CHP/PCOR Quarterly Update, spring 2006 issue

This issue of CHP/PCOR's quarterly newsletter, which covers news from the winter 2006 quarter, includes articles about:

  • a comprehensive review of worldwide anthrax cases from 1900 to 2005, conducted by CHP/PCOR researchers, which found that timely diagnosis and antibiotic treatment, along with pleural fluid drainage, are key to anthrax patients' survival;
  • an early-stage research project in which CHP/PCOR core faculty member Grant Miller is collaborating with an NGO in Bangladesh to study whether villagers' traditional cooking practices are contributing to life-threatening respiratory infections;
  • assertions by two CHP/PCOR health policy experts that health-savings accounts -- the cornerstone of President Bush's healthcare agenda -- won't save much money and won't address the fundamental problems of the U.S. healthcare system;
  • the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's release of the Pediatric Quality Indicators, developed by CHP/PCOR researchers and collaborators. This is the first set of data-analysis tools specifically designed to help hospitals monitor their quality of care for hospitalized children; and
  • a roundup of CHP/PCOR's 7th annual retreat, which featured panel discussions on improving healthcare quality, conducting health services research in developing countries, and health systems comparisons across industrialized nations.