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Last Updated - 10:00am Feb. 7, 2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:03:05 GMT

Shands Healthcare

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:02:05 GMT

A team of pharmacists, physicians and nurses from Shands Jacksonville and the University of Florida (UF) Health Science Center Jacksonville has won three awards from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Two group awards - the Life-Saving Patient Award and the Outstanding Performance Award - and one individual award for outstanding executive leadership were presented to members of the group as part of the HRSA Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC). PSPC is part of an effort to improve quality of care by integrating evidence-based clinical pharmacy services into the care and management of complex, high-risk, high-cost patients. At Shands, pharmacists watch trends and studies with various drugs and alert physicians and staff when changes should be made. They also meet with patients regularly to discuss medications. In this way, pharmacists become an integral member of the health care team, driving Shands' patient-centered medical home model and improving access to care.

University of California (UC) San Diego Health System

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:57:36 GMT

Led by researchers from the UC San Diego Health System, scientists have, for the first time, created stem cell-derived, in vitro models of sporadic and hereditary Alzheimer's disease (AD). The feat represents a new method for studying the causes of AD and an unprecedented tool for developing and testing drugs to treat the disorder. By creating living AD cells - as opposed to the post-mortem tissues that currently supply much of AD research - the researchers allow for a deeper investigation into how AD begins as well as the biochemical processes that eventually destroy brain cells associated with elemental cognitive functions. The researchers work is a promising beginning to developing better treatment for a costly disease that afflicts roughly 5.4 million Americans.

Orlando Health

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:55:37 GMT

Rick Schooler, FCHIME, chief information officer (CIO) and vice president at Orlando Health, has been selected to receive the 2011 John E. Gall Jr., CIO of the Year Award. The lifetime achievement award is sponsored by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). It recognizes health information technology (IT) executives who have made significant contributions to their organization and demonstrated innovative leadership through effective use of technology. In Schooler's 21-year career in health IT, he has made significant accomplishments in deploying electronic health records systems and IT in complex environments. He has actively contributed to both CHIME and HIMSS, and has served on multiple boards. In responding to the announcement, Schooler said, "CIOs now enter a time that requires we understand the demands of healthcare's present reality and future implications and that we demonstrate the ability to lead and provide information solutions of tangible value."

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:49:43 GMT

Silicon Valley philanthropist John A. Sobrato and his family have donated $5 million to the VMC Foundation toward the development of the new Santa Clara Valley Medical Center hospital building. The gift, which is the largest ever made to the VMC Foundation, is a challenge grant that could double in size through matching by the foundation. The grant will go toward equipment and medical technology for the new building, which will house adult intensive care and acute care units, as well as the Spinal Cord and Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center. Scheduled to open in 2013, the new building will be dedicated as the John A. and Susan Sobrato Pavilion.

Hennepin County Medical Center

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:47:23 GMT

A recent Care Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., brought together officials from the Obama administration and representatives from across the health care industry to explore innovative ways to make health care affordable and effective. Co-hosted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, the West Wireless Health Institute and Health Affairs, the summit covered topics such as primary care delivery, chronic disease care delivery and cancer care. Jennifer DeCubellis, who serves as area director for Hennepin Health, participated in the summit, taking part in a discussion on rapid fire innovation pitches. Hennepin Health is a proposed Medicaid demonstration project to form an integrated health care delivery network that blends medical, behavioral health and social services in a patient-centered care model.

Health Care District of Palm Beach County

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:43:36 GMT

The Health Care District of Palm Beach County is launching a new pilot program that will provide health care services for Palm Beach County residents who are currently not served by other health coverage programs. The program will benefit many of the recently uninsured who cannot afford to continue to pay for their health insurance coverage, yet have too many assets to qualify for other health insurance programs. The initiative will cost approximately $1 million, which will come from Health Care District reserves, and will allow for 16,666 uninsured visits at a cost of $60 per medical visit. According to Benjamin Frank, Esq., chair of the district's board of commissioners, "This new initiative, in collaboration with our community partners, is right in line with the Health Care District's mission to ensure the delivery of quality health care services for Palm Beach County residents."

University of Utah Health Care

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:52:00 GMT

Dana Carroll, Ph.D., a University of Utah professor of biochemistry, has been chosen to receive the 2012 Edward Novitski Prize from the Genetics Society of America. The award, which is given for creativity and intellectual ingenuity in solving significant problems in genetics research, recognizes Carroll's discovery of a method that improves the efficiency of gene targeting. Carroll realized that proteins called zinc finger nucleases could be used to break DNA at specific points in a sequence, exponentially increasing the success rate of gene targeting. His work allows researchers to introduce engineered changes in genes of interest into living experimental organisms for the first time, and has many potential uses in research and medicine.

Broward Health

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:52:11 GMT

Broward Health Community Health Services (BHCHS) honored 44 Broward Health primary care practitioners for their unwavering commitment and dedication to serving the uninsured and underinsured in Broward County. The honor coincides with National Medical Group Practice Week, which was created by the Medical Group Management Association to advance awareness of the benefits of group practices to patients, communities and physicians, and to recognize leaders of these organizations. Noting the honorees' achievements in medicine, as well as the time and talent they invest in the community, John Berges, M.D., medical director of BHCHS said, "Within our network of community- and school-based health centers, our community has access to quality care, plus value-added primary care practitioners."

MetroHealth Medical Center

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:14:12 GMT

MetroHealth Medical Center has joined with two other Cleveland hospital systems - the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals Case Medical Center - to form a research consortium that will participate in the National Heart Failure Clinical Research Network. The consortium has received an initial, 7-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to work on multiple, networkwide, randomized clinical trials to test new treatment approaches for heart failure. In addition to providing patients with more opportunities to participate in new research, the collaboration will yield more comprehensive data from diverse patient populations, which will lead to better treatment options for heart failure patients.

Contra Costa Health Services

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:12:24 GMT

Contra Costa Health Services has launched a Stroke System, which provides a coordinated 911 emergency response that links patients to trained emergency medical providers who identify and transport stroke victims to designated primary stroke certified hospitals within 4 hours. As only the 11th jurisdiction in California to establish this type of network, Contra Costa hopes to raise the standard of care for strokes, reduce the damage caused by strokes and save lives. The Stroke System also promotes community stroke education and prevention.

Broward Health

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:42:27 GMT

Broward Health North Broward Medical Center has appointed Andre Landau, MD, FACC, as medical director of interventional cardiology. Landau is certified by the American Board of Cardiology, has authored several cardiovascular publications and was a fellow of the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutic Trials Unit at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Landau received his medical degree from the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg, South Africa. He completed his residency both at Baragwanath Hospital in South Africa and the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he was chief resident. Landau is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and American College of Physicians. He is a member of the American Medical Association, American Society of Internal Medicine, Florida Society of Internal Medicine and South African Aerospace Medical Society.

NuHealth/Nassau University Medical Center

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:10:05 GMT

NuHealth/Nassau University Medical Center has received the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council's 2011 Excellence in Patient Safety Award for its quality improvement initiative, "Developing a Low-Cost Solution to a High-Risk Problem: Transforming the Process of Care to Reduce Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections." The award is given to one hospital each year for distinguished achievements in patient safety and quality improvement, including impact on patient care and safety, innovation, adherence to quality improvement principles and methodologies, use of relevant process and outcome measures through the improvement process, sustainability, evidence of cost-consciousness, and demonstration of effective use of human and material resources.

Overview

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:21:51 GMT