Doctors are exploring ways to reduce the amount of radiation exposure from medical imaging tests in light of renewed concerns about the cancer risk, according to research presented at a radiology conference. Radiologists have been working for several years to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure in children, whose growing bodies are more sensitive to radiation than adults', says Richard Morin, chairman of the American College of Radiology's Safety Committee. But Morin says other doctors also need to do more to protect patients, such as referring them for imaging tests only when they're really necessary.
Hospitals can slow the revolving door that shuttles heart failure patients back into bed within a month of going home by following up promptly to ensure patients get the right outpatient care, a study shows. The study involved more than 30,000 Medicare patients, ages 65 and older, at 252 hospitals that supply data to an American Heart Association quality-improvement program. It found that more than half of the hospitals in the study failed to follow up with patients for a week after their discharge, though most are elderly, frail, and taking a different mix of prescriptions or dosages.
The Minnestoa House has approved cutting $164 million from health and human services, but the matter could be moot. While the debate was underway, Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced that he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk. Pawlenty said the budget cuts should be far steeper and the bill should drop a plan to replace the revamped General Assistance Medical Care state program for very poor residents with a richer but costlier expansion of Medicaid, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
After months of waiting, Terry Hall of Toxicology Testing received an envelope from Jackson Health System earlier this week. Inside was a check for $21,000 for work he did six to nine months ago. The check was a huge sum for his eight-employee firm, which had performed drug testing on Jackson employee and applicants. Its delay and then sudden arrival is an example of Jackson's accounts payable system for its vendors, the Miami Herald reports: getting a bit better, but still dysfunctional.
Cooper University Hospital and Deborah Heart and Lung Center—two of the three hospitals in South New Jersey with open-heart surgery programs—had higher-than-expected death rates for bypass surgeries in 2007, according to a state report. The annual cardiac surgery report by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services found that the overall 30-day death rate for patients after heart-bypass surgery was stable at 2%.
After serious errors led health insurer Anthem Blue Cross to cancel a massive increase in health insurance premiums, consumer advocates are calling for a review of pending rate hikes by other big insurers in California. Health Access California, a prominent healthcare advocacy group, urged the state's two insurance regulators to seek independent assessments of all increases in premiums for individual policyholders and those who get insurance through small employers.