Himmelfarb Library will modify its hours over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as listed below:
Himmelfarb Library is currently offering trial access to two point-of-care information tools to the GWUMC community. Each of these tools, DynaMed and Epocrates Online Premium, has a mobile (PDA/Smartphone) component which faculty, residents, and students can test and assess in addition to the desktop access.
As with the desktop versions of DynaMed and Epocrates Online Premium, Himmelfarb Library invites you begin using the mobile counterparts in clinical care and let us know how well they work for you. We are particularly interested in hearing your feedback on content, evidence, and interface.
Please submit your feedback to Laura Abate at mlblea@gwumc.edu or 202-994-8570.
PubMed's interface has been redesigned and the new interface has been released. You can access the 'new' PubMed via Himmelfarb Library's link which also incorporates links to Himmelfarb Library's full-text holdings and Himmelfarb's custom clinical/EBM limits to help users assess their search results.
PubMed's redesigned interface is geared toward simplicity and was retooled with the goal of making PubMed easier to use. While PubMed's search algorithms and search processing, including MeSH term mapping, remain unchanged, the search interface and screens are quite different. Some highlights of PubMed's redesign include:
To coincide with the debut of PubMed's redesigned interface, Himmelfarb Library has integrated several new limits into PubMed to help you identify high-quality clinical information. These limits will display in the upper-right of the search results screen. The goal of these limits is to reduce your search time for high-quality evidence in order to allow you to maximize your time for reading and analyzing the available information. The new limits are:
Additional resources:
Health Care Fraud, a new analysis published by The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, Department of Health Policy, in collaboration with the National Academy for State Health Policy, finds that health care fraud poses a major challenge in both the private and public insurance sectors and recommends policies aimed at assuring uniform and transparent measurement and reporting of fraud across all forms of coverage.
"A critical problem under current policy is the absence of ongoing and reliable fraud estimates similar to those available in the case of public health insurers," said lead author Sara Rosenbaum, Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy and Chair of the Department. "As a result, it is difficult to fashion consistent policies to address fraud, a critical component of health reform."
The report also finds that fraud information related to public programs is frequently confused with payment error data. "While payment errors represent a major area for program improvement," Rosenbaum notes, "it is essential to separate such errors from actual instances of fraud, since the two problems call for distinct corrective strategies."
This report is issued as Congress considers steps to strengthen the tools and resources available to law enforcement to investigate and prosecute fraud, and as states focus increased attention on this problem.
In reviewing extensive data on health care fraud, the analysis points to evidence that fraud can emanate from the insurance industry itself. This finding is underscored by recent court decisions as well as by New York State's recent prosecution of multiple insurers for fraud in connection with provider claims payments as part of their administration of private insurance products and employee health benefit plans.
This report was funded with a Grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Resources
Himmelfarb Library is pleased to offer you the opportunity to survey a trial of Journal Watch. Journal Watch reviews over 180 scientific and medical journals to present important clinical research findings and insightful commentary.
The following specialties are available as a part of this trial: Aids Clinical Care; Cardiology; Dermatology; Emergency Medicine; Gastroenterology; Infectious Diseases; Neurology; Oncology and Hematology; Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine; Psychiatry; and Women's Health. Journal Watch has also made available an Audio Service, which features Expert Interviews; Clinical Conversations; and the specialty of General Medicine.
You can access Journal Watch content through the Himmelfarb Library Electronic Journals webpage. The trial period runs from now through November 31, 2009. If you have questions or comments, please contact Serials Librarian Steven Brown at mlbswb@gwumc.edu.
On Thursday November 12th, a representative from Student Technology Services will be in Himmelfarb Library from 3-5:00 pm to resolve your computer issues (laptops, wireless, etc.). Please stop by the Circulation Desk and ask for assistance!
