For breaking news and analysis throughout the day, visit HealthLeadersMedia.com or add the RSS Feed of our Daily News & Analysis.
By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, May 20, 2009
If implemented correctly in the United States, comparative effectiveness research could show the capability to improve healthcare and reduce health costs, according to a new report from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. However, several barriers?including Americans' distrust of data sources?will need to be addressed in the meantime. As a point of comparison, the report also looked at three clinical examples of comparative effectiveness studies in four national health programs (China, Germany, Great Britain, and Australia).
By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, May 19, 2009
The Department of Justice and 16 states have joined two whistleblower suits against Wyeth, alleging the drug maker knowingly failed to give the government discounts it provided to private purchasers, a violation of Medicaid law.
By: May 20, 2009
A new Gallup Poll finds that a many Americans?particularly the uninsured?are willing to travel abroad for major medical procedures, especially if they believe the quality of care would be the same, but significantly cheaper, than care in the United States. Health insurance is an important factor in the likelihood that Americans would consider getting health treatment abroad. For example, 37% of uninsured respondents would seek cancer care abroad as compared to 22% with health insurance.
By: Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, May 20, 2009
Ask William Schaffner, MD, why 50% of all adults don't get recommended vaccinations and he'll give you five reasons. "Funding, funding, funding, funding, and if you haven't gotten it yet, funding," says the president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. If governments want to get adults vaccinated to prevent billions of dollars in healthcare costs, not to mention avoid unnecessary death and disability, they need to incentivize physicians and hospitals?the entire healthcare delivery spectrum?to promote immunization, he says.
By: Matt Phillion, for HealthLeaders Media, May 19, 2009
When Joint Commission surveyors arrived at Lee Memorial Health Systems in Fort Myers, FL, the result was a weeklong survey on an epic scale. The first lesson of their survey was: be ready to change.
By: Ben Amirault, May 20, 2009
New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced an indictment that alleges Deborah Kantor, owner of H.I.S. Holdings, Inc., bribed a Niagara County Department of Social Services employee in order to gain assistance for approving Medicaid coverage for certain patients. Kantor and H.I.S., a debt collection agency that serves many major hospitals in Western New York, including Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, were charged with bribery in the second degree and rewarding official misconduct in the second degree.
By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, May 19, 2009
The United States is the only nation among 22 wealthy countries that fails to guarantee sick workers some type of paid sick leave or paid sick days, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.
By: Ben Cole, for HealthLeaders Media, May 19, 2009
British healthcare leaders visited a prominent U.S. hospital to share orthopedic best practices and workforce development—a partnership that both sides say could benefit their national health systems.
By: Carrie Vaughan, for HealthLeaders Media, May 19, 2009
Simulation and gaming technology can help healthcare organizations run drills with multiple players on various disaster scenarios.