It’s hard to imagine enjoying a hospital stay, however hospitals are trying to improve the patient experience. Back when I worked for a hospital the executives would bristle when someone joked that the daily room charge in a hospital cost 10 times the daily room charge in a nice hotel. The ratio is probably closer to 30 times now. Despite the massive price increase, hospitals still don’t excel at hospitality.
Saturday Links
- Study: If the IRA drug price controls were in place in 2014, “between 24 and 49 therapies currently available today would most likely not have come to market and therefore not available for patients.” The act will cause patients to lose access to an estimated 40% of new medicines or up to 139 new therapies over the next decade.
- Licensing laws are creating a shortage of dentists, just like they create a shortage of physicians.
- AFP endorses the Pete Sessions health reform bill.
- Study: School lunches no longer lead to more childhood obesity. But is that because the kids are throwing the food away?
CDC: Paid Sick Leave Would Reduce Foodborne Illness Outbreaks (Probably Not)
I met a doctor years ago who told me he didn’t like to eat in restaurants due to fears of catching foodborne pathogens. He worked in a community health setting and frequently treated food service workers with infectious diseases. He thought too many of his food service patients were fairly lackadaisical about taking their medications and too often worked when they should call-in sick. Apparently he was on to something. A new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found one of the causes of foodborne outbreaks at restaurants are food service workers handling food while they are ill.
Friday Links
- University of North Carolina rejects woke education for medical students.
- Kotlikoff: the debt deal overlooks the real federal debt.
- Reuters exposes wastes of Climate Change funds.
- The health consequences of being a vegan.
- The only effect of greater access to student loans: more money for universities.
- Effect of a public option in Minnesota: losses for providers, but little effect on the number of people with health insurance.