Whether at home, work, or in a social setting, sometimes you just can’t let anyone know what you’re thinking. A new study from Rice University, the University of Toronto, and Purdue University involving employees who must maintain a neutral disposition in a work setting examine the toll this may take.  Due to the energy required to meet this need, the researchers suggest the employee has less less energy to devote to work itself.

The study concluded that individuals who must avoid appearing either overly positive or negative — such as journalists, health care professionals, social workers, lawyers, and law enforcement officers — simply suppress expressions of emotion more than their counterparts in other similarly oriented professions where expression of emotions is necessary and expected. … Read more →

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Boston was in need of an additional state hospital. Resources were finally available more than two decades later, and by 1930, Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham, Massachusetts opened.

With its first cornerstone laid down in 1927, Metropolitan State Hospital existed on an enormous campus spanning across three towns — Waltham, Lexington, and Belmont.

Built in the Colonial style tradition, Metropolitan’s campus consisted of an administration building, medical-surgical facility, acute and chronic care buildings, staff housing, morgue, and power plant. … Read more →

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its notice of proposed rules for hospital value-based purchasing (VBP).  Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or Health Care Reform), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must establish a hospital VBP program for hospital payments beginning in 2013. This program must be based upon hospital performance measures from 2012 that are part of the hospital inpatient quality reporting program (formerly known as RHQDAPU). … Read more →

On Friday, November 19, 2010, without any warning, nurses, patients, and staff at Lakeside Hospital in Bastrop, Texas received an early holiday surprise.  The hospital was closed and all employees had lost their jobs. Patients were sent elsewhere or discharged.  The only information was a sign on the door that said the hospital was closed. The Texas Department of State Health Services had not been notified about the closing, and the state agency did not find out until after it was done.

One former hospital employee explained the events that occurred on November 19: “Early this morning management came in and put the hospital on divert from any EMS traffic. Department managers were escorted off the premises, patient’s families were called to pick up their sick loved ones, and ER patients were told to leave and go to another hospital.” When Lakeside Hospital closed, five patients were taken to other area hospitals. Two patients that were in the emergency department at the time were taken care of and then sent home. … Read more →

Researchers are close to developing a vaccination for persons addicted to cocaine, nicotine and heroin, helping them to repress cravings and eventually overcome their addiction.

Funded by The National Institute on Drug Abuse, researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and the Scripps Research Institute in California injected billions of specially made viral cocktails into non-genetically engineered laboratory mice. By identifying the strong immune response generated against the vaccine, the researchers developed a new antibody that when put in test tubes, destroys the cocaine’s ability to circulate throughout the system and eventually reach the brain’s pleasure center. … Read more →

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, small business health care tax credits are designed to help small businesses and small tax-exempt organizations afford the cost of covering their employees.  Here are some of the basics to qualify:

• Employers must cover at least 50% of the cost of health care coverage for some of its workers based on the single rate.

• Employers must have less than the equivalent of 25 full-time workers (for example, an employer with fewer than 50 half-time workers may be eligible).

• Employers must pay average annual wages below $50,000.

• The credit is worth up to 35% of a small business’ premium costs in 2010 (25% for tax-exempt employers). On January 1, 2014, this rate increases to 50% (35% for tax-exempt employers).

Additional information can be found at IRS.gov.

This week marked the end of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s seven-year term as California’s 38th governor. The new administration is not wasting any time when it come to health care, apparently.

On Monday, California’s new insurance commissioner David Jones ordered emergency regulations requiring insurance companies to devote at least 80% of their income to policyholders’ claims in the state’s individual insurance market.

California now requires insurers to spend at least 70% of revenue on policyholders’ medical bills, but Jones’ plan matches provisions in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). … Read more →

Hepatitis A is an acute infectious disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV), which is transmitted person-to-person by ingestion of contaminated food or water or through direct contact with an infectious person. Tens of millions of individuals worldwide are estimated to become infected with HAV each year.

The average incubation period for Hepatitis A (the time between infection and the appearance of the symptoms) is 28 days (but can extend as long as 50 days). For the most part, casual contact, as in sitting in church during mass, office or school setting, does not spread the virus.

There is a chance, however, that one may contract Hepatitis A via church communion. … Read more →

As winter storms continue to cause disruption across the United States, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) has some important safety information much closer to home. Snow shoveling can be dangerous. And while it can also be mundane, when combined with heavy lifting and cold weather, improper snow shoveling technique can result in injuries to the back and shoulders.

According to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission:

• In 2008, more than 70,000 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms, doctors’ offices, clinics and other medical settings for injuries sustained while shoveling or otherwise removing ice and snow manually. … Read more →