DENVER — New research from Kaiser Permanente demonstrates that more than 40 percent of patients were able to reach aggressive cholesterol reduction targets through care coordination and electronic medical records.

When the National Cholesterol Education Program issued revised cholesterol goals in 2004 recommending people at very high-risk for heart disease move their target LDL or “bad” cholesterol from 100 mg/dL to 70 mg/dL to reduce the risk for another heart attack, many health experts questioned if the lower goal was possible.

The study, which is the largest to date demonstrating how many patients can get to the lower goal, is published in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Lipidology.

Other news of today’s health safety headlines gathered by the library department of Noblis Health Innovation includes:

• Vets poorly served by VA call centers, audit finds: Callers seeking help from the Veterans Benefits Administration have only a 49 percent chance of reaching an agent and getting accurate information, according to a new audit by the Veterans Affairs Department’s Office of Inspector General.
• VA reports new data breaches: The Veterans Affairs Department has notified lawmakers of two recent data breach incidents, according to a House committee aide. One breach was a contractor’s laptop that was stolen on April 22 and contained unencrypted personal information on 616 veterans.
• Laptops plague government health data keepers: Two instances of health data breaches last week served as a stark reminder that the wayward laptop — and not the hacked database — might be the more insidious information security threat to government healthcare organizations and their beneficiaries.
• HHS to study patient perceptions of health IT: The Health and Human Services Department will conduct two surveys to find out more about patient perceptions and preferences for the use of health IT in the course of their healthcare.
• Health insurance companies try to shape rules: Companies are lobbying to ward off strict regulation of premiums and profits under the new health care law.

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FALLS CHURCH – Today’s top headlines in healthcare and patient safety for Friday, May 14, compiled by the library research department of Noblis Health Innovation:

• Mental care stays are up in military: Mental health disorders caused more hospitalizations among U.S. troops in 2009 than any other reason, according to medical data released recently by the Pentagon. This historic high reflects the growing toll of nearly nine years of war.
• Turning to the cloud for HIPAA 5010 and ICD-10 compliance: Cloud computing has already caught on in other facets of healthcare IT – and as providers and payers prepare to meet the pending mandates, hosted services could prove a viable option.
• TRICARE fee structure needs overhaul, says official: The Pentagon’s top policy official on Thursday called for changes in the military’s health benefits system for retirees, saying the current structure has become unsustainable in today’s economic environment.
• Kaiser, CHW see green: Kaiser Permanente and Catholic Healthcare West have endorsed environmental guidelines for the purchase and management of I.T. equipment.

FALLS CHURCH – Today’s top headlines in healthcare and patient safety for Thursday, May 13, compiled by the library research department of Noblis Health Innovation:

• How Eastern Maine Health System is handling transition to ICD-10: Health Data Management offers a case study of Eastern Maine Medical Center, a Brewer-based hospital with 411 beds that is part of a delivery system encompassing seven hospitals and several affiliated physician groups.
• White House cyber security plan to cite e-health: The White House has begun developing a strategy for securing online transactions and stemming identity fraud that pays particular heed to the importance of building a trusted arena for electronic healthcare transactions.
• CBO estimates health-care law could cost more than $1 trillion: President Obama’s new health-care law could potentially add at least $115 billion more to government health care spending over the next 10 years, if Congress approves all the additional spending called for in the legislation, congressional budget referees said Tuesday.
• PTSD could be listed on Ga. driver’s license: Some Georgians could soon be carrying a unique driver’s license — one that says they have post-traumatic stress disorder. Lawmakers recently passed legislation that would allow current and former military to request the PTSD designation on their driver’s licenses.
• Food allergies less common than believed, study says: Part of the confusion is over what is a food allergy and what is a food intolerance, a researcher says.

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FALLS CHURCH – Today’s top headlines in healthcare and patient safety for Wednesday, May 12, compiled by the library research department of Noblis Health Innovation:

• HHS drafts guidelines for security risk analysis: The Health & Human Services Department Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has published draft guidance to help healthcare providers and payers figure out what is expected of them in doing a risk analysis of their protected patient health information.
• HHS establishes disability research center: The Department of Health and Human Services Office on Disability announced on Monday an award of more than $6 million to establish a research center that will build electronic data models to conduct comparative effectiveness research on disability services and quality of care.
• U.S. Rep. Rush Holt introduces military suicide prevention bill named for N.J. soldier: Citing a critical gap in the military’s suicide prevention efforts, Rep. Rush Holt has introduced a measure named for a New Jersey soldier who took his own life after serving two tours of duty in Iraq.
• Lawrence Livermore research on how blasts injure brains may improve soldiers’: Scientists hope their research will lead to the development of better combat helmets and ultimately prevent many traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, in soldiers.
• Voice verification deployed to prevent abuse of Florida’s Medicaid services: In south Florida, where in-home health-care fraud runs rampant, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) hopes to stem future scams and save money using voice verification technology.

FALLS CHURCH – Top news headlines in health from the library services department of Noblis Health Innovation.

• Report: Health IT savings may reach $261 billion: Innovative health IT systems that go beyond electronic health records to provide better analytics and drive greater efficiency could save billions over a decade, says a new report. (more…)

FALLS CHURCH – Today’s top headlines in healthcare and patient safety for Monday, May 9, compiled by the library research department of Noblis Health Innovation:

• D.C. planners approve VA hospital expansion: The Veterans Affairs Medical Center campus in northwest Washington will nearly double in size during the next 20 years under a master plan approved May 6 by the National Capital Planning Commission.
• Drugs not found to be main driver of cancer care costs: The cost of treating cancer in the United States nearly doubled over the past two decades, but expensive cancer drugs may not be the main reason, according to a surprising new study reported in The Washington Post.
• Panel endorses permanent EHR certification plan: The Health IT Policy Committee endorsed comments on a plan by the Office of the National Coordinator to offer permanent certification of electronic health record systems, including a provision to monitor EHRs after they are purchased to ensure providers are installing the proper technology.
• EMR adoption increases hospital costs: Expenses typically rise and patient care doesn’t always improve when electronic medical records are implemented, says a study published in the journal Health Services Research.
• ICD-9 to ICD-10 crosswalks: There’s got to be a better way: At a time when industry bodies and consultancies are trying to figure out how providers and payers can best transform existing ICD-9 data into the imminent ICD-10 code schemes, and the word “crosswalk” keeps being batted around, Dennis Winkler at Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan is the curious case of an ICD-10 crosswalk contrarian, says Tom Sullivan in Healthcare IT News.

FALLS CHURCH – Top headlines in patient safety compiled by staff at Noblis Health Innovation:

• A new study conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that after bar-code technology was added to electronic medication records, errors in transcribing medication orders were eliminated and errors in administering drugs with potentially serious consequences were cut in half. This according to Elizabeth Cooney in The Boston Globe‘s White Coat Notes website.
• A recent report by the Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation finds that U.S. “medical schools are not doing an adequate job of facilitating student understanding of basic knowledge and the development of skills required for the provision of safe patient care.” The complete report is available online and is called titled “Unmet Needs: Teaching Physicians to Provide Safe Patient Care” and is based on a round-table of leading experts in medical education, patient safety, healthcare, and healthcare improvement convened by the Institute.
• The Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice recently received a $100,000 to take a hard look at errors associated with computerized physician order entry systems, reports Anthony Guerra of Information Week.

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FALLS CHURCH – Today’s top headlines in healthcare and patient safety for Thursday, May 6, compiled by the library research department of Noblis Health Innovation:

• House committee will look into recall of children’s drugs after Tylenol recall: A congressional committee has launched an investigation into the problems that led to a massive recall of children’s and infants’ Tylenol and other widely used over-the-counter pediatric medicines, with lawmakers pledging to scrutinize the performances of both the drugmaker and federal regulators. (more…)

FALLS CHURCH – Today’s top headlines in healthcare and patient safety for Wednesday, May 5, compiled by the library research department of Noblis Health Innovation:

• Unplugged VA computer affects treatment of cancer patients: It took officials at a Veterans Affairs Department hospital in Philadelphia more than a year to learn that a computer used to assess patient’s response to treatments for prostate cancer had been unplugged, delaying assessments, according to an inspector general report released on Monday.
• IT included in Sebelius’ top priorities for HHS: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has included several health information technology elements as part of her department’s nine top strategic priorities in a new report.
• FDA: Plant that made Tylenol and other pediatric medicine lacked quality control: Federal officials said Tuesday that the sole plant that manufactures children’s and infants’ Tylenol, Motrin and other popular over-the-counter pediatric medicines lacked quality controls, used raw materials contaminated with bacteria and failed to investigate consumer complaints that some medicines contained black particles.
• E-health records grants to create 1,000 jobs, White House says: Health information technology grants awarded to 15 communities for expanding the use of electronic health records also will create about 1,000 jobs, White House officials announced on Tuesday.
• Pentagon scientists inject necks to ‘cure’ PTSD: The Pentagon pours billions into treating troops’ post-war stress. But a small new study out of Walter Reed might offer more than temporary relief — with nothing more than a quick jab to the neck.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 30, 2010 – McNeil Consumer Healthcare, in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is recalling all lots that have not yet expired of certain over-the-counter children’s liquid products manufactured in the United States and distributed in the United States, Canada, Dominican Republic, Dubai (UAE), Fiji, Guam, Guatemala, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, and Kuwait.

A list of the products is below; consumers should visit www.mcneilproductrecall.com to find out more. (more…)