Health Highlights: April 12, 2008
April 13 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
40,000 Patient Records Reported Stolen From NYC Hospital
The hospital records of as many as 40,000 patients may have been stolen from a major New York City hospital, the Associated Press reports.
The the thief is most likely an employee, the wire service says, and the discovery of the missing records came as the result of an internal audit and a federal investigation.
The records in question did not contain health information, the A.P. quotes New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell spokeswoman Myrna Manners as saying, but they did contain a lot of personal information -- names, addresses, phone numbers, and possibly Social Security numbers.
While saying that there had been as yet no reports of a patient falling prey to a financial scam or fraud, Manners told the A.P. that the missing information was possibly part of a "larger criminal enterprise." She would not name the employee in question.
Officials from the U.S. Attorney's office acknowledged to the wire service there was an investigation into the missing hospital patient records but declined to elaborate. Manners said the 40,000 patients -- all of whom had been treated in the past two years -- had been notified, and that a hotline had been established for them to use as more information became available.
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Nine States Chosen for Health Care Quality Improvement
Nine states have been selected to take part in the State Quality Improvement Institute, a program to help states devise and implement action plans to improve performance in a number of health care quality indicators. The institute is a collaboration of the Commonwealth Fund and AcademyHealth.
"Our State Scorecard on Health System Performance found that we could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars if all states could achieve the level of the top performers on key indicators of health outcomes, quality, access, efficiency, and equity," Karen Davis, Commonwealth Fund president, said in a prepared statement.
Consumers should stop using these pens and return them to any Michaels to receive a refund, the CPSC said.
For more information, contact Michaels at 800-642-4235.
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Scientists Say EPA's New Smog Standard Fails to Protect Public
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new air quality standard for smog doesn't protect public health as required by law and needs to be strengthened, an advisory panel of scientists wrote in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.
In the letter, sent earlier this week, the 25 scientists expressed frustration that their unanimous recommendation for a stricter standard was ignored, the Associated Press reported.
The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, created by Congress to advise the EPA, recommended the ozone (smog) limit be lowered from 80 parts per billion to between 60 parts per billion and 70 parts per billion. The EPA's new standard is 75 parts per billion.
In the letter, the scientists also criticized the EPA for not further strengthening a separate smog standard meant to protect forests, agricultural land and the ecosystem, the AP reported.
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Drug, Device Makers Pledge Disclosure About Promotional Spending
Facing the threat of legislation from Congress, drug and medical device manufacturers say they're going to be more open about the consulting fees and free trips they give to doctors, as well as their sponsorship of educational conferences attended by physicians.
In most cases, these financial ties don't have to be disclosed and critics say they can improperly influence patient care, the Associated Press reported.
With Congress considering legislation to force disclosure, a dozen drug and medical device makers have told Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, that they're developing plans to publicly disclose grants to outside groups. The companies will provide details on their Web sites.
