HHS Commissioned Corps Officers Join Operation Continuing Promise Aboard the USS Boxer in Central Am
In Escuintla, the Boxer team has turned the Escuela Santa Isabel into a primary-care facility. Hundreds of patients have stood in line for care, some having traveled over four hours by foot. The Boxer team set up a dental clinic, an optometry clinic, a primary-care center and an educational area, all of which featured HHS […]
HHS Secretary Begins Third Visit to the People’s Republic of China
May 12, 2008 – U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Michael O. Leavitt today began his third visit to the People's Republic of China with activities in the eastern coastal city of Shanghai. The Secretary shared his vision for improving the safety of consumer products with more than 800 vendors, suppliers and executives […]
HHS Secretary Meets with Chinese Minister of Health, Visits Shanghai University of Traditional Chin
May 13, 2008 – On the second day of a week-long visit to the People's Republic of China, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Michael O. Leavitt conitnued his visit to the port city of Shanghai. The Secretary held discussions with his counterpart, the Honorable Chen Zhu, M.D., and expressed his condolences on […]
WJZ-TV Baltimore Surgical Fires Segment Features ASA Advisory
A May 1 WJZ-TV (Baltimore, Md.) investigative report on the occurrence of surgical fires featured the recently released ASA Practice Advisory for the Prevention and Management of Operating Room Fires.
Aggressive Malpractice Environments Dictate How, Not Where, Neurosurgeons Practice
New research suggests aggressive medical malpractice environments do not influence where neurosurgeons practice but may cause them to limit their practice, which may result in a critical erosion of care in some of the most critically neurological patients.
Misdiagnoses Caused in Part by Overconfidence
Most of the time a medical diagnosis is on point. But misdiagnoses do occur, and an overly confident doctor may be partly to blame, a new review suggests.
Religion Should Be Considered in Using Porcine and Bovine Surgical Products
Patients of Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu faiths may not accept the use of porcine or bovine products during surgical procedures and, therefore, surgeons should make it very clear in the informed consent process whether such products may be used, Australian researchers report.
What Every Physician Should Know About the RUC
Introduction To paraphrase Winston Churchill, never have so many physicians and other health care professionals owed so much to so few. The "few" in this case are the 29 members of the American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee, or RUC (rhymes with "truck") for short. The RUC's recommendations to the Centers for […]
Community-Associated MRSA Strains May Be Supplanting Traditional Nosocomial Strains
Community-associated strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were responsible for an increasing proportion of all nosocomial MRSA cases over a 7-year period at a large inner-city hospital, according to a retrospective study reported in the March 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Congress passes “skinny” Medicare payment bill and averts SGR cut through June 2008
Unable to reach consensus on a meaningful Medicare reform package, Congressional leaders and the Bush Administration have cobbled together a last–minute, barebones package to temporarily avert the 10% across-the-board Medicare physician payment cut scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2008. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law soon.
