News Briefs: Week of April 11-15

This roundup includes the following news briefs:

The Obama administration has launched a new national partnership that aims to avert millions of preventable patient harms during the next three years. The Partnership for Patients, a collaboration between the federal government, hospitals, physicians, nurses, employers, unions, health plans and others, has the potential to save as much as $35 billion during that period, according to HHS.

Specific goals for the initiative are to

According to HHS, more than 500 hospitals, physicians and nursing organizations, consumer groups, and employers already have pledged their commitment to the new initiative.

HHS has set aside $1 billion in funding from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to pay for the partnership, and $500 million of that funding was made available April 12 through CMS' Community-based Care Transitions Program. As much as $500 million more will come through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to support new demonstration projects aimed at reducing hospital-acquired conditions.

U.S. marshals, acting on a request from the FDA, seized more than $6 million in products on April 6 at a Triad Group Inc. facility in Hartland, Wis. A wide variety of products, including povidone-iodine and benzalkonium chloride antiseptic products, cough and cold products, nasal sprays, suppositories, medicated wipes, antifungal creams, and hemorrhoidal wipes, as well as raw materials, were seized.

"We took this action to stop Triad from continuing to distribute products which may pose a risk to public health," said Dara Corrigan, FDA associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, in a news release.

Triad recalled all lots of its alcohol prep pads, alcohol swabs and alcohol swabsticks in January because of potential contamination with Bacillus cereus. Triad's recall has led to at least nine subsequent recalls by pharmaceutical companies that packaged Triad's pads with their own medications.

The FDA said H&P Industries, which manufactures the products distributed by Triad, has initiated three recalls since December 2010 because of different types of bacterial contamination.

The April 6 action was necessary, the agency said, because of the "continued failure of H&P Industries to comply with the FDA's current good manufacturing practice regulations."

The American College of Radiology, or ACR, has updated the ACR Appropriateness Criteria, which are evidence-based guidelines to help referring physicians choose the correct medical imaging exam for a patient's clinical condition.

The ACR said in an April 7 news release that it revised more than 40 existing appropriateness criteria topics/clinical conditions and added seven new topics:

More than 175 topics, with more than 850 variants, now are covered in the criteria.

The news release urged referring physicians to consider using the criteria, which can be accessed through all major mobile platforms, in their clinical decision-making. By employing the guidelines, health care professionals "enhance quality of care and contribute to the most efficacious use of radiology," said the ACR.

April is National Minority Health Month, and the AAFP is supporting this HHS initiative by creating a special Web page devoted to resources that promote improved health in minority populations.

The AAFP has joined HHS' Office of Minority Health in focusing its Minority Health Month activities and resources on healthy eating for children, particularly in schools. In addition to links to information about school nutrition that physicians can pass on to parents and their children, the Academy also is offering Americans In Motion-Healthy Interventions, or AIM-HI, resources, including a food and activity journal and nutrition tip sheets that can help motivate and assist patients in making healthier food and beverage choices. Both AIM-HI resources are available in English and Spanish. AIM-HI children's books, which are free to AAFP members, also are available for order.

The Academy's National Minority Health Month Web page is part of the AAFP's online collection of minority health resources, which includes links to health information specific to certain patient subpopulations, such as American Indians/Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, blacks, Hispanics, underserved populations, and women.

In preparation for its 35th National Conference, the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse, or AMERSA, is reaching out to physician researchers and educators for abstracts on recent substance abuse research and substance abuse education innovations.

According to AMERSA, which is a multidisciplinary organization of health care professionals dedicated to improving education in caring for individuals with substance abuse problems, abstracts in three categories are invited: research, program and curricula evaluation, and clinical case presentations. Formats include oral and poster presentations.

Abstracts may be submitted online. Submission of abstracts that address cross-cultural issues, diversity, hard-to-reach populations, or local or international clinical practice differences is especially encouraged.

Only complete abstracts will be considered for presentation. To be considered complete, abstracts must describe a completed research project, including descriptions of methods, results and conclusions; a completed program and curricula evaluation abstract, including evaluation methods, findings and conclusions; or a clinical case with specific learning objectives that are generalizable and supported by the case.

Abstracts must be submitted by May 27.

Accepted abstracts will be presented at the association's national conference, Nov. 3-5 in Arlington, Va. Three abstract awards also will be presented during the conference.