- California: The vaccination rate among kindergartners has increased since the state last year passed a new law "that made it significantly tougher for parents to exempt schoolchildren from shots," Los Angeles Times "L.A. Now" reports. For instance, new state data show the overall measles vaccination rate for such children rose from 92.8 percent last school year to 95.6 percent this fall. Whooping cough vaccinations rose by a similar percentage (Karlamangla/Lin, "L.A. Now," Los Angeles Times, 4/13).
- Florida: Rob Fulbright, CEO of the East Florida region of Florida Hospital, experienced a "sudden cardiac event" on Tuesday and passed away at age 47. Over a nearly 20-year career with the healthy system, Fulbright held several leadership and administrative positions. Daryl Tol, CEO of Florida Hospital and the Central Florida division of Adventist Health System, Florida Hospital's parent company, in an email to employees wrote that Fulbright's "infectious smile and warm personality will be profoundly missed by the countless lives he touched" (Rege, Becker's Hospital Review, 4/12).
- Michigan: The state on Tuesday launched its Michigan Automated Prescription System. The system will help controlled substance providers more accurately track prescriptions to combat rising overdose deaths. Only about 30 percent of doctors used the state's previous prescription drug monitoring system, but state officials hope the new system's streamlined use of data and improved processing speed will prompt more doctors to participate (Greene, Crain's Detroit Business/Modern Healthcare, 4/12).
How to achieve universal employee flu vaccination
In just a few years, Einstein Healthcare Network's employee flu vaccination rate skyrocketed from 30 percent to consistently greater than 97 percent. Learn how they did it.