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Daily Rounds: Medicare Data For Rating Docs; Boogard's Troubled Brain; Patient Safety Gets Personal; Luring Cancer Experts From Boston

Feds to allow use of Medicare data to rate doctors, hospitals and other health care providers - The Washington Post (The Washington Post) "Picking a specialist for a delicate medical procedure like a heart bypass could get a lot easier in the not-too-distant future. The government announced Monday that Medicare will finally allow its extensive claims database to be used by employers, insurance companies and consumer groups to produce report cards on local doctors — and improve current ratings of hospitals." Derek Boogaard - A Brain ‘Going Bad’ - NYTimes.com "The brain was carved out of his skull by a coroner in Minneapolis. It was placed in a plastic bucket and inside a series of plastic bags, then put in a cooler filled with a slurry of icy water. It was driven to the airport and placed in the cargo hold of a plane to Boston.... Boogaard had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as C.T.E., a close relative of Alzheimer’s disease. It is believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head. It can be diagnosed only posthumously, but scientists say it shows itself in symptoms like memory loss, impulsiveness, mood swings, even addiction." (nytimes.com)

Doing Things Right: Why Three Hospitals Didn’t Harm My Wife - Kaiser Health News "The anxiety when a loved one is injured is compounded when you know just how risky making things better can get. As a long-time advocate for patient safety, my interest in the topic has always been passionate, but never personal. Now, as Susan was being rushed into the emergency room, I wanted to keep it that way. "Wife of patient safety expert is victim" was a headline I deeply hoped to avoid." (kaiserhealthnews.org)

MD Anderson has hired away 55 scientists from Dana-Farber - Boston Medical News - White Coat Notes - Boston.com "The 55 scientists make up less than half of the Belfer staff, but much of the leadership there is moving to the Texas site, Feibel writes...“Honestly, we were a little surprised at the number of people who left Belfer and we should have anticipated that, because Belfer is so tightly identified with Ron and Lynda,” Rollins said. He said that the departures of post-doctoral researchers and graduate student were expected, because those scientists worked in DePinho’s and Chin’s large laboratories. Rollins added that hiring to replace vacated positions has been easy, and the Belfer Institute will continue on, with its emphasis on translating basic research into new therapies. It continues to be supported through two large collaborative partnerships with Merck & Co. and Sanofi-Aventis." (boston.com)

This program aired on December 6, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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