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Effective April 1, 2004, hospitals receive special payments for four additional services under updates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
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The era of noscomial infection rates protected as privileged and confidential information rapidly is coming to a close, warned several attendees recently in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). Driven by scathing media reports and consumer groups carrying the banner of patient safety, the demand for infection data has increased with such speed that epidemiologists already are looking at state laws as a foregone conclusion.
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Though somewhat reluctant to trumpet the findings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has unveiled the first study demonstrating the significant protective effect of individual pneumococcal vaccination on hospitalization among nursing home residents.
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If an evil genius wanted to design a perfect breeding ground for antibiotic resistance, he or she could scarcely come up with something more diabolical than a little-known segment of the health care system called the long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs).
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Undiagnosed TB spurs hospital outbreak; Mupirocin strategy fails in nonsurgical patients.
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There are strong indications that hospices are making progress in improving the plight of end-of-life patients in the nations nursing homes. Even so, experts say, substantial regulatory and cultural barriers remain to make it a daunting task.
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A combination of counseling and support services may reduce the risk of depression in people caring for a spouse with Alzheimers disease, a new study says.
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Bacteriologic and clinical failures in adults with Streptococcal tonsillopharyngitis are twice as likely with oral penicillin therapy as with cephalosporin treatment. But, what is the significance of this finding?
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This paper examined the risk of Bells palsy after introduction of an inactivated intranasal influenza vaccine in Switzerland. Mutsch and associates used a matched case-control study and a case-series analysis.
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Cerebral sinus thrombosis most commonly affects the superior sagittal sinus (up to 80%) or the transverse and sigmoid sinuses (70%), with concomitant involvement of the cortical veins in up to 40% of cases. Women are more commonly affected, reflecting their unique risk factors, including pregnancy, the puerperium, and oral contraceptive medication. Other risk factors include surgery, head and neck infections, head injury, malignancy, dehydration, and connective tissue diseases.