News From Around the Web
> Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center has installed cameras in all 24 of its operating rooms in an effort to prevent wrong-site surgeries, retained surgical objects and other "never events." The hospital performed nearly 20,000 surgeries last year. The pilot program strengthens patient safety by providing hospitals with real-time feedback in their ORs. Announcement
> Several hundred patients are taking part in an experiment at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center that began March 1 and gives them electronic access to therapy notes written by their psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, The Washington Post reports. Some mental-health practitioners at Beth Israel have opted out, saying that therapists' notes about patients' behaviors and feelings are fundamentally different from medical assessments about diabetes and hypertension. Article
> An international team of researchers say they've developed a "lab-on-a-chip" platform capable of detecting protein cancer markers in the blood using advances in plasmonics, nano-fabrication, microfluids and surface chemistry. The device is able to detect very low concentrations of protein cancer markers in blood, enabling diagnoses of the disease in its earliest stages. Announcement
Provider News
> As the Department of Veterans Affairs' inspector general's investigation delves deeper into the alleged wait time cover-up within VA hospitals, veteran groups across the country and government officials want answers. Article
> Doctors, nurses and therapists at 30 Providence Health & Services facilities across the western U.S. can now better treat non-English speaking and deaf patients with the help of online interpreters. Article
Health Finance News
> The base pay of healthcare and insurance executives beat physician salaries by a long shot, according to an analysis performed for The New York Times. And that's before taking non-salary compensation into account. Article
Payer News
> A new regulation issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Friday focuses on the risk corridor program, which transfers money the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services collects from successful insurers to those that weren't as lucky. Article
And finally ... Another reason why honesty is the best policy. Article