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Assessing The Pandemic Potential Of Influenza Viruses [July 31, 2006] BLS Data On High-Wage, High-Growth Occupations, By Educational Attainment Cluster And Earnings [July 28, 2006] Preparing For Pandemic Flu [July 27, 2006] Health Care In The Express Lane: The Emergence Of Retail Clinics [July 26, 2006] Medical Arms Race Continues Unabated [July 25, 2006] Preventing Medication Errors: Quality Chasm Series [July 24, 2006] Hospital Emergency Department Use Varies [July 21, 2006] Language Barriers To Health Care [July 20, 2006] Revised Report Of The Secretary's Commission On The Future Of Higher Education [July 19, 2006] Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Approves FY 2007 Spending Bill [July 18, 2006] ASAHP Urges Congress To Restore Title VII Funding [July 17, 2006] Gender Equity In Higher Education [July 14, 2006] ADHA Seeks Input On Updated Draft Curriculum For The Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner (ADHP) [July 13, 2006] Lower Court Lacks Jurisdiction To Hear NATA Lawsuit On CMS “Incident To” Rule [July 12, 2006] Darrell Kirch Is New CEO Of The AAMC [July 11, 2006] HCUP Databases And Related Tools [July 10, 2006] Demystifying The Federal Grant Review Process [July 7, 2006] Health Care Spending: What The Future Will Look Like [July 6, 2006] Dealing With Debt: Bachelor's Degree Recipients 10 Years Later [July 5, 2006] GAO Report On Clinical Lab Quality [June 30, 2006] Research On Obesity And Overweight [June 29, 2006] Technology for Patient Centered Collaborative Care [June 28, 2006] Higher Education Commission Report [June 27, 2008] 2004 Ambulatory Medical Care Utilization Estimates [June 26, 2006] Ethical Guidelines For Managing Conflicts Of Interest Curriculum Module [June 23, 2006] Higher Education Act Extended [June 22, 2003] Ranking Higher Education Institutions [June 21, 2006] Increasing The Value Of Medicare [June 20, 2006] Hospital Information Technology: Is It Helping To Improve Quality? [June 19, 2006] Research Into Practice [June 16, 2006] Sharing Higher Education Across Borders [June 15, 2006] Emergency Medical Care On Verge Of Collapse [June 14, 2006] AHRQ Small Grant Research Program [June 13, 2006] Lessons On Ethical Decision Making From The Bioscience Industry [June 12, 2006] Procedures In U.S. Hospitals [June 8, 2006] Many Physician Practices Still Lack IT for Patient Care [June 7, 2006] Working Group Recommends Core Health Care Services for All By 2012 [June 6, 2006] The Changing Face Of Race [June 5, 2006] Health Care Quality Indicators Project Conceptual Framework Paper [June 2, 2006] Skills Necessary For Workforce And Undergraduate Success [June 2, 2006] Global And Financial Impact Of An Avian Flu Epidemic [June 1, 2006] Assessing The Pandemic Potential Of Influenza Viruses Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a new research method that may help identify the types of genetic changes necessary for the avian influenza virus (H5N1) to be more easily transmitted among people. After developing the research method, CDC scientists used it to investigate the ability of a lab-engineered combination of the avian influenza virus and a more common human virus to spread in lab animals. Efficient and sustained human-to-human transmission is the remaining property that H5N1 avian influenza viruses do not yet have that is needed to cause a pandemic. The results are published in the July 31 issue of the journal entitled Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. BLS Data On High-Wage, High-Growth Occupations, By Educational Attainment Cluster And Earnings The statistical and research supplement to the 2006-07 the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) contains detailed, comprehensive data used in preparing the Handbook . Included among the data is a table listing high-wage, high-growth occupations by educational attainment cluster and earnings as of May 2004. Data may be accessed by clicking http://stats.bls.gov/emp/optd/optdtabi_5.pdf . A document entitled “Blueprint for Pandemic Flu Preparedness Planning for Colleges and Universities” can be used for the purpose of pre-planning a response to a pandemic flu outbreak. It may be accessed by clicking http://www.ajg.com/portal/providers/fileopen.asp?ID=537565 . Health Care In The Express Lane: The Emergence Of Retail Clinics With catchy slogans such as "You're Sick, We're Quick," and promises of affordability and convenience, a new wave of retail health clinics located in mini-malls and popular discount stores is making its mark on the health care landscape. A new report from the California Healthcare Foundation examines this innovation from a national and California perspective. It provides an overview of in-store clinics and converging trends in retail and health care and explores the potential for these clinics to succeed as a viable business model. Surveys indicate that retail-based clinics appeal most to higher-income consumers willing to pay for convenience and uninsured consumers who have few alternatives and limited flexibility. According to the report, national consumer reviews have been positive and retail clinic numbers are expected to skyrocket from less than 100 in mid-2006 to several thousand by the end of 2007. In California, which has a relative handful of in-store clinics, the lure of a huge consumer market is irresistible. But health regulations and looming turf battles with physicians may limit profitability and scalability. The report may be accessed by clicking Medical Arms Race Continues Unabated The proliferation of heart institutes, cancer centers, orthopedic hospitals, and other niche specialty centers signals an escalation in a new medical arms race as hospitals and physicians develop and market profitable specialty-service lines, according to a study by Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) researchers published today on the Health Affairs Web site. Hospitals and physicians often collaborate on specialty-service lines, but increasingly they are competing ferociously for patients as physicians add diagnostic and treatment capabilities to their practices that once were exclusively provided in hospitals, the study found. While federal law limits physician self-referrals, a broad exception in the law allows physicians to self-refer patients for services provided within the physician's own practice. The article may be accessed by clicking Preventing Medication Errors: Quality Chasm Series Medication errors injure at least 1.5 million people every year and result in billions of dollars in extra medical costs, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The report recommends improved communications between health care providers and patients, nationwide use of electronic prescribing systems, and efforts to address problems associated with drug naming and labeling, among other steps to reduce drug-related mistakes. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11623.html#toc . Hospital Emergency Department Use Varies Contrary to popular belief, communities with high levels of uninsured, Hispanic or immigrant residents generally have much lower rates of per person hospital emergency department use than other communities, according to a study by HSC published this week as a Web exclusive in the journal Health Affairs . The article may be accessed by clicking http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.25.w324v1 Language Barriers To Health Care One of the biggest barriers to high-quality health care for millions of U.S. residents has nothing to do with medicine. It has to do with language. "We're looking at 50 million people in the U.S., 19 percent of the population, who speak a language other than English at home and 22 million who have limited English proficiency, so that's a lot of people," said Dr. Glenn Flores, director of the Center for the Advancement of Underserved Children, and a professor of pediatrics, epidemiology, and health policy at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. The number is growing, added Flores, who is author of an article in the July 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that outlines the issues and possible solutions. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of Americans speaking a language other than English at home grew by 15.1 million (a 47 percent increase) and the number with limited English proficiency grew by 7.3 million (a 53 percent increase). Currently, only 13 states provide third-party reimbursement for interpreter services. Unfortunately, most of the states containing the largest numbers of patients with limited English proficiency have not followed suit, sometimes citing concerns about costs. Revised Report Of The Secretary's Commission On The Future Of Higher Education The second draft of a final report by the Secretary's Commission on the Future of Higher Education was released formally on July 17. The first draft was criticized from the standpoint that it did not reflect the views of many commissioners and it was too harsh concerning higher education. The newer version is considered to be more representative of the commission as a whole and it adopts a softer tone. Nevertheless, it too is expected to generate a great deal of discussion about the value of the conclusions drawn and the recommendations made. The draft version of the report may be accessed by clicking Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Approves FY 2007 Spending Bill The Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee today approved its spending bill for fiscal year 2007. The $605.6 billion spending bill includes $142.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, as well as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Social Security Administration. The FY 2006 funding level is $141.531 billion and President Bush recommended $137.794 billion for FY 2007. The bill includes an increase of $9 million over the President's request for health professions education programs. The House Appropriations Committee on June 13 approved a version of the bill that includes about $1 billion less in discretionary spending. ASAHP Urges Congress To Restore Title VII Funding The Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) recently joined 60 other organizations in signing a letter to Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor-HHS, urging him to restore funding for Title VII programs in FY 2007 that were decimated by spending cuts in FY2006. The letter was sent under the auspices of the Health Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC). A House bill, H.R. 5647, restores money for geriatric training, but does nothing for programs that were eliminated for FY 2006. Overall, programs were cut by $154.4 million. In FY 2005, they were awarded $300 million. The objective is to restore funding to the FY 2005 level. Gender Equity In Higher Education A new report from the American Council on Education (ACE), analyzing gender in college and university student populations, indicates that the widely documented gender gap in college enrollment in recent years is due primarily to more low-income white and Hispanic female students enrolling in undergraduate programs. The report— Gender Equity in Higher Education: 2006 —finds that the percentage of male undergraduates has dropped from 44 percent in 1995–96 to 42 percent in 2003–04. Despite continued growth in the percentage of female undergraduates, however, the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to men is on the rise, as it is for women. For more information on how to obtain copies of the report, click ADHA Seeks Input On Updated Draft Curriculum For The Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner (ADHP) In an effort to address the severe oral health disparities plaguing millions across the U.S., the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) adopted three key resolutions at its 81st annual session that set the stage for creating an advanced dental hygiene practitioner, which will have an impact on the oral health of the public. Already a major topic among those in dentistry, the draft curriculum establishes key points on the level of care this new professional will provide to the public and the respective education required, including:
The advanced dental hygiene practitioner (ADHP) curriculum has moved into the second phase of development. ADHA is interested in receiving comments on the DRAFT ADHP curriculum from the oral health community. Colleen Schmidt, RDH, MS, Director of Education Lower Court Lacks Jurisdiction To Hear NATA Lawsuit On CMS “Incident To” Rule The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lower court does not have jurisdiction to hear the National Athletic Trainers' Association's (NATA) lawsuit on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) “incident to” rule. The CMS rule improperly restricts who may provide therapy services “incident to” – or under the supervision of – a physician. In its July 3 decision, the Court of Appeals confirmed that NATA has standing to challenge the CMS rule, a positive finding, but determined the district court does not have jurisdiction to consider NATA's claims. The Court reasoned that physicians have adequate incentives to challenge the rule on behalf of adversely affected athletic trainers, even though athletic trainers cannot themselves appeal directly to CMS. The original lawsuit was filed in May 2005 after CMS announced it would no longer pay for therapy incident to a physician's services unless the provider is a physical therapist, occupational therapist, or speech/language pathologist. Under this rule, doctors cannot bill Medicare for treatment provided by athletic trainers or a host of other health care practitioners. It's estimated that more than 1,100 athletic trainers have lost their jobs as a direct result of the rule. Darrell Kirch Is New CEO Of The AAMC Darrell G. Kirch is president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), a position he assumed on July 1, 2006. Founded in 1876, the AAMC is a Washington, D.C.-based, non-profit association representing all 125 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools, nearly 400 teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 96 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC also represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. A distinguished medical scientist, educator, physician, and noted authority on organization and management issues at academic medical centers, Kirch's career spans all aspects of academic medicine and includes leadership positions at two medical schools and teaching hospitals, as well as at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Before becoming the AAMC's fourth president, Dr. he was selected to be chair-elect of the association and served as the co-chair of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) and as a member-at-large of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). He also has served as chair of the AAMC's Council of Deans Administrative Board and as chair of the American Medical Association's Section on Medical Schools. He comes to the AAMC after six years as senior vice president for health affairs, dean of the college of medicine, and CEO of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center at The Pennsylvania State University. HCUP Databases And Related Tools The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) is a family of health care databases and related software tools developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership to build a multi-State health data system for health care research and decisionmaking. HCUP is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) as part of its mission to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of the nation's health care system. An updated Fact Sheet summarizes current HCUP resources. The Fact Sheet may be accessed by clicking http://www.ahcpr.gov/data/hcup/datahcup.htm . Demystifying The Federal Grant Review Process The federal grant proposal review process could appear mysterious or rather daunting to fledgling grant applicants. A panel discussion occurred regarding this matter at the annual research meeting of AcademyHealth. The panelists' serve both in the federal government and on review committees (e.g., NIH and AHRQ). Discussion topics included, but were not limited to: 1) communicating your research plan to reviewers, especially those who may not speak your technical language; 2) using the Summary Statement to help you revise and resubmit a proposal; 3) understanding the roles of federal program and review staff; and 4) the implementation of electronic grant application. Power point slides used during the discussion may be accessed by clicking Health Care Spending: What The Future Will Look Like According to a new report by the National Center for Policy Analysis, government health care spending in developed countries grew much more rapidly than the economies of those countries over the past three decades. This phenomenon can be explained by answering two questions: How much of health care expenditure growth is due to demographic change (the aging of society)? How much is due to increases in spending on the average beneficiary (at different ages)? The distinction is important. Spending levels are determined by government policy, whereas demographics are largely outside government control. A new study uses demographic data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and spending profiles based on the age and health status of beneficiary groups in each country to measure the growth in real (inflation-adjusted) health care spending between 1970 and 2002 in 10 OECD countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The report first explains why health care spending has been rising and then projects the trend of the past 30 years forward to the mid-21st century. By mid-century government health care spending will claim a much larger share of national resources than it does today. If current trends hold in the United States, by 2050 government health care spending will claim one-third of GDP. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st286/ . Dealing With Debt: Bachelor's Degree Recipients 10 Years Later Using data from the 1993–2003 Baccalaureate and Beyond Study, a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) describes the borrowing patterns of 1992–93 bachelor's degree recipients and examines the repayment of undergraduate Stafford loans for those who had no additional degree enrollment. About half (51 percent) of all graduates had borrowed to help pay for their undergraduate education, borrowing an average of $10,200 from all sources. Among graduates with no additional degree enrollment, 74 percent had repaid all their undergraduate loans by 2003. Of the 26 percent still repaying their loans, the median debt burden (monthly payment divided by monthly income) in 2003 was 3.3 percent. Among bachelor's degree recipients with no further degree enrollment, 39 percent had taken out Stafford loans as undergraduates. Among these Stafford loan borrowers, 5 percent ever had a deferment, 12 percent ever had a period of forbearance, and 10 percent had defaulted at some point. Students did not tend to run into repayment problems immediately; the average length of time between graduation and the first deferment, forbearance, or default was 4–5 years. For many, the problems were temporary, with 45 percent of defaulters able to re-enter repayment later. In addition, most of those who deferred or had periods of repayment were able to recover financially and did not default. The report may be accessed by clicking http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006156.pdf . GAO Report On Clinical Lab Quality Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) strengthened and extended quality requirements for labs that perform tests to diagnose or treat disease. About 36,000 labs that perform certain complex tests must be surveyed biennially by either a state or one of six private accrediting organizations. CMS oversees implementation of CLIA requirements and the activities of survey organizations. The government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine (1) the quality of lab testing; (2) the effectiveness of surveys, complaint investigations, and enforcement actions in detecting and addressing lab problems; and (3) the adequacy of CMS's CLIA oversight. Because of limited comparable data from CMS and survey organizations, too little is known about the quality of lab testing. For example, a standardized assessment of lab quality across survey organizations is not possible because of different definitions of what constitutes a serious quality problem. One survey organization had no systematic way of identifying the problematic labs it inspects. However, GAO's analysis of an indicator that measures a lab's ability to consistently produce accurate test results suggests that lab quality may not have improved at hospital labs in recent years. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06416.pdf . Research On Obesity And Overweight Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable deaths and is associated with many significant health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. A recent program brief summarizes research on obesity and overweight supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), including current and completed projects, recent findings, and several conferences. The document may be accessed by clicking http://www.ahcpr.gov/research/obesitybrf.pdf .
Technology for Patient Centered Collaborative Care In his preface to the July–September 2006 issue of the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, Donald Berwick writes that health care in the United States is "neither patient-centered nor collaborative." Berwick, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, maintains that the "quality chasm" famously noted by the Institute of Medicine will not be closed without wholesale restructuring of the U.S. health system. To make care more patient-centered, it must be more proactive, inclusive, and customized to individual patients. To make it more collaborative, it must utilize teams of practitioners that share information among members and patients alike. For additional information, click Higher Education Commission Report A recent draft report by The Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education began circulating which provoked the ire of many commission members, who believe the draft does not accurately reflect the substance and tone of the year-long meetings. The commission meets again tomorrow to discuss and revise the draft. The final report is due in September. The draft report may be obtained by clicking http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/report.pdf . 2004 Ambulatory Medical Care Utilization Estimates Americans made more than 1.1 billion visits a year to doctors' offices and hospital emergency and outpatient departments in 2004, up by 31% in the last 10 years. A portion of this increase is due to an 11% rise in population during that period. This was accompanied by a 19% increase in utilization per person. The increase in the visit rate per person among persons 65 years and over (26%) was higher than among persons under age 65 years (16%). Estimates of ambulatory medical care use are based on national probability provider-based surveys of visits to nonfederal office-based physicians and emergency and outpatient departments of nonfederal, general, and short-stay hospitals in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Individual reports are available that contain detailed analysis by setting. Access to the reports may be obtained by clicking http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/estimates2004/estimates04.htm . Ethical Guideline For Managing Conflicts Of Interest Curriculum Module AcademyHealth, with support from the Association of American Medical Colleges, developed a Conflicts of Interest Curriculum Module that can be used by individuals and institutions to evaluate their own behavior, update their policies, educate their trainees, and guide the management of difficult ethical situations. The module is designed to engage the user through a participatory group discussion and includes “ready to use” materials that can be modified for different classroom applications and degree program levels. Curriculum components may be obtained by clicking http://www.academyhealth.org/ethicalcurriculum/ .
The House voted yesterday to extend until September 30 provisions of the Higher Education Act (P.L. 105-244). The purpose is to find a compromise on federal student aid programs. The vote marks the fourth extension. The House passed its version of the HEA bill, the College Access and Opportunity Act (H.R. 609), on March 30. The Senate originally included its HEA reauthorization legislation in the Deficit Reduction Act, which was passed in February, however, only the student loan provisions of the Senate reauthorization bill were included in the final version of the Deficit Reduction Act. The Senate has to produce a new bill to address the remaining HEA provisions in order for a House-Senate conference to occur. Ranking Higher Education Institutions A groundbreaking meeting involving experts from more than a dozen countries has resulted in the first-ever international principles for ranking of higher education institutions. The global phenomenon of college and university rankings requires the establishment of international principles to ensure "that those producing rankings and league tables hold themselves accountable for quality in their own data collection, methodology, and dissemination," according to the document, which is known as the Berlin Principles on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions. For additional information and a listing of the Principles, click Increasing The Value Of Medicare Medicare spending is on a seemingly unsustainable trajectory. Analysts at the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) are trying to deal with the problem by figuring out how to obtain better value for the Medicare dollar. Their views are in a new report. Tighter management of care in the traditional fee-for-service part of Medicare, measuring the levels of care prescribed by physicians, and improving the accuracy of payments to providers all hold promise toward that end. The report notes that controlling spending is essential to assure the sustainability of the program. The longer action is delayed, the more draconian the remedies will be required. The document may be accessed by clicking Hospital Information Technology: Is It Helping To Improve Quality? Mathematica Policy Research Inc. has issued a new Issue Brief aimed at discovering how public reporting of quality information has influenced quality improvement efforts within hospitals. The study included a nationally representative survey of hospitals in summer 2005 that asked senior hospital executives whether clinicians use six specific types of information technology (IT). The survey also assessed whether IT had advanced quality of care, and if so, the most important ways in which it had done so. The brief may be accessed by clicking On July 10-12 in Washington, DC, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will host the fourth in a series on translating or increasing the flow of research knowledge into health care practice and policy. The Translating Research Into Practice and Policy (TRIPP) 2006 Conference will highlight strategies and tools for designing interventions to reach and influence different audiences and to promote change in different settings where evidence-based practices might be implemented. The conference will continue to provide an opportunity to share innovative TRIPP research and implementation methods, case studies, and other experiences. Health care provider organizations, clinicians, patients, purchasers, researchers, innovators, knowledge transfer experts and others from across the public and private sectors will share experiences, insights, collaborations, and initiatives for moving research into sustained changes in health care practice and policy. For additional information, click http://www.epc3.net/TRIPP06/conference/index.html . Sharing Higher Education Across Borders In 2004, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the American Council on Education, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the International Association of Universities issued Sharing Quality Higher Education Across Borders: A Statement on Behalf of Higher Education Institutions Worldwide, a document that can be accessed by clicking http://www.chea.org/pdf/StatementFinal0105.pdf . It offers a set of principles that provide a framework for provision of higher education across borders as well as a series of recommendations to colleges and universities and other providers of higher education and government. The aforementioned organizations indicated also came together in 2006 to develop Sharing Quality Higher Education Across Borders: A Statement on Behalf of Higher Education Institutions Worldwide. It may be used to implement the principles in the 2004 statement. And can be accessed by clicking http://www.chea.org/international/CrossBorderFinalweb.pdf .
Emergency Medical Care On Verge Of Collapse Despite the lifesaving feats performed every day by emergency departments and ambulance services, the nation's emergency medical system as a whole is overburdened, underfunded, and highly fragmented, says this series of three reports from the Institute of Medicine. For additional information, click http://www.iom.edu/ AHRQ Small Grant Research Program The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites applications for small research (R03) projects. Because the nature and scope of the proposed research will vary from application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of each award also will vary. Although the financial plans of the AHRQ provide support for this program, awards pursuant to this funding opportunity are contingent upon the availability of funds and the receipt of a sufficient number of meritorious applications. The budget limit on small project grant applications is $100,000 total costs (i.e., direct costs plus Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs) for the entire project period. A project period of up to two years may be requested. Applications requesting more than $100,000 total costs or longer than 24 months of support will be returned to the applicant without review. Universities and colleges are eligible to apply. AHRQ does not require cost sharing for applications submitted in response to this Funding Opportunity Announcement. To download an Application Package and SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for completing the SF424 (R&R) forms for this FOA, link to http://www.grants.gov/Apply/ and follow the directions provided on that Web site. A one-time registration is required for institutions/organizations at both: Grants.gov ( http://www.grants.gov/GetStarted ) and NIH eRA Commons ( http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/preparing.htm ) Project Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PIs) should work with their institutions/organizations to make sure they are registered in the NIH eRA Commons . Lessons On Ethical Decision Making From The Bioscience Industry Although a theoretical debate rages about whether bioethicists should consult to industry, no one has systematically examined from the standpoint of bioscience companies themselves how they address these ethical issues and why they do so. In understanding the complex relationship between bioethics and industry, there is a need to obtain insight from the people closest to the phenomenon. Some researchers would like to discount the views of corporate managers, but to do so would inappropriately ignore a very legitimate viewpoint, and a good starting place to begin to understand the issues faced, and approaches taken, by companies. To address this gap, a research team sought to uncover how bioscience companies, from global corporations to small start-ups, address ethical challenges specific to bioscience firms. The results of the study may be accessed by clicking To help fulfill its mission of providing information on the U.S. health care system, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) develops and sponsors databases that include the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). Through HCUP, AHRQ has taken a lead in developing databases, software tools, and statistical reports to inform policymakers, health system leaders, and researchers at the Federal, regional, and State levels. This Fact Book summarizes information about hospital procedures performed in U.S. community hospitals in 2003. Data are from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's Nationwide Inpatient Sample, an all-payer hospital database maintained by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The report highlights statistics for 2003 on: • Number and types of procedures performed during a hospital stay. The Fact book may be accessed by clicking http://www.ahcpr.gov/data/hcup/factbk7/factbk7.pdf . Many Physician Practices Still Lack IT for Patient Care Physician access to practice-based clinical information technology (IT) grew significantly between 2000-01 and 2004-05, according to a national study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). The study examined whether physician practices used information technology for the following five clinical activities: obtaining information about treatment alternatives or recommended guidelines; exchanging clinical data and images with other physicians; accessing patient notes, medication lists or problem lists; generating preventive treatment reminders for the physician's use; and writing prescriptions. The 2000-01 survey contains information on about 12,000 physicians and had a 59 percent response rate and the 2004-05 survey includes information from more than 6,600 physicians and had a 52 percent response rate. For additional information, click http://www.hschange.com/CONTENT/848/ . Working Group Recommends Core Health Care Services for All By 2012 The Citizens' Health Care Working Group – authorized in the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act announced the release of Interim Recommendations on how to make health care work for all Americans. The recommendations reflect views from over 20,000 citizens who participated in more than seventy five community meetings nationwide or provided their comments online. The public has until August 31st to comment on the Interim Recommendations. Final recommendations will be issued at the end of September and will be sent to the President for review and to the Congress, which will hold hearings. The Working Group recommends: • A public policy that all Americans have affordable health care • A “core” benefits package for all Americans • Guaranteed financial protection against very high health care costs • Development of integrated community health networks • More intensive efforts to improve quality of care and efficiency New ways to provide and finance palliative care, hospice and other services, so that people living with advanced incurable conditions have access to them in the environment they choose Comments on the interim recommendations may be submitted by email at CitizensHealth@ahrq.gov . An article in the May 2006 issue of Pediatrics (pp. 1618-1625) indicates that a patient's race or ethnic background is often taken into consideration when health care providers diagnose or treat individuals. For instance, a mother's race predicts risk for the condition known as hyperbilirubinemia, an acute form of neonatal jaundice affecting two percent of newborn babies. If left undetected, severe hyperbilirubinemia can lead to brain damage, deafness, and cerebral palsy. Such devastating outcomes can be prevented by early identification and treatment, however. Historically, clinicians have used the mother's race to assess risk of newborn hyperbilirubinemia, with blacks being at lowest risk for developing the condition. However, according to a study led by Anne Beal, how mothers define themselves from the standpoint of race does not always match the race categories assigned to them by hospital staff—potentially undermining efforts to identify and treat the condition. For additional information, click http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/117/5/1618 . Health Care Quality Indicators Project Conceptual Framework Paper A paper was developed as an attempt to set out a conceptual framework for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Health Care Quality Indicator (HCQI) Project. Two main issues are tackled: what concepts or dimensions of quality of health care should be measured and how , in principle, should they be measured? The need for a conceptual framework for the Project was expressed by a large group of participating countries. The US was part of the expert group that produced the paper. In interviews by the OECD Secretariat with member countries in April and May 2005, country experts and delegates to the Group on Health reiterated the need for a framework for the OECD's health care quality work. Countries stated that the framework should be: a) based on country experience and b) could be used to guide both current and future work by the OECD in health care quality measurement and monitoring. The paper may be accessed by clicking http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/36/36262363.pdf . Skills Necessary For Workforce And Undergraduate Success A recently released study by ACT, Inc. found that to succeed in workforce training programs, high school graduates need comparable math and language skills as they would to succeed in college. The study, Ready For College and Ready For Work: Same or Different , finds that all high school students should be taught to the same academic expectations, regardless of whether or not they intend to pursue postsecondary education. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.act.org/path/policy/pdf/ReadinessBrief.pdf Global And Financial Impact Of An Avian Flu Epidemic A paper from the International Monetary Fund aims at providing a preliminary assessment of the risks and potential impact to the global economy and financial system from a possible avian flu pandemic. It must be underscored that there is also substantial uncertainty about the economic impact of a pandemic of any given severity. It is difficult to extrapolate predictions about behavior from previous pandemics into today's world. Global integration with rapid transport and mass communication may increase some risks, while better public health systems and drugs may act in the other direction. This paper further discusses the Fund's role in helping members prepare their economic and financial systems for the possibility of an avian flu pandemic. The policy recommendations in this area focus on the need to mitigate risks that might arise in a severe pandemic with high absenteeism, even though some commentators consider that the most probable scenario would feature significantly less economic dislocation. In a less severe pandemic, many of the same issues seem likely to arise, albeit at a lower intensity. Attached to the note is a distillation of what is emerging as the common elements of business continuity planning in the financial sector for pandemic risks. The paper may be accessed by clicking http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/afp/2006/eng/022806.pdf .
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