Healthcare Trends news from FierceHealthcare

Traditionally, hospitals have strictly limited families' contacts with seriously-ill patients in their intensive-care units. Of late, however, a small but growing number of hospitals are adopting a new model, under which hospitals invite patients to live with their vulnerable family members and assist in their care. This trend is spurred, in part, by a growing family-centered care movement backed by an expanding body of supporting research.

Emory University Hospital, for example, …

A new study suggests that when chronically-ill uninsured adults age into Medicare eligibility, they're sicker than adults who had commercial insurance when they entered Medicare. The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found formerly uninsured adults were hospitalized more often and had greater medical expenses through at least age 72.

The study, conducted by Dr. John Z. Ayanian of Harvard Medical School, looked at 9,760 adults who were 51- to …

Atrial fibrillation is fairly common in the United States, affecting at least 2.2 million people. This condition, which creates rapid and irregular heartbeats, often serves as a warning hearts are deteriorating and can be a major cause of stroke. Increasingly, physicians are hoping to treat it  with a costly procedure known as catheter-based ablation (CBA), rather than the fairly toxic drugs often used for this condition.

The problem is that the FDA hasn't approved any of the …

With the nationwide nursing shortage barreling down on providers, it's nice to learn that a growing number of mid-career professionals from outside the medical profession are pursuing nursing degrees. Over the past few years, the number of enrollees in nursing programs who already have a bachelor's degree in another field has shot up, from 6,860 in 2003 to 12,347 in 2006. Nursing instructors say a mix of factors have contributed to this trend, including rising nurse salaries, widespread …

While hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are nasty, a new MRSA strain emerging outside of hospitals is proving to be even more lethal. This newer MRSA strain, community-associated MRSA, is often spread in prisons and on athletic teams , both of which bring people into close physical contact and involve sharing personal items like towels, …

Evidence continues to mount that medical tourism isn't just a novelty, but rather a real and increasingly-popular option for many patients. Currently, 150,000 Americans annually receive treatment in foreign countries, and that number is expanding a remarkable 15 percent to 20 percent per year--boosted by middleman companies like MedRetreat, IndUShealth and Planet Hospital which …

Most professionals would agree that, when used judiciously, HIPAA regs can have some benefit. But it seems there's a great deal of confusion out there among clinical staffers as to what does and doesn't constitute a HIPAA violation, according to a new analysis. HIPAA language says providers may share medical information with others--unless the patient objects. But given their confusion, many health workers apply the rules in a "defensive, somewhat arbitrary and unreasonable way," says …

In the past, a dying or seriously ill patient had few options but to stay in the hospital or go to a hospice and give up the right to treatment. Increasingly, however, hospitals are offering palliative care services which help the patients understand their options and come to terms with their condition. According to one estimate, in fact, about one-third of U.S. hospitals now offer some form of palliative care. Many such services, such as the one at D.C.'s George Washington University …

The growing healthcare staffing shortage is nasty news for providers--but it should be great for the healthcare staffing industry. With the number of Americans aged 55 to 64 set to expand 40 percent by 2014, few observers expect provider recruitment to be able to keep pace. This is good news for healthcare recruiters, including giants like AMN Healthcare Services and Cross Country Healthcare. Of late, companies like these have gone through hard times, as hospitals cut staffing levels to a …

Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) has begun running a series of ads advocating healthcare reform in California. The health system, which operates 42 hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada, plans to run print ads in several national and regional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Newsweek. The ads don't detail a specific reform scheme, but rather, agitate for broad healthcare accessibility. CHW also belongs to a pro-reform …