Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:
Hospitals injure patients. Almost one in five hospital patients was injured by their care, according to a study of 10 U.S. hospitals published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found little improvement from industry and government efforts to improve safety, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.
Reform will expand Medicaid. The impending Medicaid expansion — compliments of healthcare reform — will be the single biggest change in the program since its inception in 1965, according to a New England Journal of Medicine article.
Acquisition a boon for Morgenthaler. Medtronic’s $800 million acquisition of Ardian, which makes a catheter designed to help treat people with drug-resistant hypertension, was a boon for Morgenthaler Ventures, giving the Menlo Park, California, venture firm its largest exit from a medical device investment, according to VentureWire.
Insurer, doctors team up to tame costs. Medical Mutual of Ohio and Cleveland Clinic Community Physician Partnership — two major players in the Northeast Ohio medical community — are looking at ways to change that familiar fee-for-service payment model between doctors and insurance companies with the goal of improving patient care and saving money, according to the Plain Dealer.
Angels hurt by bubble? For months, there’s been talk of a seed-stage bubble. Last week during an interview at the Web 2.0 conference, venture capitalist Fred Wilson said, “The angel bubble is a good thing for everybody but the angels.” That’s not true, says peHUB.
Stem cell research a bust? In 2004 Robert Klein, chairman of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine helped pass Proposition 71, establishing the institute with $3 billion in taxpayer money for ten years. Now, Klein plans to seek up to $3 billion more from state taxpayers for his stem cell fiefdom despite having little to show, according to the Family Research Council (which is against embryonic stem cell research because it destroys embryos).
Dr. Oz and Michael Roizen health coaching startup raises $1.6 million
Cleveland Clinic to help Notre Dame commercialize medical innovations
DOJ closes investigation of Medtronic’s controversial product Infuse
Two stem cell therapies from Cytomedix to start trials; stroke study expands
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the problem is that hospitals and their doctors are after money, there is nothing like patient care anymore. it is all about what procedure will make the most money
Comment by stella — November 25, 2010 @ 3:38 pm
All hospitals care about is the profits. As a nurse for 21 years, I see all the nurses do is rush to pass pills out and write notes. We work long hours, 12 hrs without breaks, do not get pay and management does not care if we are tired. Management try to squeeze as much as they can from the staff nurses, they do not care of experience, or commitment. We do not have time to wash our hands as we rush from patient to patient. Bottom line, hospitals management does not care about patient care only money.
Comment by gab nick — November 25, 2010 @ 4:15 pm
Our son has a rare form of leukemia and has been battling it for almost 2 years. His care is now given at a hospital that is ranked annually amongst the top 20 hospitals in the nation. Yet in the past 2 months we have experienced move than FIVE errors in his treatment — two of which were life threatening and could have severely compromised his life.
I won’t even begin to discuss the care he received at the hospital that initially performed his treatment. The rank and file mistakes there were too many to count, so we moved him.
I watch daily as his oncology nurses grapple with antiquated reporting systems and files that are not digital but analog and require each nurse to shuffle through ominous amounts of paper to simply determine exactly WHAT his treatment should be.
Who loses here? My son, that’s who. With these horrific recording keeping systems he is left to endure the complications and side effects of being administered treatment that months or weeks ago was deemed unnecessary or unhelpful by his doctors (but his medical records don’t reflect that.)
Don’t tell me to change hospitals…as I mentioned in my initial ‘grafs….this situation arises from a hospital that is considered one of the best in the nation…and investigations into comparable facilities in the area have resulted in no better outcomes.
Comment by mlk2 — November 25, 2010 @ 4:20 pm
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