Operations

Prodding here and pinging there, pop-up interruptions can turn into noise to be ignored instead of helpful nudges. Something similar is happening to doctors, nurses and pharmacists. When they're hit with too much information, the result can be a health hazard. The electronic patient records that the federal government has been pushing to coordinate health care and reduce mistakes come with a host of bells and whistles that may be doing the opposite.

The law was a response to complaints from Medicare patients who were surprised to learn that although they had spent a few days in the hospital, they were there for observation and were not admitted. Observation patients are considered too sick to go home yet not sick enough to be admitted. They may pay higher charges than admitted patients and do not qualify for Medicare's nursing home coverage.

The 3,300 registered nurses who help staff Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted to authorize a 24 hour strike in the hopes of propelling stalled negotiations for a new contract with the hospital and its parent company, Partners HealthCare, the union announced Monday.

Physicians gathered at the Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association have voted for David Barbe, M.D., M.H.A., a family physician from Mountain Grove, Missouri, to be the group's next president-elect, according to the physician organization.

Physician leaders have voted to adopt a modernized Code of Medical Ethics during the American Medical Association's annual meeting, capping an eight-year project to modernize the code's ethical guidance for relevance, clarity and consistency, the AMA said.

As health care consolidation accelerates nationwide, a new study shows that hospital prices in two of California's largest health systems were 25 percent higher than at other hospitals around the state.

John Rex, formerly executive vice president and chief financial officer of Optum, has been appointed CFO of UnitedHealth Group, effective immediately, the insurer has announced.

Doctors responding to the survey are worried they will not have the technology, capital or staffing to survive.

First major restructuring since 2003 changes dues and governance.

Mercyhealth broke ground earlier this week on a large, $485 million expansion project that will yield a new specialty women's and children's hospital and multispecialty clinic building in Rockford, Illinois. Both facilities are scheduled for completion in early 2019.