|
CMS
Publishes Proposed Guidance for Seasonal, H1N1 Flue Prevention
(McKnights - 6/23/10)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued proposed
guidance that would update and replace previous inflection
control guidance for the seasonal and H1N1 flu.
Court
Rejects the Right to Use Drugs Being Tested (New York
Times - Aug. 2007)
Do desperate patients have the right to try unproven therapies?
Sonoma
Co. Settles Gay Discrimination Suit (Mercury News- 7/23/10)
Sonoma County has agreed to pay $600,000 to settle a lawsuit
by an elderly gay man who said social workers kept him from
seeing his dying partner in the hospital. Clay Greene, 78,
of Guerneville filed a lawsuit earlier this year, claiming
the county's Public Guardian program discriminated against
him because of his sexual orientation. Greene accused social
workers of denying him hospital visitation rights to see his
partner, Harold Scull, despite signed wills, medical declarations
and powers of attorney naming each other as spouses. The couple
was not married nor registered as domestic partners.
Patti's Comments: This can also relate to heterosexual
unmarried partners.
Healthcare-Associated
Infections (HAI
Watch News)
When someone develops an infection at a hospital or other
patient care facility that they did not have prior to treatment,
this is referred to as a healthcare-associated (sometimes
hospital-acquired) infection (HAI). HAIs are a global crisis
affecting both patients and healthcare workers.
How
to File a Complaint
If you believe that a covered entity violated your (or someone
else’s) health information privacy rights or committed
another violation of the Privacy or Security Rule, you may
file a complaint with OCR. OCR can investigate complaints
against covered entities.
Letting
Go - What Should Medicine Do When it Can't Save Your Life?
(New Yorker - 8/2/10)
Modern medicine is good at staving off death with aggressive
interventions—and bad at knowing when to focus, instead,
on improving the days that terminal patients have left.
Partnering
for Better Care (Boston.com - Oct. 2007)
Now that Massachusetts has made significant progress toward
guaranteed access to healthcare, the Commonwealth must turn
to a new challenge: ensuring that the medical care provided
is of the highest possible quality.
Patient
Safety Checklist (Martine Ehrenclou, MA)
Surgical safety checklists have been shown to be very effective
in significantly reducing fatal medical errors when used by
surgeons and members of the surgical team. This checklist
is for patients and their advocates to further close the gap
on preventing medical errors in hospitals.
Patients,
Beware (Walletpop.com)
731 nurses reveal what to watch out for in the hospital.
Stimulus
Package Health Provisions Significantly Expand HIPAA Privacy
Standards (2/17/09)
As part of the stimulus package, the Health Information Technology
for Economic and Clinical Health Act (the “HITECH Act”)
significantly expands the HIPAA Privacy Rule and Security
Standards. The following is a summary of the key provisions
of the HITECH Act related to HIPAA.
Studies
Show Yoga Can Treat Illness (Freep.com - 11/28/08)
The ancient practice of yoga is increasingly finding a new
following - among doctors and medical researchers who are
working to prove its benefits for a variety of illnesses.
Study:
10 Minutes of Exercise, Hour-Long Effects (Phys.org)
We all know that exercise and a good diet are important for
health, protecting against heart disease and diabetes, among
other conditions. But what exactly causes the health improvement
from working up a sweat or from eating, say, more olive oil
than saturated fat? And are some people biologically predisposed
to get more benefit than others?
Swine
Flu Vaccine Coming Soon: What You Need to Know (Caring.com
- 7/20/09)
Swine Flu was back in the news last week with reports of so
many cases spreading around the globe that the World Health
Organization announced it's no longer going to keep count.
Related:
National
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) - HRSA
The 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine (swine flu vaccine)
is not covered under the VICP. If you received the 2009
pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine (swine flu vaccine) or drugs
to treat or prevent H1N1 influenza such as Tamiflu, Relenza
or Peramivir and think that you have been seriously injured
by this vaccine or these drugs, see the Countermeasures
Injury Compensation Program.
World's
Most Powerful MRI Ready to Scan Human Brain (Science
Daily - Jan. 2, 2008)
The world's most powerful medical magnetic resonance imaging
machine, the 9.4 Tesla at the University of Illinois at Chicago,
has successfully completed safety trials and may soon offer
physicians a real-time view of biological processes in the
human brain.
|
