Category: Drugs & Medicines
Dr. Wecker, who has been Global Program Leader, Vaccine Access and Delivery at PATH, succeeds Dr. Jack Faris, who has been serving as acting CEO during the past eighteen months. Dr. Faris will remain part of the PNDRI team as a strategic advisor.
Dr. Corey is an expert in virology, immunology and vaccine development. His research has focused on herpes viruses, HIV and other viral infections, particularly those associated with cancer.
A new database lets you find out the prevailing rates for medical procedures in your area, and the 2010 health-care reform law provides better protection when people receive out-of-network emergency care.
Berwick on the future of health-care reform. The Economist on the Supreme Court arguments. Sedaris on dental care in Paris.
Nine prominent physician groups have released lists of 45 common tests and treatments they say are often unnecessary and may even harm patients. The move represents a high-profile effort by physicians to help reduce the extraordinary amount of unnecessary treatment, said to account for as much as a third of the $2.6 trillion Americans spend on health care each year.
Since the beginning of the year, 640 cases of whooping cough have been reported in Washington State. Last year by this time, only 94 cases had been reported.
In Washington, if 5% more people attended some college and 3% more had an income higher than twice the federal poverty level we could expect to save 1,900 lives, prevent 16,700 cases of diabetes, and eliminate $93.7 Million in diabetes costs every year.
Errors involving drugs are the most common type of medical errors, harming about 1.5 million people each year. A recent example shows how easily these errors can happen . . .
Gone are the days of just signing up for health insurance and hoping you don’t have to use it. Now, more employees are being asked to roll up their sleeves for medical tests — and to exercise, participate in disease management programs and quit smoking to qualify for hundreds, even thousands of dollars’ worth of premium or deductible discounts.
Medicare’s largest effort to pay hospitals based on how they perform did not lead to fewer deaths, casting doubt on a central premise of the new health law’s effort to rework the financial incentives for hospitals with the aim of saving money while improving patient care.
Even without the health-care reform law, the federal government is changing how it pays doctors and hospitals, from a system that rewards volume to one that rewards quality. . . . “I think if the health care law were repealed tomorrow, it would not change the direction of what is happening in the marketplace.”
What are the major arguments concerning the individual mandate? Medicaid expansion? That Anti-injunction Act? What is the Anti-injunction Act? And what’s severability? Stuart Taylor, Jr. answers these and other questions about this weeks Supreme Court arguments.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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