"Health & Medical News"

The pace of health care quality improvement appears to be slowing, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s fifth annual report compiling federal and state data on more than 200 quality metrics.

A composite measure of health care quality improved at a 2.3% average annualized rate between 1994 and 2005, with the rate falling to 1.5% from 2000 to 2005. And in a first stab at examining the cost efficiency of the American health care system, AHRQ noted that costs, as estimated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, jumped 6.7% from 1994 to 2005.

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Colorado’s noneconomic damage cap in medical liability cases is under fire. Physicians say legislation — approved by the state Senate in late February — threatens to unhinge the state’s stable medical liability climate.

The bill, backed by trial lawyers, would raise the current $300,000 cap by roughly 50%, to more than $460,000, largely to track inflation. More problematic, doctors say, is that injuries classified as physical impairment or disfigurement no longer would be subject to the limit on pain and suffering awards.

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Vaccines are hot. “The global vaccine market is set to double by the year 2016, fueled by unprecedented product innovations and global recognition of the benefits of immunization,” said Michael D. Decker, MD, MPH, vice president for scientific and medical affairs at vaccine manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur, USA.

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An Ohio man whose house was robbed had more than $400,000 confiscated by the FBI as a result of an investigation of the crime, the Lima News reported Dec. 18.

Luther Ricks Sr. said the money, which had been stored in a safe and eluded the thieves’ grasp during a summer 2007 break-in, was his life savings. But officers from the Lima Police Department who were investigating the robbery seized the money and turned it over to the FBI. Now, the agency is telling Ricks he must prove he earned the money legally if he wants it back.

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The government of British Columbia, Canada is distributing free crack-pipe mouthpieces in an attempt to prevent transmission of hepatitis C among drug users who pass around the pipes, The Province reported Jan. 3.

“People who smoke crack often burn their lips and have sores on their lips, and that sore can have blood in it,” explained Perry Kendall, chief medical health officer for the province. “A well-run [mouthpiece] program offers a lot of promise to reduce blood-borne diseases and to introduce people to health care and addiction treatment services as well.”

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The University of Iowa is offering extra funding to departments that schedule more Friday classes, as part of an initiative to curb student partying that increasingly begins on Thursday nights and continues through the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 7.

Currently, only about 1,400 classes are held on Fridays at the school, compared to an average of 2,400 from Monday to Thursday. Students and faculty agree that the lack of Friday classes encourages an early start to weekend revelry. “Sometimes a Thursday will definitely beat out a Saturday,” said sophomore Greg Meyer, 20.

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A local law making marijuana offenses the lowest law-enforcement priority in Seattle has resulted in fewer drug arrests, but black residents are still being arrested in disproportionate numbers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Jan. 8.

Far more whites than blacks live in Seattle, but more black residents were arrested and charged with marijuana offenses in 2006 than whites, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Review Panel, which is responsible for monitoring implementation of the law.

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Hormonal birth control pills may increase markers of cardiovascular disease risk and the chance of developing cervical cancer, according to a handful of studies published and presented at medical meetings within the past month. Experts say, however, that while these studies help paint a more complete picture of the effects of this form of contraception, the positives still outweigh the negatives.

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By Dr Dave Robinson

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A recent rise in the street price and drop in the purity of cocaine in the U.S. had federal and Mexican antidrug officials claiming a big victory, Reuters reported Oct. 1.

Between January and June, the average price of a gram of cocaine on U.S. streets increased 24 percent, while purity fell 11 percent. “This impact is historic, this is real progress,” said Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

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