Practice Management
Health officials in Ohio are tracking a surge in pediatric pneumonia cases in Warren County, with 145 cases reported in children aged 3 to 14 since August. Although these are considered “typical pediatric pneumonia cases” in terms of severity, the prevalence has led to an unusually high number of hospitalizations, meeting the criteria for an outbreak according to the Ohio Department of Health. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that the national …
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A survey of 1,559 adults conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania found that 35% of Americans worry that they or someone in their family will get respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the next 3 months. The same percentage (35%) said they are worried that they or someone in their family will get COVID-19 in the next 3 months, up from 21% in August 2023. Flu concerns are somewhat higher, however, …
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Cutting even 1 teaspoon of salt from the typical American diet each day can lower blood pressure just as much as hypertension medication can, even for those who don’t have high blood pressure (BP), a new JAMA study found. Just 1 week of a low-sodium diet resulted in an average 8mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure vs a high-sodium diet. The study assigned 213 people ages 50 to 75 to either a high- or low-sodium diet. …
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There’s a widening gender gap when it comes to life expectancy, according to new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. It turns out that men in the U.S. now live almost six years less than women. Researchers found life expectancy for men is 73.2 years, and for women it’s 79.1 years. The 5.8 year gap is the widest seen since 1996. In terms of trendlines, women do tend to live longer than men in countries throughout the …
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In 2022, the United States saw a 3% increase in the infant mortality rate, which represents the most significant rise in two decades. The national infant mortality rate climbed from 5.44 per 1,000 live births to 5.6 per 1,000, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although it appears as a seemingly small increase, it’s the first statistically significant jump since the rise recorded between 2001-2002. Notably, the rise in infant mortality …
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A decade ago, Tarek Loubani, an emergency medicine physician and Kuwait-born Palestinian refugee, developed the world’s first 3D-printed stethoscope to address the medical equipment crisis in under-resourced global communities. In 2016, he founded the Glia Project, and the organization is now actively printing critical medical equipment for providers in conflict zones like Gaza and the Ukraine, according to STAT News. The group aims to empower local communities to produce their own 3D-printed equipment with the …
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The distribution arm of medical supplier Henry Schein was shut down by a cyber attack on October 15. According to SecurityWeek, the company’s 1 million global customers could not place orders, and shipments were halted. The company said its practice management software was not impacted, however. Now what: Cyber attacks are increasing in frequency as well as the scale of their financial impact on healthcare organizations and their partners. “Have a secondary supplier to fall …
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Hundreds of physicians along with approximately 150 nurse practitioners and physician assistants caring for patients in the Allina Health system have voted in favor of unionizing. Allina Health told an ABC News affiliate on Sunday that it will agree to recognize the new union. Once the union is officially certified, it will represent what could be the largest private sector physician’s union in the country. This decision follows the clinical teams’ concerns over issues such …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is raising awareness about the importance of improving antibiotic and antifungal use during US Antibiotic Awareness Week, November 18-24. Through communication strategies, CDC is reinforcing messages to patients and providers to remind them that anytime antibiotics or antifungals are used, they can cause side effects and contribute to antimicrobial resistance. Additionally, the agency is recognizing that health inequities can result from less-than-optimal antibiotic or antifungal prescribing practices, which …
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Across the retail landscape, Rite Aid has appointed a new CEO and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a restructuring plan to reduce its debt. The drugstore chain has been contending with declining sales, mounting debt, and multiple lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic, according to Yahoo News. Consequently, the company anticipates losses of $650-680 million by late February. What’s the outlook like? Rite Aid certainly has a lot of ground to cover. Larger rivals …
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