Mouthwash Recall

Hydrox Labs issued a voluntary recall of Cardinal Health labeled alcohol-free mouthwash because the product was found to contain the bacteria Burkholderia cepacia (B. cepacia). This bacteria is not a danger to healthy people but people with compromised immune systems and with lung problems are at increased danger of infection. The affected product lot number is 26230.

More information is available here.

Hospital Satisfaction

Government launches a $1.9 Million nationwide hospital quality campaign.

If you subscribe to a newspaper, you may start seeing full-page ads disclosing area hospital satisfaction ratings.  The ads, which are running in 58 newspapers in 49 states, draw their data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospital Compare website (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov). The patient satisfaction data used in the campaign was released voluntarily by the hospitals listed.

The Hospitalcompare web site is easy to navigate and gives a good idea about what your neighbors think  about the service they received and how much various medical procedures cost.

Cancer Drug Research

An article this week in BusinessWeek Magazine examined the process of cancer drug development and approval in the U.S. It asks whether Americans are getting a raw deal because of alleged foot dragging by the FDA.  Read the  BusinessWeek article here.