My lede:

Some parents, concerned that vaccines could injure their children, choose to forgo or delay childhood immunizations. One barrier to convincing on-the-fence parents of the benefits of vaccines is that the downside of refusing seems minimal. Parents who opt out often have good reason to believe that herd immunity will protect their children from harm.

But a new study finds that, at least with regard to pertussis, vaccine refusal is not risk-free. Children whose parents refused the pertussis vaccine were 23 times likelier to contract the disease than were immunized children, according to a June Pediatrics study of 156 pertussis cases drawn from the Kaiser Permanente Colorado health plan. One in 10 pertussis cases was due to vaccine refusal, the study found (pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/6/1446/).

The whole shebang.

My lede:

Hospital-associated infections annually kill an estimated 100,000 people and add $20 billion to the nation’s health care bill. The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms, state infection reporting mandates and the looming threat of an influenza A(H1N1) pandemic have made the job of preventing infections and controlling their spread that much harder.

But amid the worst recession in decades, hospitals are cutting back wherever they can, and infection-control professionals report that their departments are not being spared.

The whole shebang.

My lede:

Under criticism from physician organizations and others for further fracturing an already disjointed health system, store-based health clinics and their supporters have argued that these nurse-practitioner-staffed offices offer uninsured patients affordable, walk-in care at convenient locations.

But most retail clinics — 86.4% — are located in well-to-do areas that are not classified as medically underserved, according to a May 25 Archives of Internal Medicine study (archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/169/10/945/).

The whole shebang.

My lede:

The typical patient with metastatic lung cancer lives four to eight months after diagnosis. Yet barely more than half of doctors caring for these patients discuss using hospice care to help manage these last months of life, according to a May 25 Archives of Internal Medicine study.

Bringing up hospice when patients and families often want to keep fighting the cancer is a challenge for doctors, said study co-author John Z. Ayanian, MD, professor of medicine and health care policy at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts.

“But in situations like this, where the overall prognosis is poor, it’s important for physicians to have open and honest discussions so that patients understand their options and don’t suffer when good palliative care could make their remaining quality of life much better,” Dr. Ayanian said.

The whole shebang.

My lede:

Only 10 in 166 outpatient clinics and hospitals got a perfect score on a set of model equal-treatment policies for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender patients and health professionals, according to a May report released by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Assn. and the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group.

Most of the organizations that participated in the survey listed sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies, allowed equal visitation access for same-sex partners and parents, had cultural competency training on sexual orientation and offered health benefits for employees with same-sex partners. But even among these gay-friendly hospitals and clinics, only 7% pledged in writing not to discriminate against transgender patients.

The whole shebang.

My lede:

Starting July 1, Vermont physicians will get no more free lunches from the pharmaceutical industry.

That is one of many changes doctors in the state can expect thanks to a new state law that may be the most sweeping attempt yet to target the influence of industry marketing on physicians’ medical decisions.

The whole shebang.