Sunday November 8, 2009
After 11 hours of debate, the House of Representatives passed a "sweeping" health reform bill, H.R. 3962, the "Affordable Health Care for America Act." In a vote of 220 to 215, the landmark vote brings the nation one (very large) step closer to a complete healthcare system overhaul.
The more than $1 Trillion bill will expand coverage to more Americans, provides a government run health insurance option, requires insurers to cover patients with pre-existing conditions, and requires all Americans to obtain healthcare coverage. The bill will be funded by tax increases and cuts in other programs such as Medicare, as well as cost-saving commitments from the pharmaceutical industry and medical device manufacturers.
What's next? The Senate's version of the health reform bill must pass the Senate, a vote which isn't expected to take place until December or later. Then, if a bill passes in the Senate, the two separately passed bills would be reconciled into one final bill, and then that bill would go before the House and Senate for a vote.
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Friday November 6, 2009
Although the healthcare industry continues to thrive, the overall national unemployment rate is even higher than expected, having increased to 10.2 percent in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 190,000 jobs were lost, bringing the country to its highest unemployment rate since 1983. The biggest job losses were in retail, manufacturing in construction.
Yet again, the most positive numbers were in the healthcare industry, which gained 29,000 jobs in October. Additionally, the healthcare industry has added a total of 597,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession. "One of the few industries where employment continued to grow during the recession has been health care," stated Keith Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Friday November 6, 2009
A Ft. Hood, TX Army Psychiatrist opened fire today, killing 12 and injuring 31 people, most of whom were also military personnel, according to multiple news sources.
Initially reported to have been killed, the suspected gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan actually survived being shot four times and was taken into custody alive.
The motive is unknown at this time, but some theories from acquaintances include stress and anxiety due to an upcoming deployment to Iraq. Additionally, it has been reported that Dr. Hasan received a poor performance review recently.
Dr. Hasan's background includes 6 years of practice at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a fellowship in disaster and preventative psychiatry. He earned his medical degree through a military medical school program as well.
While Dr. Hasan's medical licenses in Maryland and Virginia show no disciplinary action or complaints, he was suspected of authoring several internet manifestos about suicide bombings and other threats.
This crime is thought to be the worst ever committed on an American Military base, a place one would think to be amongst the safest in the nation, if not the world. Equally difficult to comprehend is the fact that the murders came at the hands of a member of the U.S. military, a medical professional trained to help people heal.
Thursday November 5, 2009
A study released this week and reported in the New York Times suggests that "off-pump" heart surgery is no better for a patient than "on-pump" surgery, which entails stopping the heart, and diverting the patient's blood through a heart-lung machine during the surgery.
Prior to this study, the general opinion in the medical community is that the "beating heart" surgery is superior to the "on-pump" surgery. It was thought that there were fewer complications involved in beating heart surgery, although it's challenging for the surgeon to operate on a beating heart.
The study analyzed more than 2,000 heart surgeries to determine the effectiveness of the two different types of surgeries, as well as the effect on the patients. The outcomes, complication rate, and recovery and survival rates for patients who underwent both types of surgeries were found to be nearly identical, according to the study.
This should be good news to clinical cardiac perfusionists, medical professionals who run the heart-lung machines. About 80% of all heart surgeries are completed with the assistance of a heart-lung machine currently according to the NYT report. Had the study found more favorable results for off-pump surgeries, perfusionists may have found their case volume decrease in the future, as doctors and patients would push for what was thought to be the safer, off-pump method.
However, conventional thinking about heart surgery has been somewhat reversed, and the majority of heart surgeries will most likely continue to need a cardiac perfusionist present to run the heart-lung machine.
In fact, some surgeons have indicated that they may now increase their percentage of on-pump surgeries.
