News From Around the Web
> James Parks, former CIO at Box Butte County General Hospital in Alliance, Nebraska, was sentenced last week to three years in prison for possession of child pornography, according to The Chadron Record. Parks received child pornography images on his work computer in June 2013. Article
> An editorial in the Des Moines Register calls on Iowa's state medical board to create "one set of telemedicine guidelines that treats all physicians equally." The medical board currently requires in-person exams for patients receiving abortion-inducing drugs via telemedicine, as well as physicians to be in the same room with a woman when she swallows such drugs. However, the board does not require physicians providing any other health service to conduct face-to-face exams. Editorial
Provider News
> The use of social media among U.S. hospitals is greater than previously thought, although its impact on patients and populations remains unknown, according to new research published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Researchers, led by Heather M. Griffis, Ph.D., of the Penn Social Media and Health Innovation Lab, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, reviewed hospital-related activity on four social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and Foursquare. Article
> Although proper hand-washing procedures are the best way to reduce methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) while treating patients, a new study reveals hand hygiene itself is only one piece of the puzzle when combating the infections in hospitals. Article
Health Insurance News
> More than 450,000 consumers enrolled on Healthcare.gov during the first week of the new open enrollment period, but traffic to the section of the site for small businesses remains slow. The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) marketplace on Healthcare.gov received 200,000 visits Nov. 15-21, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That's compared to 1.5 million visits for the section of the health insurance marketplace for individuals, CMS said. Article
And Finally... Now she's really got a reason to yell. Article