News From Around the Web
> Shared culture is essential to a successful hospital merger, according to executives who spoke Tuesday at U.S. News & World Report's Hospital of Tomorrow conference. Article
> A program launched at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City to find apartments for emergency room super-users has unexpected cost-savings, according to the Washington Post. Article
> Medicare beneficiaries treated at rural critical access hospitals often pay as much as six times the amount for outpatient services than patients at other hospitals, according to a new Office of Inspector General report released Wednesday. Report (.pdf)
Physician Practice News
> Patients are more likely to agree on the appropriateness of their physicians' advice on nutrition, exercise or weight loss if their doctors are female, according to a study published in Family Practice. Article
> Physicians are just as human as their patients, and potentially more vulnerable to making lower-quality decisions--particularly regarding inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions--as the day wears on. The phenomenon known as "decision fatigue" could be a major contributor to the dangerous rise in antibiotic resistance in the United States and beyond, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Article
And Finally… For that person-who-has-everything on your holiday shopping list. Article