Cost-conscious hospitals set futile care rules

Article Abstract:

Hospitals are considering policies aimed at reducing the cost of caring for the terminally ill by defining and eliminating futile care. Care is considered futile when, at a minimum, medical staff believe that a patient's quality of life can not be raised to an acceptable level. Futile care policies are an addition to existing practices of non-resuscitation at the patient's, or the patient's family's request. Hospital policies on futile care will support doctors in cases concerning a family's insistence on treatment for a dying patient.

Economic aspects, Terminal care, Hospitals, Hospital administration

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Transplant outcomes report stirs 'excellence' debate

Article Abstract:

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) reports that most medical centers provide successful outcomes for organ transplant patients. Medicare and insurance companies are directing patients to centers where organ transplants are more frequently performed, but this report and a 1991 Battelle Research Center report agree that one-year survival rates were similar, except in centers that performed a small number of procedures. UNOS was asked to prepare the report to help Congress make decisions on transplant standards.

Evaluation, Medical centers, Reports, Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc., Organ transplantation, Tissue transplantation, Transplantation, United Network for Organ Sharing

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NIH panel backs new gallbladder surgery but vague on credentialing

Article Abstract:

Surgeons who perform the new video gallbladder surgery must meet standards of skill and training, according to a US National Institutes of Health panel. Members of the committee said that some surgeons began performing laparoscopic cholecystectomy before acquiring sufficient training and experience. The non-surgical procedures, which also include oral bile acid treatment and shock-wave lithotripsy, cause less pain than the open surgical procedure, in addition to being less expensive.

Offices & clinics of medical doctors, Standards, Methods, Training, Surgery, United States. National Institutes of Health, Surgeons, Laparoscopy, Gallbladder

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