Industrial powerhouse General Electric Co. hopes a push into medical electronic records and information with some of the top health care institutions in the nation will put it at the front of what is expected to be a rapidly growing market.

The Fairfield, Conn.-based company’s health care unit plans to spend $200 million over the next five years to develop electronic systems for medical information and patient records. Its partners are among top medical institutions, including the Mayo Clinic and Montefiore Medical Center.

The idea for better electronic access and portability with medical records is not new. For years, governments and health systems have been pushing for electronic medical records that could easily be shared between different hospitals and physicians.

The goal of such a system is to boost efficiency and quality within the system, while cutting time and costs. But no two hospitals or medical institutions are alike, and a system for sharing information has been elusive.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310ap_general_electric_health_records.html

The same characteristics of hospitals that lead to high nurse-staffing levels may be associated with better experiences for patients, and offers evidence that hospitals can provide both a high quality of clinical care and a good experience for the patient.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/18/1921?query=TOC

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), making his second appearance on Capitol Hill since he began treatment for a malignant brain tumor in June, told reporters yesterday that he would advance a bill early next year calling for universal health care.

Some Democrats, including members of President-elect Barack Obama’s circle, have begun to view expanded coverage as a longer-term goal.

The brief appearance by Kennedy, who made a surprise return in July to vote on a Medicare bill, represented an opportunity for him to show colleagues that he remains energetic and engaged, and that he intends to reclaim his committee post in January and take charge of the Obama health-care agenda. Some Democrats had speculated that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) would attempt to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

link to the story here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703214.html?sub=AR

New USA Today/Kaiser/Harvard Poll Finds the Public Sees Real Benefits From Prescription Drugs, But Feels that They Cost Too Much and that Drug Companies Care Too Much About Profits
A new poll, the third in a series conducted jointly by USA Today and public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, finds Americans greatly value prescription drugs’ potential benefits for their families, but most believe they cost too much money and many struggle to pay for needed medicines.

for results of the poll, copy and paste this link:
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/pomr030408pkg.cfm

Here’s one simple way to keep your children healthy: Ban the bedroom TV.

By some estimates, half of American children have a television in their bedroom; one study of third-graders put the number at 70 percent. And a growing body of research shows strong associations between TV in the bedroom and numerous health and educational problems.

Children with bedroom TVs score lower on school tests and are more likely to have sleep problems. Having a television in the bedroom is strongly associated with being overweight and a higher risk for smoking.

for full story, copy and paste the following link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-tv-children-healthmar04,1,3791149.story

Much has been said and written about the Democratic candidates’ health-care proposals [front page, Feb. 27]. I question Sen. Barack Obama’s definition of the word “universal.”

Central to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s message is universal health care — meaning that everyone would be covered. Mr. Obama’s plan does not include everyone.

It was a bold move in the 1930s to implement the Social Security Act, and it was a bold move to implement the law establishing Medicare in the 1960s. It will take a courageous president to implement a health care program that truly covers everyone.

for full story, copy and paste this link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022903852.html

Malpractice and Tort Reform Act of 2003, a class action suit filed in the Marshall court of the Eastern District of Texas argues that the state’s limits on non-economic damages are unconstitutional.

Texans overhauled the Texas civil justice system by adopting the comprehensive tort reform bill (House Bill 4)regarding health care liability claims in 2003, which includes limits on non-economic damages. Economic losses are not capped and include factors like medical costs and lost income.

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/208641-class-action-challenges-texas-cap-on-medical-malpractice-damages

Women who discussed reconstruction with their surgeons were significantly more likely to undergo mastectomy than women who did not have such counsel.
Although surgical decision making about breast-conserving surgery (BCS) versus mastectomy has been studied extensively, we know less about the nature of guidance provided by clinicians regarding breast reconstruction and how such counsel affects the choices of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://womens-health.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2008/228/1?q=etoc_jwwomen

While the Democratic-majority Congress is considering an expanded Children’s Health Insurance Program bill - possibly for after the Nov. 4 election - it was good to have Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour speak up for kids’ health.

Barbour testified Tuesday before the House Health Subcommittee that poor states are suffering under the current federal formula, which has left Mississippi $50 million short this budget year.

CHIP generally is a good deal for the state, in that for every 17 cents Mississippi allocates, the federal government gives 83 cents toward the state-federal program.

About $5 billion has been spent on CHIP annually since it started in 1997 as a 10-year venture. But Bush vetoed it when it first came up for reauthorization last year.

copy and paste this link for full story:
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080228/OPINION01/802280336/1008/OPINION

an excellent post recently appeared in the HealthBeat Blog–

http://www.healthbeatblog.org/

The author concludes that the high cost of medicine is greatly enhanced by the fact that consumers who spend their own money and make their own healthcare decisions are the ones who end up costing the system much more in the long run.