Healthcare Update Satellite — 05-15-2013

More HealthCare Updates from around the web are at my new digs at http://drwhitecoat.com. “Dear ER staff. Our friend is drunk. Fix him.” Unconscious Arizona college student who was “turning blue” left in hospital lobby with Post-It note stuck to his body after losing “drinking contest” at frat house. Nice friends. If you decide to follow the link, turn down the volume on your computer. Gannett’s KSKD.com has an auto-start video ad that will blow your ears out. Irish emergency department so crowded and busy that it has to pull an ambulance up to the front door to act as an extra resuscitation room for a patient. To be fair, there were five patients all needing resuscitation at the same time. I actually think that the doctors were pretty resourceful in coming up with the idea. Nice article on how University of Michigan is decreasing medical malpractice expenses by disclosing errors and compensating patients before lawsuits are filed. Open claims have declined to 63 from 262. Lawsuits have declined to 0.75 per 100,000 patients per month from 2.13. Claim resolution time also has declined to 0.95 years from 1.36, costs to defend lawsuits have dropped to less than $1 million per year in 2009 from $2.2 million in 2001, and the amount needed for reserves has fallen to less than $16 million in 2009 from $72 million in 2001. They seem to be on to something. Nice article in the Atlantic about the decline of emergency care. Emergency department visits have increased by 44%...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs