“In a bid to save costs and stem a rising tide of medical waste, hospitals are recycling a growing number of medical devices labeled as single-use…”

However medical device makers claim that single-use products pose a higher risk of failure and harm when recycled according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. They say that when these medical devices are sterilized, blood, tissue, and other fluids can remain on porous surfaces to allow transmission of viral and bacterial infections. Others say it’s legal as long as FDA guidelines are followed. Savings can be as high as 60% and environment groups say it reduces landfill waste.

To read the entire article, go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120588469924246975.html

“Chronic disease is a major drain on health care’s human and financial resources…it accounts for more than three-quarters of health care costs…”

An article in hospitalconnect.com reports that several hospitals are approaching this problem with web-based software that lets case managers and physicians see patient progress while identifying ways to improve outcomes across the board.

Vincent Conti, president and CEO of MaineHealth in Portland, Maine states, “We invested in this because it addresses needs outside the four walls of the hospital and supports our physicians in caring for chronically ill patients. By going one step upstream from hospitalization, we’re improving outcomes in the community, which is consistent with the mission of the hospital.”

They report that patients with optimal control of diabetes rose from 16% in 2004 to 25% in 2006. Those with poor control declined over the same period from 46% to 36%.

To read the entire article, go to: www.hhnmostwired.com

“Health insurers are taking a new tack in a bid to improve patient safety and reduce health-care costs: refusing to pay — or let their patients be billed — for hospital errors.”

Aetna, WellPoint and other big insurers are moving to ban payments for care resulting from serious hospital errors. The Wall Street Journal reports that this trend follows the federal Medicare program, which announced last summer that starting this October, it will no longer pay the extra cost of treating bed sores, falls and six other preventable injuries and infections that occur while a patient is hospitalized.

Thomas Granatir, director of policy and research at Humana says, "It's not a matter of not paying for them. It's about getting them not to happen in the first place." This is in line with insurer thinking that this will force hospitals to improve safety standards.

To read the entire article, go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120035439914089727.html