News From Around the Web
> A patient advocate alleged that a HealthEast hospital instructed her to destroy 200 pages of patient files that she said would indicate a physician was drunk while delivering a baby, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The Minnesota hospital is accusing her of walking off with hospital records and violating patient privacy. Article
> Nationwide, 40 percent of hospitals use room service dining that allows patients to order off of a menu, seven days a week, according to UpperMichigansSource. Michigan's Dickinson County Memorial Hospital believes it helped boost patient satisfaction scores to the 90th percentile for food quality. Article
> EMH Regional Medical Center agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle whistleblower claims that the in Ohio hospital billed Medicare for unnecessary cardiology procedures. The North Ohio Heart Center, whose physicians practiced at the hospital, will settle for $542,000, The New York Times reported. Article
Health Insurance News
> The fiscal cliff agreement, which was approved by Congress on New Year's Day, all but nixed funding for consumer oriented and operated plans (CO-OP) authorized under the health reform law. Article
Health IT News
> Researchers publishing in the January Neurosurgery journal have determined that a second CT scan for patients with mild head trauma is unnecessary in cases where the condition of patients is unchanged or they have improved neurologically. Article
And Finally… Going to the hospital just got more exciting. Article