The Bush administration has issued an eleventh-hour challenge to the physician lobby's efforts to prevent a pending 10 percent cut in their Medicare fees, in the form of call for a mandate that doctors use new information technology standards. The administration wants to tie any legislation blocking the cut, scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, to physicians' adoptions of health IT in their offices.
While there are numerous new products that help patients take charge of their health and medical history by organizing their records, but there are privacy concerns.
Two men have been arrested for allegedly stealing a car that had numerous documents in it, including the social security numbers and birth dates of about 200 dental patients.
Cancer patients in the United States, Canada and other countries have had medical tests postponed because of a problem with a Canadian nuclear reactor that produces medical isotopes used to diagnose and treat such cases. More than 20 million patients in Canada and the United States undergo nuclear medicine procedures every year.
A consortium of nine companies in the healthcare industry, including hospital-chain HCA Inc., are banding together to create a set of security practices to better protect the information in electronic medical records. The security standards are expected to be finalized by the end of 2008.
Revolution Health Network has invested in two new Web sites, a move that continues its effort to challenge WebMD. Revolution said it acquired a site devoted to patients with chronic conditions, and invested in another which offers diet ideas, exercise plans and advice.