Tag: Hospitals

The postcard from Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center offering lung scans for $169.

Critics say hospitals use marketing to cherry pick best-paying patients

Hospitals using their patients’ health and financial records to help pitch their most lucrative services, such as cancer, heart and orthopedic care and buying detailed information about local residents compiled by marketing firms — everything from age, income and marital status to shopping habits and whether they have children or pets at home.

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February 6, 2012 | 0 Comments More
How to cut your risk of heart disease — Tips from the NIH

How to cut your risk of heart disease — Tips from the NIH

The bad news: Heart disease is the number one killer of both women and men in the U.S. The good news: there’s much you can do to prevent heart disease. Here’s how . . .

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February 5, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Health care hiring remains strong

Health care hiring remains strong

The U.S. health care sector added more than 23,000 jobs last month, according to a new report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with hospitals hiring about 10,000 new employees.

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January 7, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Hospital round trips more common for U.S. heart attack patients

Hospital round trips more common for U.S. heart attack patients

U.S. heart attack patients tend to be sent home sooner than other countries, but were more likely to be back within 30 days. Better post-hospital care may explain why other nations do better.

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January 5, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Photo Credit: Dan Higgins/CDC

Holiday health reading: Journals and the killer flu, why women have late abortions, and unhappy hospital docs

Why do mothers seek abortions late in their pregnancies? How much detail should journals provide about killer flu research? Obama originally opposed the individual mandate and Romney supported it – now it’s the other way round. What’s up with that?

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December 28, 2011 | 0 Comments More
For hospitals, there’s no app for that

For hospitals, there’s no app for that

Hospitals are usually eager to embrace the latest medical technology, but the road to deploying tablet computers has been bumpy.

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December 27, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Reducing your risk of being injured by a medical error

Reducing your risk of being injured by a medical error

Errors are often the result of poor coordination within the health care system and poor communication on the part of physicians, nurses and patients. What can you to protect yourself and loved ones?

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December 16, 2011 | 1 Comment More
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt 1632

Without autopsies, hospitals bury their mistakes

Hospital autopsies have become a rarity. As a result, experts say, diagnostic errors are missed, opportunities to improve medical treatment are lost, and health-care statistics are skewed.

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December 15, 2011 | 0 Comments More
osuely Claudio is examined by nurse practitioner Mary McDonagh at Mt. Sinai's PACT clinic in New York (Photo by Fred Mogul for WNYC/KHN).

Medicare to penalize hospitals with high readmission rates

Starting next fall, Medicare will begin penalizing hospitals if their readmission rates are higher than expected for three conditions: heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia.

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December 15, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Hospitals use drug company sales tactics to pitch services to doctors

Hospitals use drug company sales tactics to pitch services to doctors

A growing number of hospitals nationwide are hiring former drug and device sales representatives to visit doctors’ offices to persuade them to use their services over competing facilities.

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December 14, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Health and medicine on the Web: This week’s top picks

Health and medicine on the Web: This week’s top picks

Are the brains of autistic children different? Do non-profit hospitals rake in too much money? Should doctors consider other careers?

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November 13, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Hospitals may pay a price if they fail to provide TLC

Hospitals may pay a price if they fail to provide TLC

Medicare will soon start taking patient satisfaction into account when reimbursing hospitals. And that means, disgruntled patients could reduce revenue,

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November 8, 2011 | 1 Comment More