veteran news from FierceHealthcare
News
Florida paramedics cleared in patient transport death
A group of St. Petersburg, Fl.-area paramedics have been cleared of allegations they acted improperly in transporting a sick patient to a more-distant hospital than necessary. The charge stems from a... Read more...
Study: Month-plus wait times boost mortality
A new study has concluded that patients who wait longer than a month to get treatment are more likely to die within six months of their medical visit. Researchers found that patients who waited 31 days or more to visit medical facilities were 20 percent more likely to die during a six-month follow-up period. The study, which appeared in the journal Health Services Research, found that the effect was particularly noticeable for elderly patients. On the positive side, the study …
... Read more...SPOTLIGHT: Is there really a nursing shortage?
Sure, there are nursing jobs open everywhere. But that's because the industry treats nurses so badly, not because there's not enough nurses to go around, writes one 20-year nursing veteran. Just eliminate mandatory overtime, take nurse input on patient care issues seriously and maintain a decent nurse to patient ratio, and you'll be amazed at how much easier it is to recruit and retain nursing professionals, the writer says. And the benefits of doing so go well beyond morale. After all, …
... Read more...LSU, VA plan New Orleans medical center
Louisiana State University and the Department of Veteran's Affairs announced a plan to build a new $1.2 billion medical center in New Orleans. The hospital will probably take over the role played by historic Charity Hospital, although no official announcement has been made yet on the older hospital. Construction is slated for October 2008. Some doctors groups have criticized the plan as unnecessary, arguing that damage to the first floor and basement of the hospital could be repaired …
... Read more...Data loss at VA compromises 24M records
Today there's more evidence that in the Information Age, human error may have more to do with security than Star-Treky high-tech measures. A data analyst at the Veteran's Administration is in hot water after a laptop containing records for 24 million veterans was stolen from his home in what appears to have been a routine burglary. The breach is believed to be the largest theft ever. The data included basic information for millions of former servicemen and women, including many who filed …
... Read more...Challenges face remote monitoring technology
Remote monitoring has become one of the hottest buzzwords in healthcare IT. But how is the industry really reacting to the technology? Jane Sarahson-Kahn writes that obstacles abound. In her take on the technology for iHealthbeat, Sarahson-Kahn notes that "reimbursement, licensure, clinician resistance and lack of demonstrable return on investment are the most formidable market impediments." And there's plenty of evidence to back that conclusion up. She points to a recent report …
... Read more...Report finds Louisiana hospitals "unsalvageable"
The GAO released a report that finds the storm-related damage to Charity and University hospitals in New Orleans is so serious that the buildings need to be rebuilt. As we noted earlier in the week, Louisiana State University wants to rebuild Charity in a joint project with the Veteran's Administration that would create a shared facility. The VA has already won funding to cover its side of the deal.
LSU, on the other hand, is caught up in a bitter fight with FEMA over federal …
SPOTLIGHT: Rethinking Medicare reform
Veteran health economist Ted Marmor and his fellow Yale colleague Jerry Mashaw make an impassioned defense of Medicare and Social Security in Health Affairs. They argue that attempts to "reform" Medicare and Social Security are attacks on the bedrock of social insurance, and are usually proposed by people who disapprove of social insurance. Marmor and Mashaw point out that social insurance programs are actually conservative in nature, as they were introduced to prevent state socialism and …
... Read more...Big cuts in store for Veterans care?
A preliminary budget leaked from the White House to a liberal group indicates that the Veterans Administration budget will receive large cuts in future years. While the VA budget has increased over 69 percent since Bush took office and by 11 percent in the coming year, it may be scheduled for three percent annual cuts for the next three years. Of course, Administration opponents are claiming that with the increasing number of wounded Iraq war veterans needing complex care, these cuts are …
... Read more...SPOTLIGHT: Phreesia launches early adopter program
Over the years several companies have tried to target patients with information (and of course Pharma DTC advertising) in the physicians office. There's been TV, dedicated kiosks, and even plasma screens in the exam room, but none have really taken off. Now there's a new variant that may actually work. Phreesia is a start-up that's giving patients Wi-Fi enabled tablet PCs in the waiting room. They fill in a medical history (from veteran software company Primetime) which is printed out and …
... Read more...