News From Around the Web
> Stanford Health Care Center in California and Oregon-based Samaritan Health Services are teaming up on telemedicine. The health systems will use the tools to connect oncologists and clinicians at Samaritan Health with their counterparts at Stanford, according to an article at Healthcare Informatics. The technologies will be used at Samaritan's expanded Pastega Regional Cancer Center starting later this year. Article
> A new device, crafted by the University of Sheffield's Faculty of Engineering, has the ability to create 3-D printed guides that can help move nerve ends toward one another so they can repair naturally. They can be made for any type of nerve damage and can be tailored to a specific patient, according to an announcement. "The advantage of 3-D printing is that [nerve guidance conduit] can be made to the precise shapes required by clinicians," says John Haycock, professor of bioengineering at Sheffield. Announcement
Health Insurance News
> A health plan without hospital benefits is "is not a health plan in any meaningful sense," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a final rule last week. HHS has found that plans that lack substantial hospital benefits do not qualify as "minimum value" coverage under the Affordable Care Act, and has blocked such plans from being offered. Article
Provider News
> Hospitals and government officials are racing to address the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant superbug Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, which grabbed headlines late last week when reports surfaced that two California patients died after coming into contact with contaminated medical scopes, and now has been linked to two more patient deaths in North Carolina. Article
And Finally... Is it spring yet? Article