INJURY PREVENTION
Play Ball!
For years, some injury prevention experts have been concerned that metal bats hit baseballs harder and faster than do wooden ones, putting players at greater risk for injury. But according to an Illinois State University study reported in the Chicago Tribune, wooden baseball bats are no more safe than metal ones. Researchers who tracked 400 games and 9,000 at-bats found that the difference in injuries between the two types was statistically insignificant. Regardless, lawmakers in two states are debating legislation to ban metal bats for children’s leagues. New York legislators are considering AB 6705, which would prohibit metal bats for any league or association where children under 16 play. In Illinois, HB 4140 would ban the bats for anyone 13 and under. Earlier this year, New York City became the first jurisdiction in the country to ban metal bats in high school games.
Safe-Injection Sites
Following a model developed in Vancouver, Canada, city officials in San Francisco, California, held a symposium this month to discuss setting up supervised injection sites for IV drug users. The city currently has one of the highest rates of fatal drug overdoses in the country. Vancouver’s program places IV drug users under medical supervision to reduce the harm associated with use and provide an opportunity to intervene and treat the addiction. So far, some 800 people have overdosed on-site but none have been fatal, thanks to medical supervision. Researchers also credit the program with increasing the number of addicts entering treatment and reducing crime in the program’s area. Currently, 65 such programs operate in eight countries, the Associated Press reports. San Francisco’s would be the first in the United States. The program is expected to face many legal and political hurdles, especially opposition from the federal government.
The Ohio Senate recently passed SB 73, which if enacted would eliminate the sentencing disparities between powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Currently, different sentencing guidelines exist for trafficking or possession of the two substances, with crack cocaine generating longer sentences even when the illicit drugs weigh the same. The bill would make sentences the same, using the current crack cocaine threshold as the basis for sentencing. A more detailed breakdown of the current sentencing disparity can be found in this analysis of the bill. Currently, 12 states have such sentencing disparities, which critics claim leads to longer sentences for minorities and the poor, who are less likely to use powder. The bill now moves on to the House.
Zagat Guide to Doctors
The Zagat Survey, a favorite tool of restaurant seekers, is teaming with the health insurer Wellpoint to develop a doctor ratings system. The two companies are developing an online survey tool for patients to fill out with a methodology similar to Zagat’s tool for rating eateries. The survey will initially be open to 1 million of Wellpoint’s 35 million customers—mostly those enrolled in Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. Beginning in January, the raters will be able to rate doctors on issues such as trust, communication, availability and environment. Ratings will not be published for a physician until at least 10 patients have weighed in. The goal, according to a Wellpoint press release, is to encourage patients to discuss their encounters with one another and to use patient experience as the main criterion for selecting a doctor. This announcement comes on the heels of the New York Attorney General’s office expanding its probe whether insurance companies’ ranking systems merely steer customers to the lowest-cost physicians while ignoring quality of care.
© Copyright 2007, State Health Notes
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