Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Those Old-School Hospital Bracelets May Be Getting An Upgrade
The Wall Street Journal: Is It Time For A Better Hospital ID Bracelet?
The pesky but essential hospital ID bracelet is getting a makeover. At hospitals across the country, the wristband bearing a patient’s name and date of birth is going high tech or super sleek. And if some doctors have their druthers, it will disappear altogether. Critics say ID bracelets collect germs and can be hard to read, leading to mistakes. They can fall off and get lost. While high-tech wristbands allow hospitals to track patients at all times, some doctors say the best bracelet is none at all. (Lagnado, 2/20)
In other health and technology news —
The New York Times: The Medical Tech That Helps You When Your Doctor Can’t
You (or your employer) pay for health insurance every month. In exchange, you assume that if you have any health-related needs, they’ll be covered. Yet there are gaps in the system that your provider may not want to pay for. Now, a wave of medical start-ups want to fill in those gaps. As Silicon Valley looks for the next big thing to pour money into, health care looks like an increasingly tantalizing field. According to Forbes, more than $2.8 billion worth of venture capital was invested in health care start-ups in September 2018 alone. An increase of 70 percent over the previous year. (Ravenscraft, 2/20)
