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Medical students respond positively to simulated patient experience

When a vomiting, simulated patient mannequin was rolled into the lecture hall last fall to teach large numbers of first- and second-year Wake Forest University School of Medicine students about the brain and nervous system, Michael T. Fitch, M.D., Ph.D., wasn't sure what to expect.

23 Jul 2007

Giving patients question checklists helps patients ask right questions

Asking more questions during a visit to the doctor might help patients get care that is more satisfactory, but many patients are not sure where to start.

20 Jul 2007

Medicare plans to slash physician payments will harm Maine seniors

Highlighting a looming access to care crisis for Maine's more than 220,000 Medicare patients, the American Medical Association (AMA) National House Call campaign barnstormed Portland today.

18 Jul 2007

$900 million for public health emergency response

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced that the department has provided another $896.7 million to the states, territories, and four metropolitan areas to improve and sustain their ability to respond to public health emergencies.

18 Jul 2007

Inverse relationship between mortality rates and performance in the hospital quality alliance measures

A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) shows that patients who go to hospitals ranked higher according to specific quality measures have a lower chance of dying than patients treated at lower-ranked hospitals.

17 Jul 2007

Growing support for tobacco tax increase to fund SCHIP by lawmakers

Congressional support "appears to be growing" for an increase in the federal tobacco tax as a way to fund the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP, the Wall Street Journal reports.

11 Jul 2007

Some professionals choose to enter nursing field as second career

The Boston Globe on Monday examined how a "small but growing number of mid-career professionals" are choosing to enter the nursing field as a second career, a trend that could help "mitigate the widespread nursing shortage facing" the nation.

11 Jul 2007

CBO report projects possible impact of health care spending growth on income tax rate

If health care costs continue to grow at the same rate as the last 40 years, income tax rates will need to increase substantially by 2050 if they are the only mechanism used to pay for the additional costs, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released on Monday, CQ HealthBeat reports.

11 Jul 2007

Electronic health records not associated with improved quality of outpatient health care

Electronic health records have been hailed as a key element in making U.S. medical care more effective and efficient, but a new study led by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that electronic records were not associated with improved quality of outpatient health care in 2003 and 2004.

10 Jul 2007

Federal farm bill includes funds for critical access hospitals in rural areas

Rural Pennsylvania hospitals are "eagerly awaiting passage" of the federal 2007 Farm Bill (HR 2419), which would provide about $1.6 billion to critical access hospitals that serve rural populations across the U.S., the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

10 Jul 2007

Competitive marketplace key to successful U.S. health care system

The U.S. health care system "is in need of serious reform, but the solution is not Cuban-style socialized medicine, as Michael Moore advocates in his new film 'Sicko,'" HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt writes in a Washington Times opinion piece.

10 Jul 2007

Health care 'staking claim to center stage' on national agenda

Health care "is rising on the national agenda, but at least four things need to happen for this debate not to end in failure in the new Congress in 2009, as the last debate did in 1994," Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

10 Jul 2007

ICW America and Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island team up to offer an interoperable personal health record

ICW America (ICW), a leading international e-Health provider and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University's Center for Primary Care and Prevention (the Center) at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, a leading research and teaching institution, have reached agreement to enter into a strategic collaboration to "develop and test a 21st century patient-centered, e-Health model of care".

9 Jul 2007

Thoroughly modern mental healthcare

UNISON is applauding the new mental health bill, agreed by the Commons yesterday after a rocky passage through parliament.

9 Jul 2007

When to move into a nursing home

When is the right time to suggest parents or loved ones can no longer live safely on their own?

4 Jul 2007

How medical homes promote equity in health care

Providing minority patients a medical home in which they have a regular doctor or health professional who oversees and coordinates their care would help eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities and promote more health care equity, says a new report from the Commonwealth Fund.

28 Jun 2007