�鶹Ů��

Virginians can now check the patient safety record of their local hospitals online in an easy to read format. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, a health system advocacy group, introduced its Quality and Patient Safety Scorecard on its website www.vhha.com this week. Each scorecard provides information about health care-associated infections, patient safety, hospital readmission rates, mortality data, patient satisfaction, and the efficiency of Medicare spending per beneficiary from 2010 through 2014. (Salasky, 10/20)

CalPERS has shed 18,000 people from its employer-provided medical insurance rolls, fund officials said Monday, after a rigorous two-year review that looked for ineligible dependents who received coverage even though they didn’t qualify. The system figures state and local governments and school districts with health insurance plans administered by CalPERS have saved a combined $122 million annually in lower premiums and avoided medical costs since the inception of the review in 2013, including savings from 6,700 ineligible people voluntarily removed by members. (Ortiz, 10/20)

CalPERS is about to implement a new investment policy that will reduce risks and future profitability. But the giant pension fund is being urged by Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, and some of CalPERS’ own board members, to dial back those risks more quickly. A schism over the CalPERS plan arose at a meeting Tuesday of the fund’s finance and administration committee. Committee member Bill Slaton, a Brown appointee, urged CalPERS to move more aggressively to reduce the fund’s “discount rate,” a target for investment profits. Other committee members, however, said they prefer the more gradual proposal that’s on the table. (Kasler, 10/20)

In West Virginia, the number of heroin overdoses has increased almost five-fold since 2010. So today, President Obama will visit the state to host a community discussion about what's needed to help prevent and stop drug addiction across the U.S. (Todd, 10/21)

A medical marijuana dispensary in California won relief Monday from a Justice Department crackdown thanks to a policy rider included in a federal spending bill in September 2014. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer found that Section 538 of the 2015 appropriations bill (PL 113-235) means exactly what it says. The measure includes a provision that prevents the Justice Department from spending money to enforce any law that interferes with state marijuana laws. (Ruger, 10/20)

A pilot project in the Ann Arbor area is providing in-home care from paramedics to people without life-threatening symptoms. The program that began in August is meant to save such patients a hospital trip by sending community paramedics in response to 911 calls when appropriate, The Ann Arbor news reports. (10/20)

On Monday, Sonoma County officials released results of a first-of-its-kind survey of farmworkers in the county. It found that most workers in the county weren't really migrants, that most of the workers live in the area and many have established families here. And according to survey results, about 23% of farmworker children who are eligible for health care coverage still remain uninsured. (Gorn, 10/20)

As many as 4,000 people are expected to receive free medical, dental and vision care at a giant health clinic offered Thursday through Sunday in KeyArena at the Seattle Center. Between 750 and 1,000 health-care providers — doctors, dentists, ophthalmologists and others — are set to volunteer with more than $2.5 million in health services to people without regular care, said Deborah Daoust, director of communications for Seattle Center. (Aleccia, 10/20)

Christiana Care Health System has been on a campaign, vaccinating nearly all of its 11,100 employees against the flu. By the end of this month, it should easily top the 77% vaccination mark set last year among the nation's healthcare workforce. Employee-vaccination rates for the two-hospital, Wilmington, Del.-based system have been around 93%, exceeding national records for the last four flu seasons. Officials are proud that they've accomplished this without making flu vaccination mandatory, as many healthcare systems have. But, it acknowledged that peer pressure is involved. (Robeznieks, 10/20)

An unusual number of rare cancers has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention taking a close look at a community outside St. Louis, Missouri. "You'll never forget the moment they tell you, 'We found lesions on your lung and your liver,'" said Mary Osckso, who has stage 4 lung cancer. CBS News met with Osckso and six of her neighbors, all of whom lived in the same north St. Louis suburbs. Every one of these people either has cancer, or lost a parent or child to it. (Nair, 10/20)

More than two dozen lawsuits related to a laparoscopic device used to break up fibroid tissue in women’s bodies have been consolidated in federal court in Kansas City, Kan. The device, known as a power morcellator, was the subject of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning in November 2014. The agency said it posed a risk of spreading unsuspected cancerous tissue, notably uterine sarcomas, beyond the uterus and shouldn’t be used on most women. (Margolies, 10/20)

Health company Concerted Care Group, known for its heroin addiction treatment programs, said it plans to invest $8.6 million to open two new Baltimore area medical centers next year. Concerted Care Group wants to increase access to mental health counseling and primary care with a focus on people suffering from addiction to heroin, opiates and other drugs. (McDaniels, 10/20)