Healthcare Matters

Happy Friday, everyone! 

Wash. Your. Hands.

Bird flu pandemic in humans could happen any time

LONDON (Reuters) – The world has yet to see a form of the deadly bird flu virus that could spread easily between people and cause a global outbreak – but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, scientists said on Thursday. After studying 15 years of data on bird flu viruses in the wild, researchers said some strains were already part way along the road to acquiring a handful of mutations needed to change into a form that could cause a devastating human pandemic…

Woah. Watch this.

Pioneering tumour op on baby in the womb

Surgeons have removed a tumour from the mouth of a foetus, in what has been described as a “world first” procedure. After a scan at 17 weeks, mother Tammy Gonzalez said she “could see a bubble” coming out of her baby’s mouth. Doctors said it was a very rare tumour called an oral teratoma and there was little chance her daughter would survive. After the pioneering operation, baby Leyna was born five months later…

New jobs

Healthcare to create 5.6 million new jobs by 2020, report says

The healthcare industry will spawn 5.6 million new jobs by 2020 – most of them high-paying – but most unemployed Americans won’t have the expensive schooling necessary to land them. Demand for healthcare is soaring in the U.S., double the rate of the national economy over the next eight years, according to a new report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and Workforce. Americans pay more per capita for healthcare than the average Chinese citizen earns in an entire year; the industry makes up 18% of the U.S. economy, according to the report…

Spend Matters

Spend Matters PRO: A Video Introduction

You’ve heard about Spend Matters PRO a lot lately, and we imagine you may have some questions: What is it? What does it feature? Am I a practitioner or provider? How much does it cost? What do I get? What are the benefits? So we decided to make a quick video…

Spend Matters UK/Europe

Civil Service Reform Plan and an extraordinary statement about procurement

The Civil Service Reform Plan was published this week by the UK Government. Promoted by the Minster for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, and Bob Kerslake, Head of the Civil Service, it is somewhat jargon ridden but contains a mixture of good sense, hopeful exhortation and the odd bit of nonsense.