Becoming one of the few states to launch an electronic health system, Rhode Island is starting a voluntary Health Information Exchange (HIE), reports The Providence Journal. The HIE, which is being run by the Rhode Island Quality Institute, will allow patients to decide if they want their own health information electronically shared among state laboratories, pharmacies, doctor’s offices, and hospitals. Those in favor of the HIE say that participation will allow for better overall patient care, since physicians will have all available information concerning a patient at hand. Patients will be able to choose through three privacy levels, allowing different healthcare providers access to their records. However, opponents say that because participants cannot choose what information goes into their records, providers who have no need to see certain medical information, for example the result of a test for sexually transmitted diseases, will have access. To read the article, click here.

One in five visits to the emergency room that deal with medications result from adverse reactions to antibiotics, reports the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Most of those visits concerned allergic reactions to antibiotics, more specifically. The study examined data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project as well as the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Researchers say that reducing the number of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions would lower the number of these ER type of visits, and ultimately patient harm related to antibiotics. To read more, click here.

Doctors are more likely to admit errors that are obvious than those that are less obvious, reports The Wall Street Journal Health Blog. A new study from the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine says that although the culture surrounding this topic is changing and moving more toward full transparency, most physicians would admit an error when that error is more obvious to the patient and his or her family. The study asked about 200 physicians whether they would tell a patient’s family about an insulin overdose, and then about an overlooked lab test. 75% of doctors (specifically pediatricians) said they would inform the patient’s family about the insulin overdose, while 33% said they would definitely report an overlooked lab test. However, most doctors also thought that an insulin overdose would be more serious than an overlooked lab test. To read more, click here.

Although Massachusetts has required its residents to have health insurance since passing a 2006 law, the state's emergency rooms (ER) are still overcrowded, says The Boston Globe. Newly insured patients are not seeing primary care physicians (PCP) for routine medical care, and instead are continuing to use ERs for non-urgent health matters. Those patients who have received state subsidized insurance use the ERs for this type of care 14% more often than other residents, and residents with the lowest income who use state subsidized insurance are using ERs 27% more often than other residents, says the article. Many hospital leaders say this problem still exists because there are not enough PCPs to handle the increased number of patients. The Division of Health Care Finance and Policy estimates that in 2005, the total cost of non-urgent care given in the ER tops $1 billion, with each visit costing about $976. Comparatively, a visit to a PCP costs between $84 and $164, says the article. To read the article, click here.