Pa. physicians, national board spar over exam standards | Philly.com
Leaders of the Pennsylvania Medical Society are part of heated national debate over how to ensure that physicians maintain their skills. The society's board voted last month to take a position of no confidence in the American Board of Internal Medicine, a Philadelphia-based organization that administers certification exams to a quarter of all physicians in the United States.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, nurses hope to avoid strike Monday | CBS Boston
There's a last ditch effort underway to avoid a big nurses strike in Boston next week. Brigham and Women's Hospital and the nurses' union are meeting with a federal mediator Friday.
Study slams hospitals for lax use of passwords | The Hill
New research is raising serious questions about the cybersecurity practices of hospitals. The study, conducted by Ross Koppel of The Univerisity of Pennsylvania, found that sticky notes with passwords were prevalent in hospitals; that employees shared passwords; that keypad-protected doors to medical supply rooms often had passwords written on them; and that clinicians left computers logged on as a courtesy to whoever needed to use them next.
Firms push to revise Arkansas telemedicine law | Arkansas Online
A state senator said Thursday that she's open to revisiting an Arkansas telemedicine law to address concerns that it prevents Arkansans from being able to take advantage of benefits offered by employers such as Wal-Mart and J.B. Hunt.
San Francisco sets vote on soda tax amid battle on health warnings | Reuters
San Francisco residents will have a second chance to vote on whether to tax soda after city officials this week added the measure to a November ballot that could result in more of the Bay Area being subject to the controversial levy.
Pharma, data veteran Stephen Friend bites at Apple's health offer | Xconomy.com
Consumer tech giant Apple, which has spent considerable effort positioning its products as health and fitness helpers, has just hired someone who knows Big Pharma and Big Data. Stephen Friend, a veteran of drug R&D and, more recently, a nonprofit effort to foster more collaborative biomedical research and more data sharing, is joining Apple in an unspecified capacity.
Opioid crisis draws failed response from states, group says | Bloomberg
Most U.S. states are failing to adequately respond to prescription opioid overdoses, a crisis responsible for almost 19,000 deaths a year, a safety group said. “The cost of this epidemic is too high for states to watch from the sidelines,” Deborah A.P. Hersman, president of the National Safety Council, said in a statement Thursday.
