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As a novel of avian influenza A virus (H7N9) continues to emerge in China there is a cluster suggesting human-to-human transmission may have occurred, an epidemiologist at the World Health Organization reports.
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It is important that the medical community understands that the cardiology and cardiac surgery communities are confronting end-of-life issues and the need to make appropriate treatment decisions based on an assessment of the likelihood that it will make a difference in a positive way, usually in a frail, sick, elderly patients life, argues Patrick OGara, MD, FACC, president-elect of the American College of Cardiology and executive medical director of the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston.
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Many providers and health systems are unaware of the opportunity to leverage payment reform to develop or align community-based resources in order to provide better care and more support to patients post-discharge under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), according to James Corbett, JD, MDiv, a fellow at Harvard Medical Schools Division of Medical Ethics and Vice President of Community Health and Ethics at Steward Health Care System in Boston, MA. They may not connect that payment reform presents a tremendous opportunity, he says.
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A growing number of states are promoting Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Paradigm Programs, with the goal of helping physicians to better respect their patients wishes for end-of-life care.
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Would you expect that offering state tax incentives or credits would increase organ donation?
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The relief of suffering, including suffering from untreated pain, is fundamental to the idea of ethical practice in medicine, according to Nancy Berlinger, PhD, a research scholar at The Hastings Center in Garrison, NY.
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In an effort to drive down health care expenditures, a key target of state legislatures and healthcare policy makers in recent years has been frequent users of the ED. The thought is that many of these patients are using the ED for routine or non-urgent care when they really should be opting for less-expensive care settings.
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A new study, led by researchers at the University of Michigan (UM) in Ann Arbor, suggests that clinicians might not be spending enough time discussing some of the most complex patients when they are handing off these cases during shift changes.
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In a concerted effort to improve patient care, payers and providers are collaborating to improve transitions of care and reduce readmissions.
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To help members of its Medicare Advantage Plan stay healthy, healthcare professionals at WellPoint make individual outbound calls to members with clinical gaps in care to remind them of what preventive measures they need.
