Blogs, message boards, and patient communities are being used not only by patients, but also by research participants. In some cases, this reveals whether or not a participant is taking actual medication or placebos, compromising the studys validity.
In one sense, undocumented patients are like any other patients some have health insurance, but many will not. Whats particularly challenging is that undocumented patients who are uninsured will usually not qualify for the safety net programs that provide assistance for similar patients with citizenship, says Mark Kuczewski, PhD, chair of the Department of Medical Education and director of the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics at Loyola University in Maywood, IL.
The expansion of hospitalist programs at medical centers nationwide has yielded impressive benefits in terms of reduced costs of care and lowered length of stays, according to recent published studies.
Though the number of programs to improve care for patients at the end of life have increased, little real progress has been made, claims a new report from Washington, DC-based Last Acts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-sponsored coalition to improve care for the dying.
The term hospitalist can mean a variety of things.
In November, Oregon voters were asked to consider a once unthinkable measure: abolish private health insurance in favor of a taxpayer-funded, single-payer health system that would cover everyone.
The federal investigation into alleged billing fraud and unnecessary surgeries at a Redding, CA, hospital also has shed new light on potential abuses of a unusual Medicare reimbursement mechanism designed to help hospitals who perform difficult procedures or care for very sick patients.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has collected the following data on the current state of the nursing shortage and actions different organizations are taking to address it.
New committee to advise on protection of human embryos; Tenet hires auditor to examine fraud charges; Pfizer to pay millions for fraud case settlement.
Providers and researchers are increasingly faced with a difficult decision: Should they inform patients of genetic screening results, when patients did not specifically request such results?
