Health Begets Health

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed free-trade treaty between 12 countries throughout the Asia Pacific including the US and Canada. Respective governments have worked hard to push through legislation approving the new treaty. As deadlines approach more and more criticism and opposition has emerged over the proposed regulations.

Critics fear that the new agreement would provide unbalanced benefits to corporations. For example, a recent draft appears to give U.S. pharmaceutical firms unprecedented protections against competition from cheaper generic drugs, possibly transcending the patent protections in U.S. law.

This has many organizations concern including Doctors Without Borders.

Continue reading “TPP Critics Fear Higher Drug Prices”

243 individuals —- including medical professional such as doctors, nurses, and others–were arrested for their alleged involvement in Medicare fraud schemes totalling approximately $712 million in false billings.

The arrests were a coordinated operation in 17 cities by Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams, which include personnel from the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and local law enforcement.

The arrests are the largest-ever health care fraud takedown in terms of both loss amount and arrests.

Continue reading “FBI Arrest 243 Healthcare Professional and workers with Medicare Fraud”

House Republicans are proposing major changes to Medicare and Medicaid as a part of a blueprint to balance the budget within 10 years. The proposal depends on repealing the Obamacare, including financial assistance for low- and middle-income individuals, and the taxes implemented to help pay for coverage expansion programs.

The budget calls for shifting to a premium support model for Medicare, in which beneficiaries would receive subsidies to shop for coverage on the open market. But that change—which Democrats denigrate as vouchers—wouldn’t be implemented until 2024 to limit the impact on current beneficiaries.

House Republicans also want to overhaul Medicaid to give states greater flexibility on how they spend those dollars and merge it with the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Referred to as “State Flexibility Funds,” the approach would resemble block grants to states that they could use to provide healthcare coverage to low-income households.

The Joint Commission announced changes to its standards for accredited hospitals, critical access hospitals, and ambulatory health care organizations that provide diagnostic imaging services, including ambulatory organizations that have achieved Advanced Diagnostic Imaging certification. The changes will be effective July 1, 2014 with additional requirements to be phased in by 2015.

Continue reading “Joint Commission Change Standards for diagnostic imaging services”

The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert urging health centers to re-assess policy and practice to avoid mistakenly leaving items in a patient’s body after surgery.

Yes, it happens more often than you’d expect, even with the high level of proficiency and # of eyes on the patient, unintended retention of foreign objects (URFOs) or retained surgical items (RSIs), happens. The impact on patient safety is obviously massive with the possibility of physical and emotional issues.

Continue reading “Classic Surgeon, Leaving a Sponge Behind”

Found in their annual Top Performer report. 1099 hospitals around the US were regarded for a or multiple forms of treatment.

A good topic to discuss, unfortunately, no simple way to explain the nuances of the Obamacare package. Although most economists would agree the best solution would be a form of universal healthcare, what we have in front of us now is Obamacare.

Read for some thoughts and explanations like you were five and needed an answer now.

http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nhv9o/eli5_for_a_nonamerican_why_is_obamacare_such_an/

Joint Commission has added to the growing concern of alarm fatigue in the workplace. Be it beepers, phones, intercomes, computers, what have you, the question posed is whether or not the barrage of alarms is affected healthcare provision?

Alarms are also a normal component of medical devices such as ventilators, blood pressure monitors and ECG machines, it seems everything has a beep of urgency. But that urgency has translated into damaging results.

Continue reading “Alarm Fatigue in The Hospital”

JC released a video that illustrates to the public why it’s important for patients to speak up about their pain. This is one of many in a series to be released, granted the computer generated voices are somewhat hokey….