Lessons Learned
The American Health Lawyers Association has just posted online a free publication that details what health-care providers and others learned from the hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005. Intended for policymakers and others, Lessons Learned from the Gulf Coast Hurricanes is a follow-up publication to the 2004 Emergency Preparedness, Response & Recovery Checklist, which laid out the key legal and operational issues of planning for emergencies. For both publications, go to www.healthlawyers.org/publicinterest or contact Maggie Russell at (202) 833-0756 or mrussell@healthlawyers.org.
The Department of Health and Human Services, through its Web site Hospital Compare, will begin providing data on hospital mortality rates for heart patients. The Web site will measure this by calculating an expected 30-day mortality rate for patients admitted to a given hospital, taking into account the patient’s severity of illness. Only hospitals that significantly deviate from the expected rate would qualify as best or worst. Presently, 4,453 hospitals fall into the normal range of mortality for heart attacks. Seven hospitals nationally had a worse rate than the average, while 17 hospitals had statistically better heart attack mortality rates. Patients may also use the Web site to search for hospital quality and price measures. HHS will update the numbers annually.
Public Safety
Two Assembly panels in the Garden State pushed forward legislation to outlaw texting while driving as well as allow police officers to target drivers using hand-held cell phones. Under current law, police may only ticket a driver for cell phone use if the driver is already stopped for another infraction, whereas the bill under consideration would allow police to ticket drivers specifically for cell phone use while driving. Presently, only California, Connecticut, New York and Washington D.C. have similar laws. Additionally, the ban on vehicular texting would be the first such law in the nation. “There’s a lot of distractions, but cell phones are one of the biggest distraction and the cause of many, many accidents,” Senate President Richard J. Codey told the West Milford Messenger.
© Copyright 2007, State Health Notes
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