‘Amnesia cluster’ baffles doctors

… memories. Researchers at the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) say they are baffled by an “amnesia cluster” of 14 people. The patients, aged between 19 and 52, were treated for …

Area health care leaders in the dark about industry’s future

The uncertainty of health care under a new president was among the topics discussed Thursday at the 2017 State of Healthcare Forum. JOHN GODBEY/DECATUR DAILY Area health care professionals are trying to better manage the existing health care system while guessing about future changes now that a new administration has taken office in Washington, D.C. “If we don’t figure out how to ration health care, the cost of premiums could be $3,000 a month,” said David Spillers, chief executive officer of the Huntsville Hospital Health System.

Swiss stocks – Factors to watch on Jan 27

Switzerland’s biggest bank posted 738 million Swiss francs in fourth-quarter net profit and proposed an unchanged ordinary dividend of 0.60 francs. The median net profit estimate in a Reuters poll of 15 analysts was for 339 million francs, while expectations were for a dividend of 0.60 francs per share.

Getting and Spending

William Wordsworth is a great English poet, but one poem he wrote irritates me. It’s the sonnet that begins: The world is too much with us; late and soon, / Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.

New Zealand’s S&P Healthcare considers ways around proposed Trump tariffs on Mexico

New Zealand medical device firm Fisher & Payne Healthcare will consider switching factories making products bound for the United States from Mexico to New Zealand if U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration taxes Mexican imports. The company, a major global supplier of specialised respiratory equipment for hospitals, is one of the first companies with Mexican operations to disclose how it would respond to the Trump administration’s proposed tariff on imports from across the U.S. southern border.

Family Health opens remote clinic at McHenry County PADS site

WOODSTOCK – A social service agency is providing part-time but direct health care services to McHenry County’s homeless. The Family Health Partnership Clinic now operates a once-a-week remote clinic at the day center of McHenry County Public Action to Deliver Shelter, a subsidiary of Pioneer Center for Human Services.

End sought to state health care exchange

Regardless of what Republicans and President Donald Trump do in Congress when it comes to Obamacare, a Colorado state senator wants to do away with the state’s health care exchange. Freshman Sen. Jim Smallwood, R-Parker, said the state’s exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, isn’t working and needs to go away.

Study compares postoperative outcomes, costs of laparoscopic and open antireflux surgery for GERD

Patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease, known as GERD, who undergo laparoscopic anti-reflux operations compared with traditional “open” operations suffer fewer postoperative complications, experience faster recovery, and incur lower health care costs, according to study results published online as an “article in press” on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website, ahead of print publication. GERD affects nearly 20 percent of American adults, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Hawaii pols propose bill that would classify homelessness as medical condition

As an emergency room doctor, Hawaii Sen. Josh Green sees homeless patients suffering from diabetes, mental health problems and an array of medical issues that are more difficult to manage when they are homeless or do not have permanent housing. “It is paradigm shift for sure, but the single best thing we can do today is to allow physicians and health care providers in general to write prescriptions for housing,” Green said.

Trump administration pulls back on HealthCare.gov ads

The Trump administration said Thursday night it is pulling back advertising to promote HealthCare.gov as open enrollment draws to a close for this year. The Health and Human Services Department said in a statement that the government has pulled back about $5 million in ads as part of an effort to cut costs.