Georgia hospitals penalized for readmissions

84 of Georgia’s 145 hospitals have been penalized for high readmission rates by CMS, meaning their Medicare reimbursement will be lower. (Note: This does not include Covid-19 patients.) Only 12 hospitals in the state were not punished (49 were exempt).

The link above will let you explore county by county, but here’s the list of the 12 that won’t face penalties:

Stephens County Hospital, Toccoa
Arrow Regional Medical Center, Winder
Dodge County Hospital, Eastman
Jefferson Hospital, Louisville
Emanuel Medical Center, Swainsboro
University McDuffie County Regional Medical Center, Thomson
Burke Medical Center, Waynesboro
Meadows Regional Medical Center, Vidalia
Irwin County Hospital, Ocilla
Memorial Hospital And Manor, Bainbridge
SGMC Berrien Campus, Nashville
Chi Memorial Hospital – Georgia, Fort Oglethorpe

Turn your head and cough

MIT researchers have developed an artificial intelligence that can listen to a recorded cough — even a forced one — and determine if the cougher has Covid-19. Even if they’re asymptomatic. With 97 percent accuracy.

Across around 2,500 captured cough recordings of people confirmed to have COVID-19, the AI correctly identified 97.1 percent of them — and 100 percent of the asymptomatic cases.

Obviously it’s detecting differences that mere humans can’t hear, but the system doesn’t require special recording equipment, and might be incorporated into a smartphone.

First Alzheimer’s blood test

The first blood test for Alzheimer’s is now available nationwide. It measures biomarkers “that frequently reflect the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain” and it test for a gene variant that increases the risk of the disease.

Downside: The company charges $1,250 for the test, but some patients may qualify for financial assistance. “Health insurance companies don’t currently pay for the test.”

Techs: Let’s get ready to mingllllllllllllllllllle!

Hey pharmacy techs — it’s time to mingle! GPhA’s Academy of Pharmacy Technicians is hosting a networking event exclusively for technicians to let their (virtual) hair down (and, yes get some good ideas).

It’s Wednesday, November 18, 2020 from 6:30 – 8:00 pm, via Zoom.

Why mingle?

• To bring all pharmacy technicians together to party like only pharmacy techs know how to. (And to meet the APT board members and hear what APT wants to accomplish.)
• To get techs talking (sorry, we mean “to foster networking and discuss relevant topics of interest”) — learn from one another. Here’s a starter: What are the most comfortable shoes you own for the job?
• What else is there to talk about? How about some unique roles for pharmacy technicians, like in hospitals? What does it mean to be a lead pharmacy technician?
• How about the management skills you’ll need, how to help implement clinical services, and what’s up with immunization administration for technicians?

All this plus fun, prizes, and a great chance to bond. Don’t miss out — register today!

Valproic acid — not while pregnant

Be careful of pregnant patients who are taking valproic acid during pregnancy. The epilepsy drug has been linked to a higher risk of kids with autism or ADHD in a study of 15,000 kids born between 1996 and 2011.

The good news: “We didn’t find an association with the antiseizure medications lamotrigine and carbamazepine.”

Weather doesn’t (directly) affect Covid

At one point, we hoped that the hot weather would help kill off the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Or maybe the cold would slow it down. Either way, no joy. A study out of the University of Texas found that the “whether it’s hot or cold outside, the transmission of COVID-19 from one person to the next depends almost entirely on human behavior.”

So while the coming cold weather itself won’t affect the virus, more time indoors in stagnant air will help it spread.

Many, many, many, lots

We’re almost at the point where reporting U.S. Covid-19 infections and deaths is futile. The country sets records every day, with a notable portion of the population believing it’s a hoax or overblown and refusing to take even the most basic precautions to stop the spread to their neighbors.

Latest numbers (courtesy of Stat)

• 9.3 million Americans infected — at least 363,000 Georgians*
• We’re averaging more than 76,000 new cases every day
• At least 231,566 killed directly — 8,000 Georgians are dead
• About 809 Americans are dying from it every day — 24 of them from Georgia

Perspective: Total killed in the Civil War: 214,938. Total U.S. military deaths in all of WWII: 291,557.

* Georgia is one of 14 states does not positive results from antigen tests in the total, so the actual number is higher.

“Just browsing”? Don’t be that guy

The fact that social media is slowly destroying the world and causing untold cases of depression isn’t new. But researchers at the University of British Columbia have figured out that it’s not the existence of social media, but how you use it that impacts your well-being.

Cutting to the chase: Passive browsing = bad. Participating in discussions = good. Just scrolling through exposes you to lies, lies, lies — that is, “updates that selectively portray others positively” and “may lead social media users to underestimate how much others actually experience negative emotions.”

But when you interact, you learn that behind those photos, everyone else is just as mixed up as you.