Are Hospital-Acquired Infection Rates Improving? New Report Shows Mixed Results 06/22/2018 About 2 million Americans will develop an infection during their hospital stay each year, and these infections result in approximately 90,000 preventable deaths. The imperative for the last 2 decades has been to increase inpatient safety. This spawned new efforts to improve hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates. It even resulted in lower reimbursement rates from Medicare and commercial payers for patients who were readmitted shortly after hospital discharge. Year by year, these efforts were
About 2 million Americans will develop an infection during their hospital stay each year, and these infections result in approximately 90,000 preventable deaths. The imperative for the last 2 decades has been to increase inpatient safety. This spawned new efforts to improve hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates. It even resulted in lower reimbursement rates from Medicare and commercial payers for patients who were readmitted shortly after hospital discharge. Year by year, these efforts were
The GOP’s Self-Fulfilling Prophesy: Destruction of the Private Exchange Markets 05/30/2018 Over the past several years, but especially in the last two (including the heated 2016 Presidential election campaign), the Republican Party expounded its desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and replace it with something better. It is true that Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) wanted to switch to a “Medicare-for-all” single-payer health system. The GOP’s prime directive has not been fighting off a single-payer system. Rather, it has been to remove the ACA from the lexicon. Successive,
Over the past several years, but especially in the last two (including the heated 2016 Presidential election campaign), the Republican Party expounded its desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and replace it with something better. It is true that Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) wanted to switch to a “Medicare-for-all” single-payer health system. The GOP’s prime directive has not been fighting off a single-payer system. Rather, it has been to remove the ACA from the lexicon. Successive,
New Targeted Prevention of Migraine Attacks 05/21/2018 The treatment of migraine has come a long way in a short time, and the approval of a new type of once-monthly therapy should help patients prevent some painful, disabling attacks. Modern treatment of acute migraine headache began in 1992, with the approval of sumatriptan (Imitrex®), the first triptan medication. For patients with frequent migraine headache, preventive therapy was extremely limited—at that time, barely researched. The patients with migraine experience debilitating symptoms and
The treatment of migraine has come a long way in a short time, and the approval of a new type of once-monthly therapy should help patients prevent some painful, disabling attacks. Modern treatment of acute migraine headache began in 1992, with the approval of sumatriptan (Imitrex®), the first triptan medication. For patients with frequent migraine headache, preventive therapy was extremely limited—at that time, barely researched. The patients with migraine experience debilitating symptoms and
