In the news July 17, 2008

US Healthcare Quality not feeling so good.
The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System found that The United States fails on most measures of health care quality.The United States fell far short of benchmarks for access, quality, efficiency, and other key measures of health system performance.

Americans are waiting longer to see doctors and are more likely to die of preventable or treatable illnesses than people in other industrialized countries, according to the repor.

Americans squander money on wasteful administrative costs, illnesses caused by medical error and inefficient use of time, the report from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund concluded.

One key measure is prevention of premature deaths from easily treated conditions such as asthma and heart attacks.The United States fell from 15th to last among 19 industrialized nations on this measure from 2006 to 2008. The report estimated the U.S. health care system could save 100,000 lives if it matched Japan or France, the top performers.

Infant mortality remains high in the United States, with a rate of 7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to 2.8 per 1,000 in Japan and 3.1 in Sweden.



Efficiency received a score of 53 "in part because of widespread delivery of inappropriate and wasteful care throughout the United States, including potentially avoidable hospital admissions, minimal use of information technology, and high insurance administrative costs," the report added.

The United States spent 7.5 percent of national health expenditures on insurance administration in 2005, compared to 6.9 percent in France, the next highest spending nation, 2.3 percent in Japan and 1.9 percent in Finland.

While 98 percent of doctors in the Netherlands and 89 percent in Britain use electronic medical records, only 28 percent do in the United States.


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Low Carb Diets Win

A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest studies to compare the dueling weight-loss techniques.
The low-carb diet improved cholesterol more than the other two. l.

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Emmy Award Nominations

The nominations for the 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced.

• Best drama are "Boston Legal," "Damages," "Dexter," "House," "Lost" and "Mad Men."

• Best comedy are "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Entourage," "The Office," "30 Rock" and "Two and a Half Men."

• Best actor in a drama are Gabriel Byrne ("In Treatment"), Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"), Michael C. Hall ("Dexter"), Jon Hamm ("Mad Men"), Hugh Laurie ("House") and James Spader ("Boston Legal").

• Best actress in a drama are Glenn Close ("Damages"), Sally Field ("Brothers and Sisters"), Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"), Holly Hunter ("Saving Grace") and Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer").

• Best actor in a comedy are Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock"), Steve Carell ("The Office"), Lee Pace ("Pushing Daisies"), Tony Shalhoub ("Monk") and Charlie Sheen ("Two and a Half Men").

• Best actress in a comedy are Christina Applegate ("Samantha Who?"), America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty"), Tina Fey ("30 Rock"), Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("The New Adventures of Old Christine") and Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds").
  

The Emmy Awards ceremony will be held September 21 and broadcast on ABC.
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SJP's Mole has been removed.

E! Online Photo: Sarah Jessica Parker's Celebrity Mole(E! Online)

E! News can confirm that Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker has parted ways with her signature mole.

"Yes, she's had it removed," said a source close to the actress today.

While reasons for the removal are unclear, we're told the procedure was "no big deal."
Yes, it was her signature to many of us.