Site Map - Healthcare

09/24/2007 - A bill (S. 2803) designed to improve mine safety and protect the health of mine workers has been approved by both houses of Congress and is awaiting the President’s signature. The bill would require mine operators to adopt and maintain an accident response plan for when miners are trapped. Under the bill, the plan would include redundant local communications systems, emergency air supplies, escapeways, emergency training, and wireless communication systems to allow contact between trapped miners and officials on the surface. To encourage new technology, the bill would provide grants for those developing new mine safety equipment. S. 2803 would also establish an interagency working group to share technology, research, and developments in mine safety and emergency response.

09/24/2007 - Every U.S. state has an agency that handles public health, but how the public health apparatus functions from state to state diverges widely. Some agencies are freestanding, others are part of a larger health and human services department. The way they deal with local health agencies varies as well: some states centralize control over local health agencies, others grant local agencies wide latitude in operations, and still other states fall somewhere in between. The services provided by these agencies are also all over the map. Does the structure matter? Not really, say researchers at the RAND Corporation who recently examined “whether there is a link between how state and local public health departments are organized and the level of their emergency preparedness.” Read the report.

09/21/2007 - The use of stun guns by security departments of hospitals and medical centers may sound shocking, but they may be a safer alternative to physical force.

09/21/2007 - Hospitals and assisted-care facilities face the growing challenge of ensuring that patients with dementia can’t wander off the property and come to harm.

09/20/2007 - A 24-hour health club uses antitailgating devices as a way to exorcise freeloaders.

09/20/2007 - BioShield also provided for grants to modernize existing biomedical and behavioral research facilities and construct new ones. It gave authority to the federal government to procure critical drugs using specially designated funds. In addition, BioShield amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to allow specific drugs to be introduced to the public prior to FDA approval, provided the Homeland Security Secretary determined that a national emergency merited the use of such drugs.

09/20/2007 - A new Missouri law (formerly H.B. 413) requires that the state set up a vaccination program for first responders who would be deployed to disaster areas as a result of bioterrorism. Participation in the program is voluntary except for those first responders identified by their employers as personnel who cannot safely perform their emergency duties without the vaccinations

09/20/2007 - A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that filming an emergency room patient for a television program violated privacy laws.

09/19/2007 - The database is part of a larger initiative to evaluate public health preparedness and educate officials on methods for improvement. Rand has also produced studies that evaluate public health preparedness, test public health disease reporting systems, and create best practices for public health officials.

09/18/2007 - A hospital was held liable when a nurse was assaulted by a doctor who was an independent contractor.

09/18/2007 - The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has developed a program which ensures that security systems work properly before vendors leave the scene

09/14/2007 - A strategic alliance by Siemens Communications, Mount Sinai Medical Center and Elmhurst Hospital Center is using smart card technology

09/14/2007 - Over one-quarter of states do not have sufficient bioterrorism laboratory response capabilities,” says the third annual study of the U.S. public health and emergency response capabilities by the Trust for America’s Health. The report brings to light several deficiencies in the public health sector and evaluates states’ abilities to respond to and mitigate the effects of a natural disaster or terrorist incident. @ The full report is available via SM Online.