State health officials say a sixth person in Connecticut has come down with the mosquito-borne West Nile virus this season. via WNBC-TV New York

I am glad that I was a dissenting voice in at least one of the articles today about the so-called slim chances for health reform, as reported by Tom Chorneau in the San Francisco Chronicle and Bill Ainsworth in the San Diego Union-Trib.
If there’s anything that came out of today’s hearing, it’s that the health [...]

During the hearing inside the Capitol today and during a rally beforehand, thousands of people text-messaged the Governor, which the It’s Our Healthcare! campaign helped facilitate by having those comments broadcast on a large screen display on the Capitol lawn for him and all to see.
The messages were clear: we need affordable health care reform [...]

Recent days have brought a flurry of coverage of community-based MRSA outbreaks. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has been a problem of long standing in the hospital setting. However, recent outbreaks in schools, and the lack of a clear explanation from officialdom for the up-tick, have clearly given new legs to what health care and public health [...]

Power to the Patient: Mount Sinai Puts Medical Records Snapshot on Smart Cards : “Today, Mount Sinai patients participating in the pilot test can choose to carry a ‘personal health card.’ This encrypted smart card with 64K of memory holds not only the patient’s name, photo, and insurance information, but also a medical history snapshot, [...]

U.S. Needs to Push Harder for E-Health: “The U.S. government needs to step up its push for electronic health records because they are not being adopted quickly enough, a group of health advocates said Friday. MORE ON CIO.COM Hurdles to an Electronic Medical Records System Big Hospital Puts Medical Records on Smart Cards Microsoft’s HealthVault [...]

“The greatest risk for patients is contaminated near patient hand-touch sites in clinical areas.”
Hospitals are missing the key sources of MRSA infection by focusing on obviously ‘dirty’ areas, an expert has claimed.
Instead, cleaning should be targeted on ‘hand touch’ sites in wards, such as door handles, bed rails, lockers, and the switches, pumps and [...]

We’re just wrapping up the legislative hearing on the Governor’s health plan. Materials from the hearing are available at the website of the Assembly Health Committee:http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/newcomframeset.asp?committee=10
We’ll have a full update later…
Health Access California promotes quality, affordable health care for all Californians.

There is something about Halloween that unleashes a hunger that demands to be fed. Forget about your healthy foods. Put down that yogurt or apple (unless it covered in caramel, of course). This hunger needs sweets — and it just so happens sweets are everywhere you look.
Halloween is the hands-down No. 1 candy time of [...]

Woodstock Museum Becomes A Campaign IssueCBS News - The plans call for a final stop dubbed “Woodstock Becomes Mainstream.” Beyond that is a large section on the blueprint that is blank but for a single word: “Retail.” You could call it a hippie museum with a haircut. [...]

Milan shares higher midday led by banking stocks; Fastweb lower ahead Forbes - In the insurance sector, Generali life insurance unit Alleanza added 1.17 pct at 9.435 after yesterday’s nine months results which confirmed that the group is on track to meet its full year [...]

“It’s in the right range for all the studies”
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About 10 percent of Americans aged 71 and up, or 2.4 million people, have Alzheimer’s disease and 1 million more have some other form of dementia, researchers said on Tuesday, offering figures lower than some widely cited estimates.
The National Institutes of [...]