President Obama's speech on healthcare failed to bridge the gulf with Republicans, but Democrats said that the president had largely succeeded in unifying his own party by making a persuasive pitch to the American public and by casting his plan to overhaul the healthcare system as a political and moral imperative. The day after the nationally televised address in which Obama signaled that he could accept an alternative to a government-run insurance plan, influential Democrats who previously seemed wedded to the public insurance option hinted that they, too, might be flexible, according to the New York Times.
When President Obama broached medical malpractice laws in his speech to a joint session of Congress, it was one of the few times that Republican lawmakers stood to applaud. But the ideas the president embraced stopped considerably short of the federal limits on awards in malpractice lawsuits that the GOP and the nation's physicians have sought for years. While Obama said he wants the Department of Health and Human Services to encourage states to experiment with ways to reduce malpractice litigation, he was sketchy about the details of the "demonstration projects" he has in mind.
Six of the top medical journals published a significant number of articles in 2008 that were written by ghostwriters financed by drug companies, according to a study by editors of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Among authors of 630 articles who responded anonymously to an online questionnaire created for the study, 7.8% acknowledged contributions to their articles by people whose work should have qualified them to be named as authors on the papers but who were not listed.
More people are getting their health insurance from the government as the number of individuals with coverage from an employer declines, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The number of people in the U.S. without health insurance rose by about 700,000 between 2007 and 2008 to 46.3 million. The proportion of uninsured was essentially unchanged at 15.4%. But the 46 million figure is disputed. Many experts say the number is probably higher now because rising unemployment is causing more people in the U.S. to lose insurance provided through jobs. Others say the problem may be overstated because some of the uninsured can afford to buy insurance but don't.
A single low dose of H1N1 vaccine may be enough to protect adults from the flu virus that has been spreading around the world, new data shows. Researchers in Australia said they tested the H1N1 vaccine in 240 people ages 18 to 64. Half were given a dose of 15 micrograms while the others were given 30 micrograms. After 21 days, blood samples showed that most participants had an immune response of 1 to 40 titers or more, the researchers said.
The percentage of emergency room visits for fever or other flu-like symptoms in Connecticut has spiked slightly over the past two weeks, signaling a possible resurgence of the swine flu, the state epidemiologist said at a summit to help municipal leaders prepare for the next wave of the pandemic. "This may represent the return of H1N1 to Connecticut," Matthew Cartter, MD, told the 450 municipal and health professionals at the Connecticut Convention Center.
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has agreed to drop a $125-million claim that alleged Los Angeles County breached its contract by halting inpatient services at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. In return, the university will receive county building space under favorable rental terms, a long-term payment schedule for its share of a multimillion-dollar age discrimination lawsuit payout and the ability to forge a new relationship with the county as the Board of Supervisors moves to reopen the hospital.
Under Massachusetts' healthcare overhaul implemented three years ago, businesses with the equivalent of 11 or more full-time workers must offer coverage or pay a penalty. But small business owners say they have had to shoulder double digit annual increases in their premiums in recent years, typically higher than the 7%-9% increases larger businesses have faced. Now these small business owners in Massachusetts have been lobbying for relief under the state's law, saying insurance has become unaffordable.
Democratic congressional leaders have promised action this fall on legislation to overhaul the nation's healthcare system. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., NV) said he hopes legislation can be sent to the White House "well before Thanksgiving." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., CA) added she is "confident the president will sign a bill this year," despite lingering divisions among Democrats on key issues, such as whether to create a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers.
The Joint Commission has announced that its newly-formed Center for Transforming Healthcare will work on new collaborative programs with leading hospitals and healthcare systems to find a cause of the most deadly breakdowns in patient care, and put a stop to them. Its first project is to take on poor compliance with hand-washing, widely regarded as the best defense against infections that kill nearly 100,000 patients annually. Next up: breakdowns in patient hand-offs from one hospital department or shift to another that often result in medical errors or oversights in care.
