Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Medicare Releases Draft Proposal For Patient Observation Notice
Although there is widespread agreement on the need to let people know if they haven’t been admitted, the language proposed by federal officials hasn’t satisfied everyone.
As Hospital Chains Grow, So Do Their Prices For Care
The average patient stay costs $4,000 more at Sutter and Dignity hospitals than at other California medical centers, study shows.
Medicare’s Efforts To Curb Backlog Of Appeals Not Sufficient, GAO Reports
Investigators from the GAO call for HHS to improve oversight of the Medicare appeals process and streamline it to make sure repetitive claims are handled more efficiently.
For Doctors-In-Training, A Dose Of Health Policy Can Help The Medicine Go Down
Medical residents at George Washington University spend three weeks examining and diagnosing the nation’s health care system.
At This Medical School, Students Mix Science And Health Policy
Health policy is far from an afterthought at George Washington University, where med students begin tackling the knotty topic in their first semester.
FDA Eases Paperwork To Help Some Patients Get Experimental Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration has introduced a simplified form that doctors will use to seek FDA approval to treat seriously ill patients with experimental drugs after other options run out.
Study Suggests Federal Standard May Be Thwarting Some Transplant Patients
Researchers report that performance standards set by federal health officials may have led to many patients being dropped from transplant lists without improving survival rates.
Lights Out: Some Children’s Hospitals Take Steps To Ensure A Good Night’s Sleep
Because of the important role sleep plays in healing, a trend is emerging in which children’s hospitals are reorganizing their workflow to help their young patients sleep through the night.
California’s Glaring Shortage Of School Nurses
A new national pediatric guideline proposes that every school have a nurse on staff. In California, 57 percent of school districts do not employ nurses.
When Adult Children Get Sick, It May Be Hard For Parents To Get Information
Federal law seeks to protect the privacy of patients’ health information, but sometimes leaving parents out of the loop can complicate the patient’s recovery.
Blue Shield ‘Lifts The Veil’ On Executive Pay
Consumer advocates say the nonprofit’s disclosures come too late for policy holders and the public.
Missouri Hospitals Seek To Focus Readmission Penalties On Patient Poverty
The Missouri Hospital Association objects to the formula for setting the federal penalties because it does not factor in the number of patients who are poor or in bad health. It is seeking to generate consumer interest in the penalties.
CVS MinuteClinics: A Cure For Long Wait Times At Veterans Affairs?
The experiment in private partnership begins in Palo Alto, Calif.
Medicare’s Drug-Pricing Experiment Stirs Opposition
A proposal to change the way Medicare pays for some drugs has set off intense reaction and lobbying — all tied to a common theme: How far should the government go in setting prices for prescription drugs?
A Doctor Yearns For A Return To The Time When Physicians Were ‘Artisans’
Dr. Abraham Nussbaum, author of a new book examining the drive toward quality metrics such as checklists, says he fears medicine could become just another job and not a “calling.”
Inspectors Find Calif. Hospital’s Pharmacy Posed Infection Risk
Thousands of patients at the San Diego-area hospital may have been exposed to infection last year because of unsanitary conditions in the compounding lab where IVs were mixed, officials found.
Critics Of Medicare’s Overall Hospital Star Rating Push For Changes
Federal officials delayed the release of the ratings after the hospital industry and members of Congress objected to the formula, saying it worked against hospitals that take the patients that are the toughest to treat.
Final EEOC Rule Sets Limits For Financial Incentives On Wellness Programs
The federal agency says the wellness programs can get health details about workers and their spouses as long as the financial rewards or penalties do not exceed 30 percent of the cost for an individual in the company’s group health plan.
Women Aren’t Taking First Place In Top Medical Journals
Women scientists get first author credit on medical studies much less often than their male coauthors. That has career implications and could even be skewing the study of women’s health.
Zoom, a medical group and insurer, is targeting millennials in Oregon and Washington with quick, accessible care as well as fitness, yoga and cooking classes.
