pandemic news from FierceHealthcare

If your hospital is counting on having help from nursing homes when emergencies hit, think again. A new study suggests that more than half of nursing homes won't be prepared to accept hospital Read more...

Issues like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and worries over a pandemic bird flu outbreak have driven many health professionals to look at how prepared they are for a disaster. The question is, Read more...

> Industry researchers are predicting that it will take a huge increase in the volume of professionals available (more than 40,000) to meet the near-term demand for skilled health IT pros. Read more...

> Tennessee legislators are kicking around a measure that would restructure the state's Certificate of Need program. Article

> Despite widespread assumptions to the contrary, it seems that nonemergency visits to Oregon's emergency departments aren't that common. …

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If Roche has its way, a gaggle of happy penguins will charm consumers into stocking up on flu drug Tamiflu. Using penguin characters from a current children's feature as a theme, Roche Pharmaceuticals has developed a multi-million dollar ad campaign to create demand for the costly medication. Tamiflu, which has attracted international attention as a possible stopgap in the war against …

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With flu season right around the corner, inevitably health experts will once again sound the bird flu alarm. In the Wall Street Journal, primary care doctor Benjamin Brewer expresses his concern that the nation’s emergency departments will be pushed beyond capacity if a pandemic does hit the U.S. Many people head to the ER each year because of the flu, and dealing with these patients in addition to a bird flu outbreak would send ERs over the edge. But Brewer notes that there may be a simple Internet tool that can keep this from happening.

In order to avoid unnecessary visits to the ER, Brewer proposes that patients have access to an online questionnaire to see if their symptoms match that of the flu and require a trip to the ER. “At a time when influenza is occurring in a community, clinical guidelines--without an in-person exam--are about 77 percent accurate in diagnosing the illness, according to a study,” Brewer notes. If patient’s symptoms don’t match the questionnaire, then they can avoid a trip to the doctor’s office. If their results are positive, they would be told to receive treatment from a pharmacy.

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With flu season right around the corner, health experts will once again sound the bird flu alarm. In his Wall Street Journal column, primary care doctor Benjamin Brewer agrees that the nation's emergency departments will be pushed beyond capacity if a pandemic does hit the U.S. But Brewer thinks that there's a simple Internet tool that can keep this from happening. Article

> According to David Brailler, there are "legislative challenges ahead." The outgoing National HITcoordinator addressed wildly-cheering crowds on Health IT Day. OK. Maybe they weren't that big. Article

> Spending on specialty drugs is up 17.5 percent and will likely more than double by 2009, according to Express Scripts. …

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As investigators probe a new flare up of the bird flu virus in Indonesia, the World Health Organization meets this week to try to settle an argument over how data on new influenza infections should be shared. The move was prompted by reports that scientists and some Asian governments have sought to block access to the latest samples of the virus. Critics say new information should be shared immediately with the international scientific community to spead research and help guard against a …

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> New York-Presbyterian Hospital broke ground on a new sixth-floor cardiac center, which the hospital expects to strengthen its already nationally-ranked program. Article

> Could a pandemic take down the Internet? It's an important question without many answers. Blog

> Humana CEO Michael …

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