News From Around the Web
> Patients are highly influenced by online doctor review sites, according to new research by Vitals which found that a reported 51 percent of people use consumer ratings to get information about doctors. Announcement
> The University of California at Los Angeles' (UCLA) Mattel Children's Hospital has been granted a $1.6 million research award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study how telemedicine can be used for behavioral health services to pediatric patients in community primary care settings. Article
Health Finance News
> Medicare cost variations across geographical regions have more to with health status than wasteful spending or inefficient care practices, according to study published online yesterday in the journal Medical Care Research and Review. Article
> The Iowa Legislature has approved a bill expected to significantly expand coverage for the poor under the Affordable Care Act without dramatically growing the Medicaid rolls, the Des Moines Register reported. Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to sign the compromise bill into the law, according to the story. It allows about 150,000 low-income Iowans to receive insurance through the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan. Article
Provider News
> Boxes of medical records of more than 1,400 patients have been missing from Florida's Jackson Health System since January, the hospital reported Friday. Matthew Pinzur, a Jackson spokesman, said the boxes of records went missing from the Health Information Management department, which handles all patient medical records. Article
> It's so simple and effective against preventing illness--yet healthcare workers continue to resist washing their hands. To get their doctors and nurses to tow the line and practice good hand-hygiene, hospitals are resorting to Big Brother-type approaches. Article
And Finally… Sounds like the communicator's horse sense paid off. Article