad doctor operate on patients’ spines
South Dakotans will need their state lawmakers’ help now to pry open physicians’ iron grip on secret decisions about which doctors get to practice in hospitals and why. That’s because the state’s Supreme Court ruled this vital information must be kept confidential, even if releasing it would serve a wider good of disclosing possible criminal or fraudulent….
Continue Reading‘Superbug’ infection raises key questions about hospitals, data on causes of death
California regulators have reversed themselves and decided to require hospitals to report outbreaks of “superbug” cases, rare infections that also can prove deadly. At the same time, officials in the Golden State haven’t moved to increase the information disclosed on death certificates−data that advocates suggest would give the public clearer outlines of just how severe….
Continue ReadingHospitals still failing to correctly ID patients and prevent mix-ups
As American medicine grows ever more complex, a basic of care is getting risky short shrift: Hospitals may be failing to protect their patients’ safety by ensuring they are clearly identified and their medical records don’t get mixed up. The Wall Street Journal provides a list of horror stories about wrong patient IDs and record….
Continue ReadingWho puts hospitalized elderly at risk? Over-prescribing doctors.
Among the plenty of worries when an older patient has to be hospitalized, here’s one to think about: treating physicians and their ever-ready prescription pads which put patients at risk for serious side effects that can be worse than the problem they’re treating. Kaiser Health News has continued writer Anna Gorman’s series on the woes….
Continue ReadingMedicare officials back patient safety measure: ID digits on medical devices
They may seem like a cryptic pile of digits on devices that most of us might never see but will have in us, sometimes in life-saving fashion. But “unique identification numbers,” emblazoned on everything from hip implants to pacemakers, may offer a ne safety check on a burgeoning aspect of health care. They also have….
Continue ReadingOrlando shootings raise health care concerns
Here’s hoping that the mass shooting in Orlando will focus attention on some health care issues that the event flushed into open view: Do we need to update and rethink policies that restrict or bar certain groups from blood donation? Gay activists and others have denounced anew these restrictions. They say these rules unnecessarily stigmatize….
Continue ReadingTougher oversight needed on harms of medical devices
Problems with medical devices contribute to 3,000 Americans’ deaths annually, research shows, and fixing any one of the problem devices can cost hundreds of millions. So why aren’t government officials doing more and better in regulating them and protecting the public, a New York Times health policy columnist has asked. This health economist, Austin Frakt,….
Continue ReadingHospitals’ drug-ordering systems show flaws, some potentially fatal
The United States has spent billions of dollars to try to slash medical errors, the third highest cause of death in the nation. But computerized systems that allow physicians to enter their drug orders−a key tool in the fight against one of the most common cause of medical errors−aren’t yet stopping as many problem prescriptions as….
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