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Editor's Picks
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Microsoft director: Australia's rush for personal EHRs a big risk
As Australian software developers clamor to build personal e-health records, they risk creating new silos of unconnected patient information, warns Neil Jordan, Microsoft's managing director of worldwide health. While progress on a national e-health record system has stalled in Australia, Jordan says he is slightly concerned that "everyone" he has spoken to in the country wants to build a personal health record. "That's okay, but don't build them all separately or you will end up with the same problem you currently have with e-health records—they're in a whole load of silos," Jordan told Australia IT News. [Read More]
Code aims to aid foreign nurses
For nearly a decade, the United States has struggled to recruit enough nurses to serve its rapidly aging population, prompting many medical facilities to look overseas for qualified candidates. But once they are here, some are given jobs beneath their skill level, are not placed in the hospitals or medical facilities they were promised, or are not paid fairly compared with their American counterparts. But now a coalition of healthcare groups, including the American Nurses Association, has unveiled a code of ethics it hopes will protect nurses from other countries from such abusive employment practices. The four-page code of ethics is designed to be used by employers and recruitment agencies, and as a primer for nurses who'd like to work in the United States but aren't clear on what rights they might have. [Read More]
Medical tourism—within the United States
With the increasing popularity medical tourism, U.S. employers are encouraging workers to travel for medical care—but to stay domestic. Some of these employers are looking to take advantage of geographical variations in the quality and cost of healthcare within the United States, while others are leveraging deals they've struck with foreign hospitals in order to secure better rates with U.S. hospitals that face competition from facilities on foreign soil. Americans have been traveling abroad to receive medical treatment for some time, and the prospect of losing revenue overseas is prompting some U.S. hospitals to match lower foreign prices, according to this article in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). [Read More]
Foreign patients owe millions to the U.K.'s National Health Service
As U.S. employers try to keep patients from traveling to foreign countries for care, England's National Health Service may want to encourage Americans and other medical tourists to do the same. Foreign patients are costing the NHS tens of millions of pounds by giving hospitals false identities and addresses, or even leaving the country in order to avoid paying for their treatment, according to The Guardian. Foreign nationals from most countries outside the European Economic Area must prove that they have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least six months in order to qualify for free care, and their entitlement is checked using passports, utility bills and interviews. However, a senior official a London hospital said "if you can't prove that, we bill you—but after the event. We don't throw you out on the street." [Read More]
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From HealthLeaders Magazine |
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10 Events That Could Change Healthcare
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No one knows what the future holds, but several scenarios could significantly alter the healthcare landscape. [Read More] |
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Audio Feature
Expanding Medical Travel: David Boucher talks about how Companion Global Healthcare is expanding its network of JCI-accredited hospitals and overcoming barriers to medical travel. [Listen Now]
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