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Editor's Picks
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Editor's note
This issue will mark the final edition of HealthLeaders Media Global, but continue visiting HealthLeadersMedia.com for coverage of global health issues in our Daily News and Analysis and weekly e-Newsletters, including HealthLeaders Media Corner Office. Next week, we will launch a new pillar and e-Newsletter targeting Nursing Leadership.
Canada flirts with private sector medicine
Some enterprising Canadian healthcare providers are hoping to capitalize on patients who might otherwise go to the U.S. for quicker care, the Los Angeles Times reports. More than 70 private health providers in British Columbia now schedule simple surgeries and tests such as MRIs with waits as short as a week or two, compared with the months it takes for a public surgical suite to become available for nonessential operations in the country. But the trend has its critics: the move into privatized care threatens to make delays even longer, public healthcare advocates say, because there will be fewer skilled healthcare workers in government hospitals (exacerbating an already dire shortage) as doctors and nurses are lured into better-paying private jobs. In October, Canadian courts will be asked to decide whether the budding system, which is technically illegal in the country, should be sanctioned. [Read More]
French health system tangles with rising costs
The fast-rising cost of drugs and medical care, particularly for the elderly, has raised the question of how long France can afford its nationally funded health insurance. As it tries to bring down rising deficits, the government has reduced the reimbursement rate for many medicines and routine medical services, opening a growing market for private insurance policies to cover the steadily increasing co-payments. Some specialists fear that the competition among these policies may lead to even higher medical costs because of the administrative expenditures linked to approving or contesting doctor's fees and the advertising budgets needed to draw in customers, according to this article in the Washington Post. [Read More]
Growth in Cross-Cultural Competency Improves Patient Care
Overcoming the cultural boundaries that can divide or prevent a patient-doctor relationship from forming can be a difficult task, notes my colleague Sarah Kearns in this article. In a 2004 survey conducted at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, more than half of the staff members said they would benefit from additional support and training on how to teach about cultural disparities and how to overcome cultural boundaries. With funding from the National Institute of Health to eliminate health disparities and faculty members recognizing the need for training, program coordinator Shoshana Silberman and Correa began developing a task force to help include cultural competency training in the curriculum. This article examines how the resulting program has improved how staff members address patients of many cultures, and has encouraged multicultural patients to ask more questions about their care. [Read More]
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Global Health Headlines
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Hospital Blogs Can Help During Times of Controversy
Marianne Aiello, for HealthLeaders Media - September 28, 2009
Health System Restricts Young People from Facilities to Prevent H1N1
Les Masterson, for HealthLeaders Media - September 25, 2009
Hospitals Fined for Forgotten Surgical Devices, Wrong Surgeries, Burnt Patient
Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media - September 25, 2009
Health System Uses Social Media to Recruit Physicians
Marianne Aiello, for HealthLeaders Media - September 23, 2009
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From HealthLeaders Magazine |
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The Patient of the Future
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Physicians suggest. Patients ignore. Technology alone won't bring them together. But a new relationship just might. [Read More] |
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Service Line Management |
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Certifiable Stroke Care
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With a growing emphasis on stroke center certification, hospitals must demonstrate that they have the teams in place to treat stroke patients quickly and effectively, or risk losing patients to a competitor down the road. [Read More] |
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