News From Around the Web
> An article in Global Heart, journal of the World Heart Federation, is calling for ultrasound to be implemented early in medical education programs in order to better realize the benefits of the technology as early as possible. "Emergency physicians, intensivists, and other acute care clinicians are using and relying on critical care ultrasound imaging to better triage and diagnose patients at the point of care," the authors wrote. "As this new frontier of medicine continues to forge forward using this new and improving technology, we strongly believe in integrating ultrasound training earlier into the medical education curriculum." Article
> Longer withdrawal times during colonscopies correlate with higher rates of polyp detection, according to a study published recently in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. "Our investigation demonstrates a statistically significant correlation between longer normal withdrawal time and higher [overall] polyp detection rates, adenoma detection rates, and serrated polyp detection rates, and provides strong evidence to support a nine-minute median normal withdrawal time as a quality standard," said Lynn F. Buttery, M.D., director of colorectal cancer screening at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Announcement
> Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have devised a brain development index from MRI scans that can be used to detect early signs of deviation from normal brain development. Imaging with sophisticated MRI scans can help detect these developmental abnormalities, said Guray Erus, Ph.D., a research associate in the department of radiology, and these "abnormalities may, in turn, be the first manifestations of subsequent neuropsychiatric problems." Article
Health Finance News
> Healthcare players seeking debt stayed away from the market in 2013, borrowing a relatively meager $27.9 billion through bond offerings last year, according to a report issued by HFA Partners. That's approximately $10 billion less than they borrowed in 2012, a decline of more than 25 percent. Only the utilities sector saw a larger drop in borrowing on a percentage-wise basis. Article
Health IT News
> With an eye on improving healthcare quality and efficiency, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and the U.K.'s National Health Service will share health IT information and tools with one another after signing an agreement last Thursday at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Article
And Finally... Do you really need your money? Article