Emergency Departments Offer Online Updates on Wait Times
from American Medical News
Patients usually assume when they go to the emergency department that there is going to be a wait. Now some emergency departments are letting them know how long it will be. Several hospitals across the country are developing real-time wait clocks on their Web sites to give patients without a critical or life-threatening injury or illness an idea of how long they can expect to wait to be seen. The hospitals say it can help patients decide where to go for care and could mean that some patients forgo an ED visit altogether. More

Medicare Doctor Pay Plan Hits Senate Snag
from Reuters
A proposal to boost Medicare payments to doctors ran into trouble in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday as Republicans and some Democrats balked at adding $250 billion to skyrocketing U.S. deficits over the next decade. More

H1N1 Vaccine for Undocumented Immigrants Urged
from The Tennessean
Since the H1N1 flu doesn't discriminate, local clinics and the Metro Public Health Department are focusing on a sometimes forgotten population at the behest of public health officials: undocumented immigrants. More

New Study Reveals Push to Electronic Medical Records Puts Patient Privacy at Risk
from Reuters
LogLogic and the Ponemon Institute recently announced results of a national survey of healthcare IT security professionals that shows patients may be surrendering their privacy as the $2.5 trillion medical industry - prompted by federal stimulus funding - pushes to accelerate the pace of digitizing health information records. More

High-tech 'Scribes' Help Transfer Medical Records into Electronic Form
from USA Today
Derek Leiner's workplace is densely packed with the latest technology. At the University of Virginia Medical Center's emergency room, doctors have access to electrocardiogram machines and bedside ultrasounds and are just steps away from a CT scanner and MRI machine. Yet Leiner's job title harks back to the days of the pharaohs. He's a scribe. More

Massachusetts Universal Coverage Does Not Reduce ED Visits, Polls Say
from American Medical News
A survey of Massachusetts emergency physicians found that the number of patients seeking emergency care increased after the enactment of state health system reform three years ago. More