News From Around The Web
> Healthcare costs could plunge dramatically if more Americans would quit smoking, with a 10 percent reduction in the nationwide smoking rate leading to lower healthcare costs of about $63 billion a year, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco. Article
> The use of price controls to tame rising drug costs would likely hamper future product development, The Hill reported. Article
Provider News
> The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a contest for a hospital bill that could be understood. Article
> Scandals involving CEOs can impact the individual and a company or organization's image for years, according to a new study from Stanford University. That was certainly the case for Dennis C. Miller, the former CEO of Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey, who was the executive in charge when news broke in 2003 that one of the nurses at the hospital was arrested for murdering one patient and attempted to kill another by administering lethal combinations of drugs. The media attention was intense and as Miller told Fortune this week, he knew his professional career would not survive the tragedy as the nurse worked for years, unchecked, under his leadership. Article
Healthcare IT News
> The power of data is found when payer and provider information comes together--with a key part that is often overlooked being the patient, David Feinberg, CEO of Geisinger Health System, said during a panel discussion Tuesday at Health Datapalooza in the District of Columbia. "Bringing the patient into the data discussion has provided the richest opportunity to look at the data and make effective changes in real-time," he said. Article
And Finally... Patient leaves white python at Washington State hospital. Article