The nation's largest pediatricians' group has issued its first policy on protecting children from sexual abuse by doctors, citing a recent Delaware case and urging medical facilities to screen employees for previous abuse. Parents and patients also should be informed that they have a right to have a chaperone present during children's exams, according to the policy from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Training programs should educate future doctors about appropriate boundaries, and healthcare institutions should report suspected abuse to authorities and not quietly pass the problem doctor along to another institution. The marketing strategy is unique among hospital systems in the San Diego region and apparently uncommon nationwide. Some hospital systems have produced shows on medical issues, but programs that follow patient stories appear to be rare.
The American Telemedicine Association has fired off a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging that more money be spent on expanding telecommunications services, which will boost telemedicine projects at rural healthcare facilities. The letter, which was sent last week to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, noted that 16 months had passed since the FCC adopted the National Broadband Plan, which included an entire chapter on the positive effects that broadband expansion can have on healthcare delivery. The letter also stated that eight months ago the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report sharply criticizing the Commission's management of the Rural Health Care Program. However, during this period the FCC has not committed enough funds or developed sound performance goals and measures that will help the FCC implement the National Broadband Plan's healthcare objectives, the ATA said.
The UnitedHealth Group posted a higher-than-expected profit for its second quarter on Tuesday, helped by broad increases in enrollment, and the insurer raised its full-year earnings forecast. The company, which is the country's largest health insurer by market value, also cited moderated use of healthcare services by its members for helping lower its medical claim costs. The industry has benefited from Americans avoiding procedures and doctor visits during the weak economy. But UnitedHealth's higher forecast was only in line with Wall Street's target, and its shares fell 2.7% after the announcement. Its net income rose 13% to $1.27 billion, or $1.16 a share, compared with $1.12 billion, or 99 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected 94 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
When patients need a new heart valve, they can get an artificial one—if they're healthy enough for the conventional method, open-heart surgery. But a new artificial valve, inserted via catheter, doesn't require major surgery at all, and a group of heart experts is meeting Wednesday to weigh in on the device's safety. The artificial Sapien heart valve system, from Edwards Lifesciences, will be reviewed by an advisory panel to the FDA, which doesn't have to follow the panel's advice but usually does. Replacement valves are needed when the aorta, the main artery that carries blood away from the heart, becomes narrowed and prevents blood from flowing normally. The Sapien valve can be threaded through a leg artery to the aorta. In a clinical trial among patients deemed too sick for surgery, those who had the Sapien valve had better survival after a year than those who got other care, including using a balloon catheter to repair the valve.
Too many Americans weigh more than is good for them. What else is new, right? We learned less than two weeks ago that rates of obesity worsened in 16 states last year, and not one state showed improvement. Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is out with the latest analysis of its own nationwide survey data, collected by telephone since 1984. The figures are just a little different, but the trend is all too familiar. In the CDC's survey, people reported their own height and weight. Colorado, once again, was the best, sort of. Twenty-one percent of people there fit the criteria for obesity. In the other report we wrote about, Colorado was the only state to squeak under 20 percent, with an obesity rate of 19.8%. Obesity rates were highest in Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia. Obesity is defined as a body mass index of at least 30.
Hospitals are changing how they care for premature infants amid growing evidence that some longtime practices, intended to keep the most vulnerable babies alive, may increase risks of serious and potentially deadly complications. Some neonatal intensive-care units are cutting back on the high levels of oxygen traditionally given to premature babies. The change is based on research indicating the high levels may contribute to a condition called retinopathy of prematurity, a leading cause of blindness. Hospitals also are cutting back on prescribing several medications, including antibiotics and anti-reflux drugs, for infants because studies show they confer few benefits and increase risk of adverse reactions. "Everything we do is a balance of risks and benefits for the infant, and we have to be vigilant to make sure we are not making things worse," says Dan L. Ellsbury, director of the Center for Research, Education and Quality at Pediatrix Medical Group, a large neonatal physicians group and a unit of Mednax Inc., of Sunrise, FL. Pediatrix doctors care for some 20% of premature babies receiving intensive care in U.S. hospital NICUs.