News From Around the Web
> Southern California-based health systems Cedars-Sinai and MemorialCare announced Wednesday that they are collaborating on a venture-capital fund--Summation Health Ventures--geared toward the development of health technology. The fund will be based in Long Beach, the Los Angeles Times reports. Article
> A class-action lawsuit filed against a trio of New York-based hospitals and a health IT firm alleges that the hospitals and the firm overcharged patients and customers who requested their medical records, Healthcare IT News reports. The hospitals--Beth Israel Medical Center, Montefiore Medical Group and Mount Sinai Hospital--and the firm--HealthPort Technologies--overcharged for medical records by up to $.50 per page, according to a group of plaintiffs representing roughly 100 individuals. Article
Health Insurance News
> The pharmaceutical industry is concerned that cost-sharing within most health insurance exchange plans could limit consumers' access to necessary medications, says a new report from the Breakaway Health prepared for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The worry comes from the fact that most employer-sponsored plans require consumers to pay 22 percent of prescription costs, but similar exchange plans require consumers pay more than twice that amount. Article
Provider News
> As if professional burnout weren't a severe enough problem among the general physician population, new research presented at the annual scientific meeting of the American Pain Society (APS) suggests it's hitting even harder among doctors who treat pain. Out of 230 surveyed members of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, 61 percent rated their emotional exhaustion level as high; 20 percent reported high depersonalization levels and 43 percent rated their level of personal accomplishment as low. Article
EMR News
> An electronic health record is one of the primary tools that can decrease the number of medical errors in hospitals, according to a new report published by the office of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). The staff report surveyed 283 California hospitals to determine what they were doing to reduce common medical errors, such as surgical site infections and pressure ulcers, receiving responses from more than half (53 percent). While hospitals are taking many approaches to reduce medical errors--such as minimizing blood transfusion--EHRs figured prominently in the hospitals' efforts to reduce errors. Article
And Finally... How elusive can this guy really be? Article