Although doctor or nurse bloggers might think they're anonymous, they sometimes inadvertently end up revealing their identities and, as a result, their patients', according to a study. Researchers reviewed five entries each for 271 blogs written by people who said they were a physician or a nurse, and they found that 114 of the blogs described patients. More than half of the bloggers provided enough information in their text or images to reveal their identities, and 45 of the blogs that described interactions with individual patients included enough information for them to identify their doctors or themselves. Three blogs went so far to show recognizable photos of patients.
Increasingly, research and anecdotal reports suggest that many patients don't trust doctors. About one in four patients feel that their physicians sometimes expose them to unnecessary risk, according to data from a Johns Hopkins study. And two other recent studies show that whether patients trust a doctor strongly influences whether they take their medication. The distrust and animosity between doctors and patients has shown up in a variety of places, from books to the Internet.
Daytona Beach, FL-based Halifax Health Medical Center has shown two surgical procedures live over the Internet since April, and it plans to air a third operation in the fall. The center's public-relations manager said the broadcasts help educate people who might undergo the procedures and give patients' family and loved ones a close look at the technology and techniques used at the facility. They also help educate medical students, professors, physicians, and the general public while showcasing the hospital's talents, programs, and technology, officials say.
Indianpolis-based health system Wishard Health Services expects to finish 2008 with a financial surplus, something it has done each year since 2005. System leaders attribute the performance to improvements in efficiency and increased efforts to reach patients before they need to be hospitalized.
The profitability of Michigan HMOs decreased in 2007, despite a cost hike in commercial premiums and an increase in Medicare and Medicaid enrollment, according to a report. The report also found that enrollment in commercial healthcare plans continues to decline in the state, and Medicaid enrollees now make up 37.4% of HMO members, as opposed to 28% in 2000.
Indianapolis-area hospitals have invested more than $1 billion to build new facilities since 2000, as well as invested in new outpatient surgery centers and specialty facilities. The hospitals have also started for-profit arms that rake in millions. The building binge is driving up the revenues of some of the hospitals, but it also is exacerbating differences in the financial health of the region’s four major hospital systems: St. Francis, St. Vincent, Clarian Health and Community Health Network.
Pam Stephenson, CEO of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, produced a letter from the state bar admissions office saying she must have demonstrated in 1994 that she had a law degree, because it licensed her to practice. Stephenson said the letter "confirms what I already knew about myself: Pam Stephenson holds a juris doctorate degree and I worked very hard for that." Questions about Stephenson's academic history surfaced when university registrars said they could not confirm some of the degrees listed on her résumé and a Grady-issued news release.
The new, three-story Murfreesboro (TN) Medical Clinic has opened its doors to patients for the first time. Phase one of the new clinic cost approximately $15 million for the building and $850,000 for the land. The departments that have moved over from the old building into the phase-one building include gastroenterology, general surgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, the SurgiCenter, and part of radiology.
Zimmer Holdings recently announced it was suspending sales of its metal hip socket replacement called the Durom cup until it trained doctors how best to implant it. The company said a “low” percentage of the 13,000 patients who got the socket would need replacements, but some doctors fear the number could reach into the hundreds. If those patients lived in other countries where artificial joints were tracked by national databases, including Australia and Britain, many might have been spared that risk. But the United States lacks such a joint registry national database that tracks how patients with artificial hips and knees fare.
Preventing medical errors that occur during or after surgery could save almost $1.5 billion a year, according to a study by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The researchers analyzed data on more than 161,000 patients in employer-based health plans who underwent surgery between 2001 and 2002. The study found that insurers paid an additional $28,218 and an additional $19,480 for each surgery patient who suffered acute respiratory failure or post-operative infections, respectively, compared to patients who didn't suffer those complications.
