Report: Medical Wait Times Improving Only Slightly
from The Vancouver Sun
 Only slight improvement has been made on cutting wait times in five priority health-care areas, according to an annual report, and governments are failing to apply targets to a broader range of specialties. The 2009 report card released Thursday by the Wait Time Alliance, says there remains "much unfinished business," in improving the amount of time between when a patient is referred by a family doctor to when treatment is provided by a specialist.
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Researchers Produce First Study of Homeless Patients in Hospital Emergency Rooms Nationwide
from The Lincoln Journal
The first national study of homeless people’s use of emergency rooms finds that homeless patients are more likely to arrive at the hospital by ambulance and more than twice as likely to be uninsured. One-third of homeless patients arrived by ambulance – at an estimated cost of almost $67 million, according to the researchers. Analyzing almost half a million emergency room visits by homeless people, West Virginia University doctors also found that the homeless were more likely to receive more than two diagnostic tests – a higher number compared with other patients.
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House Democrats Bash Health Care Opponents' Tactics
from Reuters
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hit back at protesters vocally disrupting healthcare reform meetings around the country, calling them "un-American" - and with that word ignited the ire of opposition Republicans. Pelosi and Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote in USA Today that there was an "ugly campaign" to misrepresent the healthcare overhaul legislation being written in Congress and stop public debate, which they said is "at the heart of our democracy."
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Being Most Wired in a Down Economy
from Hospitals & Health Networks
These are strange times for clinical information technology. On one hand, providers are being urged to step on the gas, with the federal government poised to distribute $20 billion in stimulus funds to wire doctors, hospitals and patients. On the other hand, the economic crisis is forcing many hospitals to hit the brakes on capital investments. Even this year's 100 Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems are torn between building on their IT successes and keeping a sharp eye on budgets.
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FDA Clears Signostics' Pocket-sized Ultrasound
from HealthImaging.com
Signostics has secured FDA clearance for Signos, a palm-sized personal ultrasound device. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based Signostics has developed an ultrasound device for health professionals to use in clinical practice. With a weight of approximately half a pound, its portability and "low price" is designed for medical markets, including emergency medicine, primary care, remote healthcare, critical care, pediatrics, musculoskeletal, palliative care and sports medicine, the company said.
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Seniors are Wary of Health Care Reform
from TampaBayOnline
Senior citizens are emerging as a formidable obstacle to President Barack Obama's health care reform plans. Discontent has risen to such a level the administration is scrambling to devise a strategy to woo the elderly.
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Critical Access Hospitals: Past, Present and Future
August 20, 2009 at 2:00 PM EDT, 1:00 PM CDT, 12:00 PM MDT, 11:00 AM PDT
This presentation will include a discussion of the characteristics of Critical Access Hospitals and how they contribute to rural America's Emergency Medicine system. More information & register.
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Doctors Say Hospital Surge Capacity has Worsened
from HSToday
Despite the more than $8 billion that’s been spent on hospital and public health preparedness between 2001 and 2008, the nation’s hospital surge capacity remains inadequate for disasters like large-scale terrorist bombings, wrote two doctors in a commentary in the Aug. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
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Poisoning Overtakes Firearms as Second Cause of Accidental Death
from Consumer Reports
In recent years, poisoning has overtaken firearms as the second leading cause of death from injuries, trending right behind motor vehicle accidents, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Development. The report says that death rates for motor-vehicle traffic-related accidents and deaths from firearms decreased from 1979 to 2006, whereas the rate for poisoning more than doubled during the same period. And from 2005 to 2006, the poisoning death rate increased 13 percent, whereas motor-vehicle traffic and firearm death rates remained unchanged.
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