Employees of Small Businesses Hoping to Abandon E-R as Doctor

From the Public News Service: WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – A small business owner in West Hartford says learning that none of his employees had their own doctor and used the hospital emergency room for their health care was a wake-up call for him to push for health reform in Connecticut.

The Presence of Outcome Bias in Emergency Physician Retrospective Judgments of the Quality of Care

From the Annals of Emergency Medicine: Study objective: In peer review and malpractice litigation, biased assessment of the quality of care can have a profound effect. We determine the effect of knowledge of outcome on emergency physicians’ ability to assess care quality. Methods: Emergency physicians completed a Web-based survey containing 6 case scenarios written to fall along [...]

Super Bowl may trigger heart attacks

From CNN: This Sunday’s Super Bowl could prove to be a real heartbreaker for some fans of the losing team. A new study suggests that the emotional stress fans feel after a loss may trigger fatal heart attacks, especially in people who already have heart disease. In the study, which was published Monday in the [...]

Wall Street Journal Seeks Right to Publish Physician Medicare Billing Information

From MedPage Today: The Wall Street Journal has filed suit to overturn a ban of more than 30 years on publication of Medicare payment amounts to individual physicians by name, citing a need for independent scrutiny of potential fraud. Although media organizations are allowed access to Medicare payment records, they have been barred from publishing [...]

Making an appointment for the emergency room a growing trend

From the Los Angeles Times: Eight Southern California hospitals have signed up for a system called InQuickER that lets patients pay a fee of $14.99 to $24.99 to set up an appointment online for emergency care. If they’re not seen within 15 minutes, they get their money back.

NYT Prime Number: Shoveling Injuries

From the New York Times: 11,500: The average annual number of people treated in hospital emergency rooms from 1990 to 2006 for injuries suffered while shoveling snow, a study in this month’s issue of The American Journal of Emergency Medicine reports. Men were most frequently hurt. Injuries to the lower back accounted for slightly more [...]

Resolution in conflict between ED group and Alaska hospital

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Tanana Chiefs Conference and the independent operator of the emergency room at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital have reached an agreement that has led to the dismissal of a lawsuit against TCC. The lawsuit, filed in January 2010, alleged TCC was under-paying or refusing to pay for care Alaska Natives receive in [...]

Iowa’s New Requirements for Death Certificates

From the Iowa Hospital Association: State Has New Requirements for Death Certificates With the start of the year, a revised certificate of death was implemented by the Iowa Department of Public Health (DPH).  Iowa’s 2011 revision of the certificate of death is a reflection of the 2003 national standard developed by the National Center for [...]

“30 Minutes or Less ER Service Pledge”

From the Lake County News Sun: Vista is pledging to have emergency room patients seen by an emergency room physician or physician extender within 30 minutes of their arrival. Vista Health System is the first and only hospital in Lake County to implement a “30 Minutes or Less ER Service Pledge,” according to President Barbara [...]

USDA To Fund 45 Rural Telemedicine Projects

From InformationWeek: The United States Department of Agriculture has announced that it will fund 45 telemedicine projects to increase access to healthcare in rural areas. Part of the telemedicine grant money will be used to improve network connectivity to help rural medical specialists use videoconferencing to provide advanced diagnosis for patients or consult with colleagues [...]