Finally, Some Good News About Whooping Cough

Here's what we're checking out today at ReportingonHealth. Certified April Fool's Day-free!

Pertussis: Finally, some good news about the nation's whooping cough cases: they appear to be leveling off, at least in San Diego and in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The Los Angeles Times' Amina Khan examines why this highly infectious disease keeps coming back in waves, separated by decades.

Patient Safety: Why on earth was an Orange County, Calif. hospital named as one of the nation's "top 100 hospitals" when it's being investigated by federal and state authorities for an unusually high rate of blood infections? Courtney Perkes of the Orange County Register investigates.

Health Access: Remote Area Medical, which provides free health care in the world's poorest regions, is bringing its mass clinic to the Sacramento area this weekend, Cathy Locke reports for the Sacramento Bee. 60 Minutes producer Henry Schuster talks here about documenting the organization's work in Tennessee and linking the tremendous need he saw there to the health reform debate.  

Dialysis: A law requiring the federal government to pay for nearly free care for most people with kidney failure requiring dialysis has had unintended consequences, Gina Kolata reports for the New York Times. It's keeping elderly patients alive long enough for other diseases to kill them.

Transparency: Major journalism association presidents Charles Ornstein and Hagit Limor take President Obama to task for restricting reporters' access to information from federal officials and agencies, including the FDA. "The Obama administration is releasing fewer records under the Freedom of Information Act than the Bush administration did," they write.

Photo credit: Lisa Williams via Flickr