The American Health Information Management Association has named Alan F. Dowling as the next CEO of the 55,000-member association, effective Jan. 13, 2010. He succeeds CEO Linda Kloss, who announced her resignation in July. Dowling is an adjunct professor of information systems at Case Western Reserve University, having also lectured at Georgetown University, the American University of Beirut, Simmons College, and the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his PhD in healthcare management and management information systems.
President Obama made a rare Sunday visit to the Capitol to urge a fractious Democratic caucus to pull together to pass landmark healthcare legislation, the Washington Post reports. Obama used the 45-minute session to stress the Senate's "historic opportunity to provide stability and security for those who have insurance, affordable coverage for those who don't, and bring down the cost of healthcare for families, small businesses, and the government," White House spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. The Senate will reconvene Dec. 7 for an eighth day of debate and potentially the first controversial amendment, addressing the issue of abortion coverage.
Senate Democratic leaders are struggling to preserve the fragile support of interest groups for an overhaul of the nation's healthcare system. The Senate wrestled with amendments that would impose additional cost-control requirements on hospitals, doctors, and drug companies, squeezing out savings beyond the considerable sums those groups had already volunteered to give up, the Washington Post reports. Of particular concern to seniors groups is an effort to strengthen a new independent board that would determine the future of Medicare, raising the possibility of cuts much deeper than those envisioned in the $848 billion healthcare bill.
Antiabortion lawmakers in the Senate plan to introduce an amendment to restrict insurance coverage of abortion in the health bill. Both sides agree the amendment likely doesn't have enough votes to pass, but antiabortion groups and Sen. Ben Nelson (D., NE) say they will continue insisting on tough language as a condition for supporting the overall bill. As it stands now, the Senate health bill would include abortion coverage in the new public plan and would allow women who receive government tax credits for insurance to enroll in a plan that covers the procedure. The tax credit would be segregated so none of it could go toward funding abortion, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Pushing Americans to receive swine flu vaccinations, the Obama administration released a new slate of television and radio ads to counter the illness. The public service announcements target children and their parents, young adults, and those in high-risk groups, such as people with asthma. The ads in English and Spanish come as a shortage of the vaccine is easing, with another 10 million doses expected to become available this week.
Surgeons have long listened to music while they work, saying it helps them relax and concentrate. But now Claudius Conrad, MD, an accomplished pianist and a senior surgical resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, is scientifically testing how music affects surgeons, their patients, and even relatives in the waiting room. The goal is to understand whether music can improve results of surgery, and whether it might be used as a medical treatment.