News From Around the Web
> Dialysis patients at Boston Medical Center were exposed to hepatitis B in March because nurses didn't have access to computerized medical records that would have told them one patient was infected, a state health department investigation concluded, Boston.com reports. Nurses failed to clean dialysis stations because they were unaware about the patient's condition. Article
> According to ZD.net, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and New Zealand Health Minister Tony Ryall have signed an agreement for cooperation and shared planning between their healthcare systems. "Already, the Queensland health system, rebuilt by the Newman LNP government, shares key elements with the successful New Zealand health model," Newman said. "Like Queensland, New Zealand has devolved control of its local health services. Both health systems share a commitment to transparency and to regular public reporting of hospital performance outcomes," Newman said. Article
Health Finance News
> Roughly $1 trillion in unfunded healthcare liabilities will put more pressure on state and local governments than pension costs, according to two Federal Reserve Board of Governors senior economists, according to Reuters. These unfunded retiree health obligations "exert pressure on state and local budgets long before the pension plans do, even though the size of the pension problem is significantly greater in the long run," wrote Byron Lutz and Louise Sheiner in a paper to be published in the next couple of months. Article
Health Insurance News
> The Massachusetts Nurses Association is turning to Facebook to launch an online advertising to build support for a proposed November 2014 ballot question that would cap nurses' workload in acute care hospitals, The Boston Globe reports. Article
> The Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) will increase Medicare payments to general acute care hospitals by 0.7 percent in fiscal year 2014, according to a final rule issued Friday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Article
And Finally... Pienut is the new cronut. Article