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Health Affairs Study Finds No Link Between Cost, Quality Of Care
Quality of care is not linked to the cost of care, according to a study published last week on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs, CQ HealthBeat reports. For the study, researchers from Dartmouth College and Harvard University analyzed the health care bills of chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries in their last two years of life who received end-of-life care from 2,172 unidentified hospitals. The patients had one of three common conditions: heart attack, pneumonia or congestive heart failure. The study -- sponsored by the National Institute on Aging -- looked at common quality indicators at a hospital-by-hospital level instead of regional level (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 5/22). Researchers compared the data with some of the quality measures reported on the HHS Hospital Compare Web site (Goldstein, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 5/21). The study found that among the one-fifth of hospitals that spent the least, the cost of end-of-life care was $16,059 on average. In comparison, the cost of end-of-life care at the top 20% of highest-spending hospitals was $34,742 on average. The study also found no link -- or even evidence against a link -- between spending and the quality indicators. The researchers noted that the results might be skewed because the quality indicators they used might penalize hospitals that treat sicker patients. In addition, the study used process-of-care measures instead of patient outcomes. According to CQ HealthBeat, the findings of the study could have an effect on the debate over health care reform legislation because lawmakers and President Obama both have said that a reform plan must be able to control costs and expand access to high-quality, affordable health care (CQ HealthBeat, 5/22).

Drug May Prolong Survival In Melanoma Patients
The Northern California Melanoma Center (NCMC)"s research showed patients who received GM-CSF (Sargramostim, trade name Leukine) may experience prolonged survival. The study appears in next month"s Journal of Immunotherapy (July/August issue) and will appear online today.
News of the day
Nurses File DPH Complaint Over Use Of Life-Threatening Medical Devices At UC Irvine Medical Center
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announces that it filed a complaint with the California Department of Public Health (DPH), calling for an urgent investigation into the ongoing use of dozens of narcotic infusion pumps at the University of California Irvine Medical Center that have a history of failure, thereby exposing patients to a dangerous overdose of narcotics.
Public Health

10 Million H1N1 Vaccines Ordered By Australia

Reports are coming in that the government of Australia has placed an order for 10 million vaccines against the novel H1N1 swine flu virus, following a press briefing from Health Minister Nicola Roxon in Canberra earlier today, Thursday. According to a report from Reuters, Roxon said the Australian government will also be ordering 1.6 million courses of the antiviral drug Relenza, bringing the national stockpile of antivirals to nearly 12 million courses. The swine flu vaccine order has been placed with pharmaceutical company CSL Ltd who are planning to start clinical trials in a few months. Vaccine producers worldwide have to wait for good "candidate" samples of the virus to be made in approved labs before they can start developing the vaccine. These are only just starting to come forward. It is not clear whether the order is for doses or courses. If it is for doses and experts conclude that two doses are needed for full immunity, then this order will only cover 25 per cent of Australia"s 20 million inhabitants. Roxon told reporters that the health authorities will be deciding who gets the vaccine and who does not. She said the government has also approved its first release of a controlled number of antivirals from the national stockpile to highly localized and targeted areas in the Victoria and Western Australia states to "enable aggressive containment of small clusters of the disease," reported Reuters. Earlier today, the Australian authorities reported they have officially confirmed 103 cases of H1N1 swine flu, up from 61 on Wednesday. Australia is also gearing up for the regular flu season, which starts about now, as the winter months approach. Most of the swine flu cases are believed to be in New South Wales and Victoria, the country"s two most populated states and which lie to the south east. Three of the cases were passengers travelling on the cruise liner Pacific Dawn which is now not going to complete its journey north to Queensland. As of 06:00 GMT yesterday, Wednesday 27 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that 48 countries have now officially reported 13,398 cases of H1N1 swine flu, including 95 deaths. Most of the deaths have been in Mexico, while most of the cases are in the US and Mexico. s: Reuters, WHO. Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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