State Disclosure Reports
- NJ 2012 report
- New Jersey Hospital-Aquired Infection page with links to all reports
- NJ 2011 Hospital Performance Report
- Ambulatory Surgery Center Inspection Reports
- Full Versions of All Hospital Quality Reports
- NJ 2010 Hospital Performance Report
- NJ: Find and compare hospital quality care
- New Jersey health care associated central line bloodstream infections 2009
Consumers Union Documents
- Response to Consumer Reports’ questions from Meridian Health (Riverview Medical Center)
The Low-Down Dozen: Hospital responses to CR (Riverview Medical Center – Red Bank, NJ)
- State Medical Error Report Links
Reports from the states with laws requiring public reporting of medical errors.
- State’s request for federal (ARRA) funding of plans to fight hospital acquired infections
Links to state grant submissions from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act stimulus money for hospital-acquired infection plans.
- Health and Human Services Grants for hospital infection prevention at surgical centers
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius designates ARRA money to stand-alone or same-day surgical centers to fight hospital infections in 12 states.
- State Hospital Infection Public Reporting Laws
Summary of state laws hospital infection reporting laws.
Blog Posts
- Old Blood for Halloween
Patients given blood transfusions of blood stored 29 days or longer are twice as likely to get a hospital-acquired infection as those receiving newer blood, according to researchers at Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey.
- MRSA takes its toll on father and son
Following a bike accident, Jimmy Jr. needed knee surgery hoping to be strong enough to play high school football. Instead he acquired MRSA…
- Senate Told to Strengthen Drug Safety Bill
The U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee held a hearing yesterday on an important bill to reform the FDA. For the most part, everybody asked the panel to make the bill stronger, according to a story in the Washington Post. Everybody that is, except the drug industry.
- Drugmakers feel heat on DTC ads
At a conference yesterday in New Jersey of pharmaceutical marketing specialists, drugmakers and their ad agencies were warned that drug ads to consumers need to be more truthful and transparent.
News Articles
- N.J. hospitals credit Obamacare for drop in infections
Source: The Inquirer (Thursday May 2, 2013)
“New Jersey hospitals are celebrating major drops last year in hospital infections and other preventable problems, crediting a federally funded initiative that’s part of the Affordable Care Act.”
- J&J;’s first vaginal mesh trial revs up this week
Source: Fierce Medical Devices (Monday January 7, 2013)
Fierce Medical Devices reports: “For Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), jury selection is scheduled to begin Jan. 7 for one of 1,800 lawsuits in New Jersey state court accusing the company of selling unsafe vaginal mesh implants without warning patients of the dangers.”
- DHSS Ambulatory Surgery Center Inspection Reports Now Available Online
Source: NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (Wednesday February 1, 2012)
Consumers can search the DHSS website at www.nj.gov/health/healthfacilities/asc_info.shtml for a specific facility or facilities within a region of the state and review and compare inspection reports for the past three years. They can also view corrective action plans—where appropriate—that surgery centers have filed with the Department to rectify any deficiencies found during inspections.
- N.J. bill targets unlicensed surgery centers
Source: NorthJersey.com (Thursday May 26, 2011)
“Half of the 91 licensed and unlicensed surgery centers randomly inspected by the state in 2009 and 2010 did not meet federal health standards, healthcare experts testified Thursday. More than one quarter were cited for ‘immediate jeopardy’ violations that caused or can cause serious injury to patients, according to an analysis of inspection reports by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute.”
- Board Disciplines 3 Doctors
Source: New York Times (Tuesday May 3, 2011)
The Board of Medical Examiners in New Jersey, which is responsible for licensing doctors practicing in the state, said on Tuesday that it had disciplined three orthopedic surgeons because they did not disclose their personal financial interests in the success of an artificial spinal disk they were studying in clinical trials that were used by federal regulators to approve the disk.
- New Jersey board keeps doctor’s fraud, alleged terrorist ties, drug-ring charges hidden
Source: Reporting on Health (Monday January 31, 2011)
“New Jersey Deputy Attorney General said recently, of a doctor accused of selling painkillers to patients he had never examined, that he ‘is no different than a street-corner drug dealer. He sold drugs to people for money. The only difference is that he did so under cover of his medical practice.’”
- F.D.A. Says It Approved Device in Error After Official Pressure
Source: New York Times (Thursday October 14, 2010)
The Food and Drug Administration vowed Thursday to reverse the approval of a patch for injured knees that it granted in 2008 after being pressured by four New Jersey congressmen and its own commissioner. Read the FDA’s report here.
- Hospital infections: Are the germs winning?
Source: Asbury Park Press (Sunday May 9, 2010)
“While there are no figures available for New Jersey, if the numbers were extrapolated on the basis of its population of 8.7 million, infections would have caused the death of about 2,800 patients in the state’s hospitals last year. Another 50,000 patients would have contracted infections, again extrapolating from the estimated 1.7 million hospital-acquired infections nationally.”
- Patient Safety Report Shows Medical Errors Continuing in NJ Hospitals
Source: Atlantic Hightland Herarld (Thursday April 1, 2010)
AARP: Older Adults Still the Most Affected by Dangerous Medical Errors
- Jersey City Hospital Bans Neckties to Reduce Spread of Flu
Source: My Fox New York (Tuesday November 24, 2009)
The policy was approved by the hospital’s Infection Control Committee, based on research studies that show that multi drug resistant organisms and other harmful bacteria remain on clothing, such as neckties.
Research and Reports
- New Jersey Health Care ProfileHow to get information on NJ medical doctors, podiatrists and optometrists.
- NJ Ambulatory Surgery Centers: Quality and Safety InformationNew Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services information on the issues surrounding quality in ambulatory surgery centers. Info on how to file a complaint about an ambulatory surgical center and how to get a copy of individual inspection reports.