Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles
Burdock Root

Reform Questions Continue To Loom
Reuters reports that "President Barack Obama"s drive to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system may be back on track thanks to Senate efforts to cut the price tag to $1 trillion, but a bipartisan deal on the sweeping proposal still is far from certain ... Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was upbeat last week after announcing that panel members had found ways to bring the price tag to about $1 trillion over 10 years, down from an earlier estimate of a staggering $1.6 trillion ... Instead, the core group of negotiators -- three Democrats and four Republicans -- issued a tepid statement on Thursday merely affirming their commitment to continue negotiations."
generic viagra online
CPhA Applauds Efforts To Help Seniors Afford Prescription Medications
Congressional leaders and leading pharmaceutical companies have come up with a plan to reduce medication costs for millions of senior citizens enrolled in the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug program. In combination with other discount programs and rebates, the savings to the U.S. government could represent $80 billion. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is leading the charge to specifically close the coverage gap for patients whose medications costs fall into the "doughnut hole."
News of the day
New York Times Column Examines Experiences Of Nurse-Midwife
Elizabeth Letts, an author and certified nurse-midwife, in the New York Times" "Cases" column on Tuesday reports on her first experience assisting in the delivery of a stillborn infant. Letts describes how witnessing a more experienced midwife comfort the pregnant woman and perform the delivery helped her to stop "believ[ing] that providing support meant sitting in a corner pretending that death could be covered up with small talk." The experience reminded Letts that "birth and death are right around the corner from each other, and that as a midwife I may be charged with bringing either one into the world" (Letts, "Cases," New York Times, 6/23).
Sexual Health

Reducing Medical Residents' Hours Would Cost $2.5B Annually, Study Says

Implementing proposed reductions in the number of hours medical residents work could cost as much as $2.5 billion annually, according to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Baltimore Sun reports. The study follows an Institute of Medicine report that proposed reducing the maximum hours that residents can work without sleep from 30 to 16, increasing the number of days they must take off and improving their supervision (Desmon, Baltimore Sun, 5/21). In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education reduced the number of hours residents at teaching hospitals could work weekly from more than 100 hours to 80 hours. In the recent study, which was partially funded by IOM, researchers examined post-2003 literature on resident work hours and patient harm and evaluated it against additional labor costs. The authors concluded that the IOM recommendations "would be costly, and their effectiveness is unknown" (Shishkin, Wall Street Journal, 5/21). Teryl Nuckols, the lead author of the study, said that teaching hospitals would most likely need to hire more residents and experienced physicians to take care of patients, which would likely cost each teaching hospital $3.2 million annually (Baltimore Sun, 5/21). The study was accompanied by an NEJM editorial in which the authors "strongly disagree" with the IOM recommendations, claiming that reducing resident work hours "leads to an increase in the number of handoffs in care, and this increase outweighs the potential benefits of reducing residents" fatigue." The accreditation council said that more research is needed before it decides whether to adopt the IOM recommendations. The council"s decision will be announced in February 2010 (Wall Street Journal, 5/21). The study is available online. The editorial also is available online. Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009