Saliva: The next frontier in cancer detection
Scientists are finding tumor signals in spit that could be key to developing diagnostic tests for various types of cancer In the late 1950s, dentist and US Navy Capt. Kirk C. Hoerman, then a young man in his 30s, attempted to answer a bold question: Might the saliva of prostate cancer patients have different characteristics from that of healthy people? Could it contain traces of a disease that’s so far away from the mouth? Without wasting more of their own saliva on elaborate discussion, Hoerman and his colleagues from the department of dental research at the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, got down to work. They analyzed samples from more than 200 patients and healthy...
Temp Nurses Cost Hospitals Big During Pandemic. Lawmakers Are Now Mulling Limits.
To crack down on price gouging, proposed legislation in Missouri calls for allowing felony charges against health care staffing agencies that substantially raise their prices during a declared emergency. A New York bill includes a cap on the amount staffing agencies can charge health care facilities. And a Texas measure would allow civil penalties against such agencies. These proposed regulations — and others in at least 11 more states, according to the American Staffing Association industry trade group — come after demand for travel nurses, who work temporary assignments at different facilities, surged to unprecedented levels during the worst of the covid-19 pandemic. Hospitals have long...
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Recapping UM’s recent The Business of Health Care event: Afternoon panels offer A Potential Roadmap plus Innovation & the Role of Technology
The University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School Center for Health Management & Policy presented its 12th annual The Business of Health Care event on February 24. The conference was held online and live at Donna E. Shalala Student Center, University of Miami, Coral Gables Campus. Florida Blue was again a presenting sponsor and major donor. This year’s theme was “Managing Through Uncertainty.” The first afternoon panel focused on “A Potential Roadmap” and featured two former Health and Human Services Secretaries and a former Mexican Minister of Health. Moderated by Karoline Mortensen, Associate Dean, Business Programs, Professor, Health Management and Policy, the...
Q&A: Alejandro Badia, MD, FACS, OrthoNOW Founder and Chief Medical Officer
Recently, RamaOnHealthcare spoke with Dr. Alejandro Badia, author of Healthcare from the Trenches. Below is an excerpt from that interview: ROH: What are the biggest challenges impeding a better Healthcare system today? AB: The societal concerns of cost and inefficiency in healthcare need to be adequately addressed. Too many people have their hands in the cookie jar. The number of people involved in the authorization of care and payment processes is numerous. These middlemen delay the care of patients and increase costs. For example, Worker’s Compensation often requires multiple steps, each of which extends the time to treatment and adds expense. Another example is Pharmacy Benefit...