Parts of Oregon, Washington state, Idaho, Montana and a few other states have some of the lowest rates of compliance with vaccination guidelines—and the problem is growing, health officials say. Overall vaccination rates in some of these communities are under 80%, far below the threshold that is needed to prevent an outbreak for certain diseases. Exemptions in many states for philosophical or religious reasons allow parents to opt out of requirements for children to be vaccinated before entering school. Other parents delay immunizations for their young children, leaving them exposed to possible infections for a longer time.
Medical care is so poor at an Idaho state prison that it amounts to neglect and cruel and unusual punishment, according to a report that was unsealed Monday. Correctional healthcare expert Dr. Marc Stern said there have been some improvements at the Idaho State Correctional Institution south of Boise. But terminal and long-term inmates sometimes went unfed, nursing mistakes or failure likely resulted in some deaths, and one inmate wasn't told for seven months that he likely had cancer, he said. The Idaho Department of Correction and the prison health care provider, Brentwood, Tenn.-based Corizon, said they're disappointed and are preparing a response that will show the care delivered to inmates meets constitutional and health care standards.
The stakes are higher than ever for hospitals to improve the patient experience. Starting in October, it could mean millions of dollars for hospitals as patient satisfaction for the first time is factored into how much Medicare reimburses for the care of senior citizens. And Metro Detroit hospitals are jumping into action, retraining employees in customer service and offering perks such as made-to-order room service meals and VIP lounges to cater to patients and their families.
When hospitals are short on beds in the intensive care unit, doctors are more likely to switch from life-saving care to end-of-life care, a new Canadian study shows. But it's not clear whether that means patients die any sooner, researchers report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. In the new study, Dr. Henry Stelfox at the University of Calgary found the emergency team was called much less often when there weren't any free ICU beds compared with when at least three were available.
The Commonwealth Fund, a New York foundation that studies the U.S. healthcare market, ranked 306 communities nationwide on key areas of health system performance, such as whether patients are getting timely preventive care and avoiding unnecessary hospital stays and whether healthcare is affordable. The report expands on previous research showing wide variations in the quality and cost of medical care across the country and within states. This marked the first time that the Commonwealth Fund drilled down into the differences among local areas.
The Society for the Arts in Health Care, in its most recent State of the Field report, published in 2009, cited data showing that up to 45 percent of the country's healthcare institutions use art in their programs. These included displays of art, bedside workshops and performances. Researchers have found that such programs decrease patient stress and improve quality of life; and there is a nascent body of evidence suggesting that, because of such improvements, arts programs can actually save on healthcare costs.