Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:00:28 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss E.B. Solomont :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/E.B.+Solomont istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/rare-device-aids-ny-brain-surgeons/83602/ Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Inside the operating room, three screens projected the magnified image of the patient's brain as surgeons prepared to remove a tumor. But all eyes were trained on one screen in particular: the one offering a three-dimensional view. "Kill the lights," someone said, shortly after the surgeon, Dr. Theodore Schwartz, entered the operating theater. With an egg-size tumor resting on the patient's skull, Dr. Schwartz had planned a minimally invasive procedure using a three-dimensional endoscope, a... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/hospitals-paterson-at-odds-over-proposed-cuts/83956/ Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The fight between hospital groups and Governor Paterson is on. Hours after hospital groups publicized a new radio ad warning that budget cuts could force hospitals to close, the state's health commissioner, Dr. Richard Daines, convened an impromptu conference call with reporters in which he dismissed the advertisement as a scare tactic and said hospitals could absorb more than $1 billion in Medicaid cuts proposed by Mr. Paterson. The health commissioner, a former president of St... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/moving-uptown-couple-entices-friends-to-follow/83334/ Thu, 7 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST When Rabbi Elie Kaunfer and his wife, Lisa Exler, decided to move with their daughter to Washington Heights from the Upper West Side, they resolved to bring some of their friends with them. Several weeks ago, they hosted a meeting at their home, drawing nearly 30 Upper West Side neighbors as well as friends from Washington Heights, who were invited to discuss the merits of living in the area. A few weeks later, the couple organized a walking tour of Washington Heights that included stops at... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/mount-sinai-appoints-a-president/84068/ Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Mount Sinai Hospital has tapped its chief operating officer, Wayne Keathley, to be president following the resignation of Dr. Burton Drayer. Dr. Drayer, who was named president of the hospital in 2003, announced his intention to step down several weeks ago in order to focus on his roles as chairman of Mount Sinai's department of radiology and chairman of the board of the Radiological Society of North America. Since 2003, Mr. Keathley has served as chief operating officer and executive vice... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-hospitals-most-affected-under-proposed/83842/ Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST New York City hospitals would bear the brunt of Medicaid cuts proposed by Governor Paterson, losing more than $663 million over the next two years, according to an analysis by hospital groups. Overall, hospitals around the state are projected to lose $974.1 million over two years if legislators enact Mr. Paterson's proposal to slash Medicaid spending by more than $500 million this year and $1 billion next year, according to the groups, the Healthcare Association of New York State and the... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/federal-aid-could-avert-hospital-cuts/83758/ Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST New York hospitals are turning to the federal government to offset Governor Paterson's proposal to slash Medicaid spending by more $500 million this year and $1 billion next year. Describing those cuts as untenable, hospitals are aiming for what they describe as a second federal economic stimulus package that would provide financial relief to states in the form of supplemental Medicaid funding. Currently, Medicaid financing is shared by states and the federal government, which pays a "federal... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-woman-is-120000th-recipient-of-cochlear/83794/ Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST For nearly 40 years, 72-yearold Susan Grossman suffered progressive hearing loss that restricted her use of the telephone and made listening to her favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, impossible. That changed yesterday, when doctors activated a device that had been implanted in the Upper East Side woman's ear. Three weeks ago, Mrs. Grossman became the 120,000th person since 1982 to receive a cochlear implant, a device that restores hearing to people with hearing loss by stimulating their auditory... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/nursing-home-ceo-arrested-for-not-providing/83482/ Fri, 8 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The president and CEO of a Bronx nursing home that has been the focus of a probe by Attorney General Cuomo, and the site of multiple employee protests, has been arrested. The president of Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation and Care Center, Helen Sieger, 55, was charged with failing to provide workers' compensation coverage for 400 employees between May 31, 2007 and June 26, 2008, Mr. Cuomo's office announced. Six employees claimed to have been injured at work during that time. The arrest was... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/salary-talks-may-lead-to-home-health-aide-strike/83362/ Thu, 7 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST A union representing 30,000 home health aides in New York City is stepping up a campaign to increase wages for its members, a message it plans to deliver at a rally today at Madison Square Garden. The union, 1199 SEIU, is seeking better wages for 20,000 members whose contracts expired in recent months, and its leaders are threatening to strike if contracts are not secured by September. Union officials said they want members to earn $10 an hour, up from an average of $8 an hour. They are also... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/closure-of-hospitals-obstetrics-unit-is-criticized/83293/ Wed, 6 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The decision by Long Island College Hospital to close its obstetrics unit will deprive Brooklyn residents of needed maternity services, according to elected officials who plan to rally outside the hospital today. Last week, the cash-strapped hospital, situated in Cobble Hill, announced its intention to close the maternity unit as part of a reorganization plan that also includes downsizing its number of beds and selling off parcels of real estate. "There's been a bigger pattern in Brooklyn in... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/kidney-procedure-illustrates-some-wide-ranging/83202/ Tue, 5 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST During a recent cross-country kidney transplantation — a California woman received a kidney from an anonymous, living donor in New York — the operation was the easy part. The bigger problem for surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, who typically book donors and recipients in adjacent or nearby operating rooms, was that they had to race to retrieve the organ, pack it in ice, and transport the kidney inside a cooler to Newark Liberty International Airport, where... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/new-york-hospitals-are-maneuvering-in-war/83119/ Mon, 4 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST In their quest to attract patients, recruit top researchers, and burnish their reputations, hospitals in New York City are setting their sights on cancer patients. Buoyed by scientific advances, academic medical centers increasingly are building and planning cancer centers, modern facilities featuring state-of-the-art laboratories and clinics. Earlier this year, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center announced plans to expand its cancer program at a cost of $100 million... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/health-groups-launch-infrastructure-agenda/83085/ Mon, 4 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST A coalition of New York health care organizations has introduced a five-point agenda aimed at improving New York's primary care infrastructure. Calling the agenda a "road map" for lawmakers, the Primary Care Coalition said its recommendations would also control the cost of health care in New York State, whose $45 billion annual Medicaid budget is the costliest nationwide. The coalition's agenda recommends changing the payment system to increase reimbursement for primary care; expanding the... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/gotbaum-seeks-to-make-cesarean-rates-public/83020/ Fri, 1 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, is asking the city's health department to publicize cesarean section rates at New York City hospitals on its Web site. In a letter Ms. Gotbaum sent yesterday to the city's commissioner of health, Dr. Thomas Frieden, she acknowledged the agency's previous reluctance to display maternity information on its site. But she urged Dr. Frieden to establish a link to the Web site of the state Department of Health, which began posting cesarean section rates online... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/hospital-obstetrics-ward-will-close-amid/82971/ Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST A cash-strapped Brooklyn hospital will stop delivering babies, aiming to regain its financial footing and reduce its escalating medical malpractice costs. Long Island College Hospital, in the Cobble Hill neighborhood, plans to shutter its obstetrics department pending approval from the state's Department of Health, hospital officials said yesterday. Last year, the hospital delivered 2,800 babies, and it is on track to deliver about 2,200 this year. Officials from the hospital's parent company... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/cash-strapped-brooklyn-hospital-shutters/82904/ Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:55:23 EST A cash-strapped hospital in Brooklyn Heights announced plans today to stop delivering babies as part of a reorganization plan designed to solve some of the hospital's financial woes. Long Island College Hospital, where 2,800 babies were born last year, will shutter its obstetrics department pending approval from the state's Department of Health, hospital officials said. The hospital also plans to sell off some of its real estate holdings and is looking to reduce its number of beds by as much as... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/hospitals-try-to-rein-in-doctors-rudeness/82728/ Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The nurse later said she sensed the surgeon was in a bad mood when he walked into the operating room. Things did not improve when she handed him the wrong size gloves, and they deteriorated further when he began shouting at her and then dismissed her from the procedure. "She came out very, very upset," the executive director of perioperative services at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, Pamela Mestel, recently recalled, sharing details of the spat that emerged when the nurse and surgeon... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/rockefeller-archive-gets-its-independence/82712/ Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The Rockefeller Archive Center — which houses 80 million pages of documents, 750,000 photographs, and thousands of reels of microfilm — has become an independent organization after 34 years of being part of the Rockefeller University. The archive center, in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., will be headed by a new board of directors, including David Rockefeller and a former president of Harvard University, Neil Rudenstein. Last month, the board named Jack Meyers president and CEO of the center. As part of... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/montefiore-takes-over-our-lady-medical-center/82457/ Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx is expected to open a fourth division of its 1,100-bed hospital today, as it takes over the nearby Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center just after the stroke of midnight. With the $38 million transaction complete, Montefiore will unveil a new sign for what will be known as the hospital's North Division. Our Lady of Mercy, a 369-bed facility, is situated about a mile north of Montefiore's main campus in the Norwood section of the Bronx. The deal includes 2,500... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/mount-sinai-to-move-into-public-phase-of-1/82220/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Mount Sinai Medical Center has quietly raised $320 million and will soon move into the public phase of a $1 billion capital campaign. According to hospital leaders, the campaign is a signal that the Upper East Side hospital — which five years ago was hemorrhaging millions of dollars each year — has not only rebounded from its financial troubles, but is pressing forward with the next phase of its strategic plan. That plan hinges on recruiting top doctors and updating the hospital's facilities... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/sour-feelings-over-sweetener/82271/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST For coffee and tea drinkers, choosing a sweetener — pink, blue, or yellow packet? — became more complicated with the introduction this month of Truvía, billed as "Nature's Calorie-Free Sweetener." Wrapped in green-and-white packaging, Truvía made a splashy debut at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Available via the Internet and at select D'Agostino supermarkets, the sweetener, which is derived from a South American stevia plant known for its sweet leaves, is all natural and "a lot like sugar,"... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/video-games-helping-burn-patients/82272/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST One of the most popular video game consoles on the market, the Nintendo Wii, is being used to rehabilitate burn patients. Therapists at the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center are using the Wii to help patients regain motor skills and recover from skin graft surgery. Hospital officials said some patients are using wireless controls to simulate motions such as swinging a tennis racquet and hitting baseballs. For patients with skin... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/business/insurers-pay-doctors-to-push-generic-drugs/81992/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Two New York health insurance companies are rewarding doctors with cash incentives for prescribing generic drugs. The companies, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rochester, N.Y., and Independent Health, based in Buffalo, are offering higher compensation to doctors who increase their rates of prescribing generics instead of more expensive brand-name medications. The companies say the programs were designed to control the escalating cost of pharmaceuticals and to pass on savings to the patients... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bristol-myers-squibb-to-pay-city-75m-in-damages/81975/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb agreed yesterday to pay New York City $7.5 million in damages stemming from allegations of Medicaid fraud. The company also agreed to pay $40 million to New York State under the deal, which was negotiated by the city and by the state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo. The agreement stems from claims made in 2004, when the city filed lawsuits against 44 pharmaceutical companies for allegedly inflating the average wholesale price of their drugs. As a... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/program-aims-to-keep-alumni-connected-after/81876/ Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The Taglit-Birthright Israel program, which has sent about 26,000 young Jews from New York and nearly 200,000 worldwide on free trips to Israel, has its sights set on a new audience: its alumni. Through a new initiative, called Taglit-Birthright Israel NEXT New York, the group seeks to keep participants of Birthright Israel engaged in Jewish life through programs, seminars, and retreats. "Obviously, you get very excited on the trip, and then of course you go back to life," the director of... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/ama-president-says-ny-needs-more-primary-care/81803/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Nancy Nielsen, was already quite busy before taking on her new role: The Buffalo, N.Y., native is a mother of five, a practicing physician, and a medical school dean. The second woman to be elected president of the country's largest physician membership organization began her medical career late by most standards. Dr. Nielsen, 65, entered medical school at 29 after giving birth to her children. A graduate of the Catholic University of... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/touro-college-names-osteopathic-medicine-college/81751/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Touro College has named the immediate past president of the Medical Society of the State of New York, Robert Goldberg, dean of its College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Goldberg, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, succeeds the school's founding dean, Dr. Martin Diamond, who will become dean emeritus. The medical college opened in Harlem in September 2007, the first new medical school in New York in nearly three decades. Lenox Hill Grows in Queens Lenox Hill Hospital is expanding its presence in... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-yorkers-at-high-risk-of-hospital-infections/81511/ Wed, 9 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST New York hospitals are being urged to adopt more aggressive anti-infection measures after a report showing that patients undergoing surgery in 2007 at facilities in New York State developed infections at a rate higher than the rest of the country. In the report released yesterday, the state's Department of Health found that in surgical intensive care units, the rate of infections associated with a kind of intravenous hookup called a "central line" was 3.7 for each 1,000 days that patients had... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/hospital-bed-cuts-to-fall-short-of-berger/81316/ Mon, 7 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Eight hundred fewer beds will be eliminated from New York hospitals by 2010 than a state health care commission's initial recommendations, state health officials reported. In a progress report on hospitals' compliance with the Berger Commission's recommendations — which had a June 30 deadline for implementation — health officials said 1,700 beds would be cut by the end of the year and another 1,700 by 2010. In recommendations published in November 2006, the commission called for the elimination... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/more-uninsured-are-among-ranks-of-the-employed/81325/ Mon, 7 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST A 40-year-old talent scout in New York, Thomas Scott, said he accepted a job recently with the understanding that his employer would pay him a $150-a-month stipend to cover health insurance. Then, Mr. Scott said, the Los Angeles-based agency, which he declined to name for fear of losing his job, reneged on the promise. Because, he says, he doesn't earn enough salary to pay for it himself, Mr. Scott is now uninsured. He is one of a growing number of New Yorkers who are gainfully employed but... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/cut-to-pharmacists-reimbursement-called-drastic/81108/ Wed, 2 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST New York pharmacists are criticizing a "drastic" cut in reimbursement rates, which they say could force some pharmacies out of business. The 2.25% cut, which took effect yesterday, lowers the reimbursement rate for pharmacists filling prescriptions for patients enrolled in the state's Medicaid and Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage programs. Designed by state lawmakers seeking health care savings, the reduction will effectively lower fees to pharmacists by 38% and cost the industry about... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/malpractice-rate-increase-is-postponed/81012/ Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The state's insurance superintendent, Eric Dinallo, is holding off on raising medical malpractice insurance rates pending negotiations on ways to reform the state's malpractice system, the insurance department announced yesterday. When rates for 2008-09 are determined, they will be retroactive to today. Malpractice insurance rates are set each year by the insurance superintendent, and physician groups were bracing for a single-digit rate increase this year. Following a rate increase of 14% last... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/sexual-assault-statistics-in-ny-said-alarming/80904/ Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST One in six teenagers in New York City experiences sexual violence at some point, a rate higher than the national average, a new survey has found. According to the survey, 16.2% of New York City teenagers reported experiencing sexual violence, compared to between 7% and 10.2% of teenagers nationwide. The findings are based on a three-year study of 1,300 New York City high school students between the ages of 13 and 21. Portions of the study, conducted by researchers at Columbia University's... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/hospitals-are-getting-smart-about-patient-data/80906/ Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Patients at Mount Sinai Medical Center are able to carry their medical records in their wallets, thanks to new "smart" identification cards the hospital is distributing. Each card, which is the size and shape of a credit card, features a digital image of the patient and contains a computer chip that is capable of storing 33 pages of data. Designed to help the hospital correctly identify patients, the cards also consolidate each patient's medical history, which can be accessed anywhere in the... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-york-doctors-seek-malpractice-moratorium/80839/ Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST New York physicians are asking for a moratorium on a medical malpractice insurance rate hike that state insurance officials are expected to announce next week. The rates, set each year by the state's Insurance Department, are expected to go up by as much as 9% on July 1, physicians and insurance industry sources said. By law, the agency could also impose an additional 8% levy on doctors to supplement the reserves of the malpractice insurance carriers, which might otherwise be exhausted in the... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/capitalism-said-key-to-finding-new-drugs/80569/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The vast majority of drug development takes place within the private sector and not, as some claim, in government-funded laboratories, according to a new report. Based on the case histories of 35 widely prescribed medications, researchers from the Manhattan Institute and Tufts University conclude in a report published today that almost all of the drugs they analyzed would not have been developed without private sector research. In 28 cases, researchers found that private sector research led to... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/medical-superpower-seen-in-columbia-affiliation/80481/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST In a move that could create a new medical superpower, Columbia University is eyeing an affiliation with a wealthy hospital in the Midwest. The Cleveland Clinic, a top-tier hospital with more than $4 billion in annual revenue, is reportedly seeking to sever ties with its current academic partner, Case Western Reserve University, following recent disagreements between the two institutions. Under the terms of the new relationship, Columbia would partner with the Cleveland Clinic's Lerner College... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/maimonides-takes-aim-at-infections/80492/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST In an effort to reduce hospital-acquired infections, Maimonides Medical Center is cleaning up its use of blood pressure cuffs. This month, the Brooklyn hospital began using disposable liners when taking blood pressure readings. The liners, which were designed by the New York-based Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, are made of plastic and have an antimicrobial coating. "One of the vectors for disease in hospitals is blood pressure cuffs," the chairman of the anti-infection group and a former... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-says-six-more-poisoned-by-tainted-tomatoes/80238/ Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST City health officials have confirmed six new cases of salmonella among individuals who ate tainted tomatoes, bringing the total to seven cases of salmonella-related illness in New York City. The cases, which have been linked to certain types of raw tomatoes, are part of a nationwide outbreak that began in mid-April. More than 383 people in America have become ill after eating tomatoes contaminated with Salmonella Saintpaul, an uncommon form of the bacteria. At least 43 individuals have been... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/fight-erupts-over-bill-on-gifts-to-doctors/80228/ Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Amid a nationwide effort to crack down on freebies given to doctors by drug manufacturers, legislation that would do so in New York is facing stiff opposition from business groups and some members of the medical community. In recent weeks, several groups — including the Business Council of New York State, the Partnership for New York City, and the state's largest physician group, the Medical Society of the State of New York — have mounted a campaign against several pending bills in Albany, and... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/more-doctors-encouraged-to-learn-spanish/80036/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Inside the orientation packet he received as a first-year resident at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Christopher Kellner found a flier advertising a course in performing basic life support alongside a handout describing free Spanish-language instruction. The aspiring neurosurgeon, who starts his residency this week at the hospital's Columbia University Medical Center campus, speculated that the language skills would prove the more useful training. "Working in Washington Heights and going to... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/er-visits-increased-slightly-in-2007/80037/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The number of trips made to New York City emergency rooms increased 0.6% in 2007, to nearly 2.7 million, according to new data from the United Hospital Fund. The slight uptick was far less than increases of 2.9% in 2006 and 2.2% in 2005, according to the June edition of the group's Hospital Watch report. Meanwhile, the average length of stay at hospitals fell slightly in 2007, to 6.19 days, from 6.23 days in 2006, the report said. Overall, operating margins for private hospitals were 1.2% in... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/steps-outlined-to-reduce-risk-of-violence-among/79959/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST In the wake of several violent incidents involving mentally ill individuals — including the murder of an Upper East Side psychiatrist in February — city and state officials yesterday announced a series of new policies designed to improve care for patients and reduce the risk of violence. Based on recommendations from a joint state and city task force, Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg outlined a series of bold changes within the adult mental health system and the criminal justice system... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/on-health/79589/ Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University plans to open its new $200 million research pavilion on Thursday. The five-story Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine/Harold and Muriel Block Research Pavilion is the largest medical research facility built in the Bronx since the medical college opened in 1955, school officials said. Featuring state-of-the-art laboratories, the building will house work space for 40 research teams and about 400 employees. It... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/top-notch-medical-centers-spread-well-beyond/79564/ Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The decision by Senator Kennedy to undergo brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center is illustrative of the strides some medical centers in the South have made in competing with hospitals in the Northeast as centers of excellence. The proliferation of top-tier Southern hospitals has largely been driven by patient demand, and the result is often an increase in competition to recruit the best doctors and to offer the most cutting-edge treatments. "The MD Andersons and the Sloan-Ketterings... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/doctors-on-edge-waiting-to-hear-if-theyre-best/79475/ Fri, 6 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST These are anxious, nail-biting days for New York City doctors, as they wait for an influential evaluation of their profession, otherwise known as New York magazine's "Best Doctors" issue. The issue, which hits newsstands Monday, is the magazine's 11th annual report on 1,440 of the tri-state area's best internists, dermatologists, cardiologists, and other physicians. Based on information from the health care research firm Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., the list is both shunned and embraced by the... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/new-web-site-matches-ny-patients-with-doctors/79072/ Mon, 2 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST John Kasye was new to New York when he developed a hacking cough and a fever one weekend in mid-March. Opposed to the idea of visiting an emergency room, the 39-year-old did what an increasing number of patients do: He logged on to the Internet and typed the words "New York City" and "doctor" into a search engine. Immediately, Mr. Kasye found ZocDoc.com, a new Web site that allows patients to locate doctors and schedule same-day appointments online. In Mr. Kasye's case, he booked the... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/health-fitness/on-health-cornell-awards-qatar-students-medical/79041/ Mon, 2 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Cornell University has awarded medical degrees to 15 students who are the first to graduate from Weill Cornell Medical College's branch campus in Qatar. The 15 students were among more than 160 graduates of Weill Cornell Medical College, which held its 110th commencement ceremony last week. Students from the Qatari program officially graduated earlier this month, but they took part in the ceremony in New York. One graduate from the Qatari program, Dr. Rana Biary, 24, said she was drawn to the... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/hospital-care-in-new-york-ranked-among-most/78966/ Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Patients in New York spend more time at the end of their lives in the hospital than those in other areas of the country, and they receive some of the most aggressive medical care, according to new data published by Consumer Reports. In a new online database, the magazine breaks down the average price of care received at individual hospitals, and it ranks hospitals on how aggressively they treat patients with nine chronic conditions, including heart failure, lung disease, and cancer. The... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/three-options-to-be-proposed-for-universal-health/78850/ Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Preliminary plans for at least three options for providing New Yorkers with universal health insurance coverage are likely to be drawn up this summer, state health and insurance officials reported yesterday. In an "interim report" to Governor Paterson, officials provided a snapshot of their efforts so far to devise a plan for expanding health insurance coverage. Most recently, they said, the state awarded a contract to the Urban Institute to devise three models for coverage based on the...