Igiene e sanità pubblica
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · Nov 2007
Comparative Study[Combined vaccine against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella and recommendations for varicella immunization in Italy?].
In Italy, the whole population is affected by chickenpox especially in infancy with an important burden of disease. Vaccination is recommended for susceptible adolescents and adults, but the offer is different in different regions. The availability of a combined vaccine against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella could allow an easier introduction of VZV prophylaxis in infants immunization schedules without increasing the number of injections and of accesses to Health Services.
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · Nov 2007
Comparative Study[Development of classification and payment system of in patient hospital admissions in the United States: introduction of Medicare Severity Diagnosis-Related Groups (MS-DRGs) and the Present On Admission (POA) indicator].
In the United States, from Fiscal Year 2008 (october 1, 2007-september 30, 2008), two important innovations have been introduced in health insurance program Medicare: 1) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposes to refine the current DRG system by implementing Medicare-Severity DRGs (MS-DRGs), increasing the number of DRGs from 538 to 745. In addition, CMS has undertaken an overhaul of today's complication and comorbidity (CC) list and created up to three tiers of payment for each DRG based on the presence of: a major complication or comorbidity (MCC), a complication or comorbidity, or no complication or comorbidity; 2) the Federal Government, in compliance with the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, has required secondary diagnosis reporting for all Medicare patients at the time of admission by a Present On Admission (POA) indicator. The authors describe the main characteristics of the new MS-DRG system and POA indicator and their potential impact on Italian Public Health system.
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · Nov 2007
[Quality of central venous catheter management protocols in Oncology centres of an Italian region].
The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of central venous catheter (Port-a-cath, Groshong and Hohn) management protocols in Oncology centres in an Italian region. A retrospective study was performed in 25 hospitals, only 10 of which provided evidence that they utilized a central venous catheter management protocol. ⋯ Study results show that overall, there is poor adherence to the basic quality requirements considered and only two of the ten protocols examined were found to be complete. Also, there is wide variability between the protocols with significant differences in the type of instructions provided in the different hospitals.