MJH News March 2020 Digital Edition
March 18, 20201 min
Post Views: 1,791
Texas must work together to address COVID-19
March 18, 20206 min
By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association Texas hospitals share a mission to protect the health of Texas. When challenges arise, health care providers and public health officials must be strong partners and work together. COVID-19 is a significant challenge for Texas, and we must remain diligent, informed and collaborative. Health officials agree that more cases are expected to be confirmed in the United States. While it’s impossible to predict exactly how the disease...
Federal court decision ends medical records scheme
March 18, 202010 min
By Beth Anne Jackson, Esq. and Allison Shelton, Esq. After a decision in Ciox Health Care LLC v. Alex Azar (Ciox) in January, health care providers will no longer be required to subsidize the provision of copies of medical records used by plaintiff attorneys to prove malpractice, personal injury and similar cases. The scheme was hatched after the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) published guidance in 2016 (Guidance) regarding patients’ ability to request that records...
Navigating across the continuum of care
March 18, 20207 min
By Larry Burnett, Advisory Principal, KPMG, Health & Government Solutions and Ketan Patel, Advisory Principal, KPMG, Healthcare Fragmentation and a lack of coordination among healthcare providers can lead to inappropriate care and higher costs. While technology, including artificial intelligence, can be a help to overcome gaps in care and improve diagnostic capabilities, some executives and clinicians have legitimate concerns. When KPMG surveyed 150 healthcare executives about their ethical concerns with artificial intelligence, 75% cited threats...
Healthcare workplace violence act passes Congress
March 18, 202013 min
By Mauro Ramirez A top priority for healthcare employers is to reduce and prevent workplace violence and maintain a safe work environment. As a result of various factors, health care employees experience nearly as many serious injuries due to workplace violence as do employees in all other industries combined, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor charged with assuring safe and healthy...
Memorial Hermann opens new Susan & Fayez Sarofim Pavilion, critical care patient tower, on Texas Medical Center campus
March 18, 20208 min
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (TMC) recently opened the Susan & Fayez Sarofim Pavilion on its campus. The state-of-the-art, 17-story pavilion is the new home of the Red Duke Trauma Institute at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center one of only two adult Level I trauma centers in Houston; Memorial Hermann Life Flight®; the John. S. Dunn Burn Center, the only comprehensive burn center in Houston; and other critical care services in neuroscience and heart and vascular treatment. “The Sarofim Pavilion enables Memorial Hermann to...
Nutritional approaches for treatment of Major Depressive Disorder
March 18, 20209 min
By Doris Amaro, Medical Student, UTMB “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food” so brilliantly stated by Hippocrates, may have been a declaration that we can use the nutrients from the earth to heal our bodies. However, it is difficult to imagine how the food we put into our bodies influences our thoughts, emotions, and particularly our development of mental illness. There are a number of different integrative and complementary approaches for...
Osteosarcoma profiling reveals why immunotherapy remains ineffective
March 18, 20206 min
Comprehensive profiling of tumor samples taken from patients with osteosarcoma shows that multiple factors contribute to the traditionally poor responses observed from treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study found that poor infiltration of the tumor by immune cells, low activity from available T cells, a lack of immune-stimulating neoantigens, and multiple immune-suppressing pathways all combine to dampen responses to immunotherapy. “This study is important...
Tissue-digging nanodrills do just enough damage
March 18, 20204 min
Molecule-sized drills do the damage they are designed to do. That’s bad news for disease. Scientists at Rice University, Biola University and the Texas A&M Health Science Center have further validation that their molecular motors, light-activated rotors that spin up to 3 million times per second, can target diseased cells and kill them in minutes. The team led by Biola molecular biochemist Richard Gunasekera and Rice chemist James Tour showed their motors are highly effective at destroying cells...
