Results tagged “heartfailure”

With health care reform looming, everyone's worried about how to cut costs. When everyone's insured, won't premiums go through the roof? One way to fight freaky fees is to keep patients out of the hospital once they've been in. The Berkshire Medical Center is trying exactly this in a program designed to cut down on hospital patient recidivism. Among the tips and tricks used are encouraging heart patients to avoid hot dogs, which are so full of sodium that they can promote fluid retention and trigger heart trouble. Staying frank-free is harder than you might think, though, especially around Independence Day: this July 4, one Berkshire Medical patient chowed down on a dog; she was back in the Center the next day.