News From Around the Web
> Researchers from the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University are collaborating to create a web-based tool--WeCare--aimed at helping caregivers and family members of dementia patients with treatment. Development of the tool will be funded by a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Announcement
> A patient undergoing a medical procedure using a gamma camera at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx was killed last week when the camera collapsed and fell on top of him, the Wall Street Journal reported. The camera--an Infinia Haweye 4 model, developed by General Electric--can weigh more than 5,000 pounds. Article
Provider News
> Medicare could save $1.4 billion per year by pushing doctors to prescribe generic drugs, a new study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests. Researchers compared generic versus name-brand drug use by elderly diabetics in 2008 under Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the study abstract. Article
> Hospitals are trying creative methods, such as offering knitting classes, creative writing and dance to help nurses relax, re-energize and prevent or overcome burnout, the Washington Post reports. Although all healthcare staff are vulnerable to "compassion fatigue," nurses are especially at risk for becoming overwhelmed and depleted, Cynda Hylton Rushton, a professor in the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University, told the Post. Article
Health Insurance News
> As we inch closer to the opening of the health insurance exchanges and the influx of millions of new individual customers to the insurance industry, one insurer is honing in on a often overlooked consumer group--freelancers, which total 42 million. Cigna conducted a study of these independent workers, and found 25 percent lack health insurance. The study, which surveyed 250 self-employed Americans, determined 60 percent of freelancers prioritize their business over personal health and wellness, while about 33 percent said a personal illness could potentially cause them to go out of business. Article
And Finally… There's romantic, and then there's this. Article