News From Around the Web
> Underage drinkers who received a short intervention during their visits to the emergency department decreased their alcohol consumption and problems related to drinking over the following year, according to the results of a five-year trial that were recently published in the journal Pediatrics. Study abstract
> A new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds that the highest rates of obesity in the United States are concentrated in two regions, with 23 of the 25 states with the highest rates located in the South and Midwest. Report
> Researchers at the Interscience Conference of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 2015 presented study findings that showed once 50 percent of healthcare workers at an organization received flu shots, there was no further reduction in the rate of patients with hospital-acquired influenza. However, the results don't mean the industry should stop vaccinations, but rather that the industry must focus on other interventions to reduce nosocomial influenza, Investigator Brandon Dionne from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque told Medscape. Article
Practice Management News
> Less than a week after the American Board of Anesthesiology announced that it would replace its 10-year maintenance of certification exam with continuous online testing next year, the American Board of Internal Medicine has revealed the possibility of similar plans, Medscape Medical News reported. Article
Anti-Fraud News
> The healthcare industry is devoting more money toward preventing and mitigating medical identity fraud, the majority of which is still going to new fraud detection software, according to a survey published by the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance. Article
And Finally… Award-winning monster vegetables. Article