Partners In Health, the Boston-based global health initiative that has been the face of health care in Haiti after the devastating earthquake six months ago, is building a new teaching hospital there.The 320-bed, seven-building hospital will rise in Mirebalais in the rural Central Plateau, a 45-minute drive from the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, the hard-hit capital. It will become a national referral center when it opens at the end of next year, seeing as many patients as are seen at the other 12 clinics in Haiti where Partners in Health currently works.The new hospital will also train doctors, nurses, and other health professionals. Teaching hospitals were among the 60 to 70 percent of health care facilities destroyed by the earthquake.
Patients admitted to an intensive care unit over the weekend may be more likely to die than those admitted at other times, perhaps because of reduced staffing, a review of research finds. For the review, published in the July issue of the journal Chest, researchers examined the results of 10 studies exploring the link between time of admission to an ICU and death rates. The studies were conducted in North America, Europe and Asia. The risk could actually be as high as 13% — or as low as 4%. The review authors adjusted their statistics so they wouldn't be thrown off by differences in the severity of illness between weekday and weekend patients.
Months after delivering its crucial endorsement of the health care overhaul, the American Medical Association has found itself with fewer friends on Capitol Hill and more critics questioning its lobbying savvy. Its troubles couldn’t come at a worse time: It is more dependent than ever on having allies in Congress, thanks to the growing number of Medicare patients. The AMA’s most prominent lobbying failure has been its inability to repeal the obsolete formula governing payments for Medicare patients — a method that has for years required regular temporary “fixes” to avoid big pay cuts for doctors. “For the amount of money that AMA spends, it doesn’t seem to get the bang for their buck,” said a senior Republican health staffer who has worked with the group. “By contrast, the American Hospital Association is much more careful and strategic how it uses its resources and has gotten a lot more done. They’re certainly much more respected and have better access on the Hill.”
Johnson & Johnson said Monday it plans to bolster its lineup of stroke-prevention products by buying Micrus Endovascular Corp. for about $480 million, marking the latest deal in a neurovascular-device market that appears to be heating up. J&J's planned purchase of San Jose, CA-based Micrus comes weeks after rival Covidien PLC announced plans to buy Ev3 Corp., a Micrus rival, for $2.6 billion. Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise said the Covidien-Ev3 combination may have spurred on J&J due to a hospital-purchasing trend of focusing more on bundled portfolios of products. Following these deals, "it seems clear that the neuro space has become one of the more attractive MedTech markets for would-be acquirers," Wise wrote in a research note.
Washington, DC, now owns United Medical Center, the only hospital serving residents east of the Anacostia River, after bidding $20 million for the beleaguered facility at a five-minute foreclosure auction Friday that drew no other bidders. The move plunges the District back into the business of owning a financially struggling hospital nearly a decade after city-run D.C. General Hospital was forced to close because of similar troubles. No cash changed hands Friday, but the proceeding reduces the estimated $55 million debt that the previous owner, Specialty Hospitals of America, owes the city, Attorney General Peter Nickles said. The city took immediate possession of the 184-bed hospital, formerly Greater Southeast Community Hospital, met its $2.2 million payroll and started the process of transferring Medicaid and Medicare numbers and various licenses, officials said.
Middle-aged and older men who take erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra are more likely to have sexually transmitted diseases, a new study of more than 1.4 million men finds. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Southern California say the fault lies not with the drugs but rather the high risk behaviors of the men who request them. And doctors should counsel these patients about safe sex practices, they said.