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UC San Francisco has had their IT staff train H-1B people for two weeks and then fired the 17 IT staff to outsource their IT overseas. The SF and California liberals pols are getting pushed by their union masters to try to get this undone.
Computerized medical records are truly big business for hackers. In 2016, approximately one Billion records of all kinds were compromised. This tells how lax the system is on security. he big three were government, retail and technology since that is where the money is. Medical records are almost up there as they also have significant information to obtain and the keeps of the records are very lax.
VA Chief Shulkin states that Congress should rapidly increase the program that allows vets into the private sector. He also wants vets that receive "other than honorable" discharges to use the program including those discharged for drugs or mental health issues. He is planning to do this on his own. He does not address the real elephant, should the VA exist at all except for specialized care such as prosthesis.
The GOP is poised to pass a Ocare repeal and beginning replacement. This needs to be done piecemeal due to the Senate rules of reconciliation. The first part has been looked at by the CBO and has been found to reduce tax input to the fed by $900 Billion and reduce spending by $1.2 Trillion over a decade. It would reduce those on Medicaid to 52 million between 2020 and 2026 providing the plan was still in effect then. Most of the original loss of insured would be voluntarily by those who do not want the program. This would drive up premiums for several years and then they would decrease, according to the report. However the premiums for older individual prior to the decline would be unbelievably high without the massive subsides of Ocare.
California has had for years guidelines for cellphone safety use but did not share them with the public. The guidelines are based on studies that show long term use increases the risk of brain cancer and other risks. Children, teens and pregnant women should limit cellphone use as they are more prone to problems. The cell industry is fighting this tooth and nail. Top
Canada's largest medical association, Ontario Medical, is in disarray after the entire executives resigned en masse after being cyber-bullied. They had championed a fee deal with the government that was rejected by the rank and file. Many of the execs had gotten terrible emails from the physicians.
Physicians in the Balkan countries are leaving in a large pace. They are poorly paid and promoted in their home countries so are going to Germany. Romania is especially hard hit with their physicians and nurses leaving en masse.
So you think your job with the hospital is a for sure thing. WRONG! Banner Healthcare, never a physician friendly organization, is in financial difficulties so after laying off some of the administrative deadwood they are releasing some physicians. They are closing clinics and laying off the physicians working in them. Top
Summa Health in Akron is back in the news and again not in a good way. They are now being criticized by the ER nurses for their foolhardy and rash layoff off their ER physicians at the turn of the year. The nurses believe some of the new physicians are a danger to patients, a serious charge. They relay information that the physicians delay stroke treatments and that they have had to intervene for wrong doses of medications that would have been deadly. The hospital denies the charges but the nurses are telling family and friends to go elsewhere for emergency treatment. Summa is also losing its ED residency training program in July.
California has a law two months old that directs its hospitals to notify patients when they are in observation and not admitted. They and the rest of the country now must also comply with a federal law that mandates not only patients be told they are in observation but why. This is important since Medicare does not cover observation care to the same extent as it does admittance. If in observation patients will not be covered for nursing home care. Hospitals must now use a standardized form to give to patients that requires a clinical reason for non-admittance. If the hospitals do not give adequate reasons RAC will possibly withhold funds and the hospital may be at risk long term for losing Medicare contracts. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this
article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.