Virtual Doctor Visits Are Getting More Popular, But Questions Remain About Who Pays

Provisions within the federal budget law Congress passed this year expands the use of telemedicine, which could go mainstream within 5 to 10 years. Read more

Study: More Practices Employing Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants 

According to a study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, more practices are employing nurse practitioners or physician assistants. Read more

Read Full Post

With Room Service and More, Hospitals Borrow From Hotels

At the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital outside Detroit, patients arrive to uniformed valets and professional greeters. Read More   

Remote Heart Monitoring Can Help Detect Emergencies

Instead of having heart monitors with noisy alarms near patients' beds in the hospital, it might be better to have off-site technicians do the heart monitoring remotely, a recent study suggests. Read More  

Read Full Post

The Night Doctor is in: Why 'Nocturnalists' Are Replacing Some On-Call Physicians

More hospitals are hiring experienced "nocturnalists" to improve patient safety and prevent calls to tired on-call physicians, according to an article in the Boston Globe. Read More  

Healthcare Hiring Momentum Leads to another 38,500 Jobs in June

Healthcare added 38,500 jobs in June and a total of 234,600 jobs in the first six months of 2016, according to initial seasonally adjusted figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read More  

Read Full Post

Family Caregivers Become More Crucial as Elderly Population Grows

Strain on family caregivers is alarming many lawmakers and social-service providers. Read More   

Anti-depressants Carry Much Higher Fall Risk than Anti-psychotics, Study Finds

Nursing home residents with dementia who take antidepressants are at significantly higher risk of falls and fractures than those on anti-psychotics, new research shows. Read More  

Read Full Post

Nursing Homes Starting to Offer More Individualized Menus

On a recent Thursday, the staff at Sunny Vista Living Center in Colorado Springs bustled in the kitchen.  

AHRQ Reports Continued Gains in Health Care Quality

Health care quality is improving overall, especially in hospitals, and more people have health care coverage and a usual source of medical care since the Affordable Care Act took effect, according to a new report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Read more.  

Read Full Post

AHA Issues Guide for Improving the Patient Experience through the Physical Environment

One way for hospitals to improve patient satisfaction is to focus on their physical environment, according to a new guide by the AHA's Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence initiative and American Society for Healthcare Engineering. Read More    

Hospitals Eye Community Health Workers to Cultivate Patients' Successes

Donnie Missouri, 58, doesn't have medical training. He started his health career in the linens department in Johns Hopkins Hospital. Read More

Read Full Post

Number of Seniors Who Need Personal Care Help Increasing, CDC Says

A "significantly" increasing number of adults over age 65 need help with personal care, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More 

Read Full Post

Location, Location, Location May Impact Hospital Readmission Rates

The socio-economic status of patients in a given community may explain some of the variation in hospital 30-day readmission rates. Read More

At the Hospital, Better Responses to Those Beeping Alarms

In hospitals, alarms on patient-monitoring devices create a cacophony of noise day and night-beeping, pinging and ringing so often that doctors and nurses ignore them, turn them off or just stop hearing them. Read More

Read Full Post

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a process in which a patient breathes 100 percent oxygen at above-normal atmospheric pressure. The process increases the delivery of oxygen to the body, enhancing the body’s natural healing process.

The Hyperbaric Manager at Kindred Hospital Kansas City has seen the positive effects of HBOT on persistent wounds firsthand.

"For those who have tried other therapies with no results, they can find great benefits with hyperbaric oxygen wound therapy," she says. It can be "life-changing," she adds, when a patient no longer has to deal with a wound that wouldn't heal and was impacting his daily life. Read Full Post

Read Full Post