The state Department of Health has taken the unusual step of warning anyone who has had sexual contact with a convicted sex offender from Long Island to get tested for HIV and other diseases. “Robert Musmacker”:http://www.health.state.ny.us/press/releases/2009/2009-01-28_possible_exposure_to_stds.htm, 36, of Nassau County, was arrested last month when police found him with a 16-year-old boy.

A Suffolk County grand jury has indicted him on charges of reckless endangerment and related crimes for sexual conduct involving a minor, and he was ordered held on $1 million bond.

He was previously convicted of molesting a six-year-old.

Musmacker is HIV-positive. Health officials warn that anyone who had sexual contact with him or with a person who had contact with him should get tested for HIV and other diseases, including Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.

For information on HIV testing and locations of clinics, call the statewide HIV testing hotline at 1-800-541-2437.

Free testing for HIV is available on an anonymous or confidential basis.

An HIV test is the only way to find out if a person has HIV. People infected with HIV may have no symptoms for 10 or more years and may not know they are infected.

The Georgia peanut company that produced peanut paste implicated in making 500 people nationwide sick with salmonella poisoning apparently knew that its product was contaminated but sent it out anyway, according to a federal inspection report.

Peanut butter made by Peanut Corporation of America had tested positive for salmonella in June, August and September. The company continued to use the product after other tests were negative.

Peanut Corp. was also cited for dirty conditions, including mold growing on the ceiling and wall near where finished product was stored.

Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specialized in food safety, posted the “inspection report”:http://www.marlerblog.com/uploads/file/Blakely%20GA%20Form%20483.pdf on his Web site today.

Marler represented the family of an Orangeburg girl who nearly died in 2002 after contracting E. coli poisoning from a hamburger made of chopped meat purchased at BJ’s Wholesale Club in West Nyack.

The Rockland family reached an $11 million settlement with BJs.

The “Food and Drug Administration”:http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm has a database of foods that might contain peanut butter or peanut paste that has been linked to an outbreak of salmonella.

The agency updates the list daily as the number of companies found to have used peanut products made by Peanut Corp. of America increases to 1,000.
Nearly 500 people nationwide, including  17 in New York, have been sickened in the outbreak. Eight deaths have been reported that appeared to be associated with the outbreak

The hospitals in the Hudson Valley are suffering a doctor shortage that threatens to get worse, according to a new report by the state’s leading hospital association.

“Access to Care in Crisis: Physicians in Short Supply” details the struggles health-care facilities face in hiring and keeping physicians and the loss of services available to communities because of the problem. The report is based on a survey of 120 hospitals and health systems in New York state. The complete report is available on the Hospital Association of New York’s Web site.

Here are some of the highlights:

• There’s a need for about 148 doctors in the seven counties north of New York City.

• More than half — 57 percent — of northern metropolitan hospitals reported times when emergency departments lacked coverage for particular specialties, forcing patients to travel further to receive emergency care.

• To cope with shortages, the northern metropolitan hospitals had to employ temporary staff to cover needed services.

• Hospitals upstate are having a difficult time recruiting candidates because of geographic locations, lack of candidates, inability kto provide a competitive salary and practice demands.

First it was trans fats, then calorie counts on menus, followed by a proposed tax on sugary soda.

Salt is now the next target of agencies seeking to make the food we eat more healthful.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city “Department of Health”:http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/home/home.shtml are trying to get restaurants and food processors to cut the salt in food they make or serve.

The city has formed a coalition to work with the food industry to come up with a “voluntary framework” to cut salt.

Could such a move be next in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam?

Lots of organizations and agencies are rating hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. “Health Grades”:http://www.healthgrades.com/ has just released its top hospital list for 2008-2009 and is making that information available free on its Web site.

Unfortunately for New Yorkers, no hospital in the state made the top 50 list. The closest to the Lower Hudson Valley was Hackensack Medical Center in Bergen County, N.J.

The listing gives stars for quality of care for conditions ranging from appendectomy to valve replacement surgery and lots of things in between.

In the rankings, both of Rockland’s hospital, Nyack and Good Samaritan, earn five-stars for maternity care. In Westchester, the top maternity ranking went to St. John’s Riverside in Yonkers, Yonkers Hospital, White Plains Hospital and Sound Shore in New Rochelle.  Westchester Medical Center got the lowest ranking for maternity care.

Take a look through the report and you might find some interesting information. Or not. I recently attended a seminar about health rankings, where one speaker summed the various reports up like this: Garbage in, garbage out.

So take this information with a grain of salt.

Rockland hospitals are, inexplicably, listed in the Monticello-Newburgh area. Westchester hospitals have their own heading and Putnam Hospital is listed in the Dutchess and Putnam County area.

The hospital rankings from Health Grades are free if you click where it says Research Hospital, but there is a charge for information on doctors. Much of the same physician information can be obtained free of charge from the “New York State Department of Health”:http://www.nydoctorprofile.com/ physician profile.

Like most other industries, hospitals and health-care facilities are launching themselves into the digital age.

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and insurance companies are beginning to use electronic medical records to track patient symptoms, prescriptions and treatments. But all of this comes at an huge initial cost to buy, maintain and upgrade.

According to Congresswoman Nita Lowey, the federal economic stimulus package expected to be discussed this week includes $20 billion for health information technology. State may get $2 billion in grants to distribute to health facilities for upfront costs like equipment and training. Another $18 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid incentives for entities that already implement information technology measures.

“Strengthening our health-care system to cut costs to government and patients is critical to financial security for our families and out overall economy. I will fight to ensure these funds are enacted as part of the final economic recovery package,” Lowey said today at a demonstration of a health technology program at White Plains Hospital Center.

I went to a seminar for health bloggers the other day sponsored by Consumer Reports called  A Healthier Web – Blogging, Rating and Building Community.

The Consumer Reports people said that the idea behind the seminar was to “encourage an interactive discussion about consumer-driven health care and specifically how health bloggers have transformed health communication.”

We attended two panel discussion:

The first one looked at the role of health bloggers from the role of a reporter, a mom, an advocate and a neurologist.
The panelists were:

Scott Hensley, Editor, Wall Street Journal Health Blog
Jessica Gottlieb, Mommy Blogger, LAMomsBlogs.com
Amy Tenderich, Blogger, Diabetes Mine
Dr. Orly Avitzur, Neurologist and Consumer Reports Medical Adviser.

The discussion was moderated by former LoHud editor Gayle Williams, now deputy health editor at Consumer Reports.

The second panel talked about the controversial issue of rating doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers.

Panelists included

Dr. John Santa, Director, Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center
Avery Comarow, Editor, U.S. News & World Report: America’s Best Hospitals
Kathy Ciccone, Vice President for Quality and Research Initiatives, Healthcare Association of New York State.

Long and spirited discussion led to the following conclusions:

1. Doctor and hospital rating are vital and anyone who doesn’t get on board now is going to suffer the consequences.

2. Doctor and hospital rating are worthless, or in the words of one participant: Garbage in, garbage out.

The most useful tidbit came from Avery Comarow, editor, U.S. News & World Report: America’s Best Hospitals.

His advice on how to find a good doctor?

“Ask a nurse.”

Are your peanut butter crackers safe to eat? Here’s an easy way to find out if foods you have containing peanut butter are on the  list of foods being recalled because they might be contaminated.

The “Food and Drug Administration”:http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm has a database of foods that might contain peanut butter or peanut paste that has been linked to an outbreak of salmonella.

Nearly 500 people nationwide, including  17 in New york, have been sickened in the outbreak.

The Rockland Department of Health’s Matter of Balance program has a new schedule of classes.  Matter of Balance is a fall-prevention program for older residents.

Classes meet for eight, two-hour sessions:

Dates: February 2, 9, 16, 23, March 2, 9, 16, 23
Time: Mondays, from10 a.m. to noon
Place: Thorpe Village, Rte 340, Sparkill.

Dates: March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, April 13, 20, 27
Time: Mondays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Place: Spring Valley Campus of RCC, 185 N. Main Street, Spring Valley.

Dates: April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27, June 3, 10
Time: Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon
Place: JCC, 450 West Nyack Rd, West Nyack.

Dates: April 16, 21, 23, 28, 30, May 5, 7, 12
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m.,  to 3 p.m.
Place: New City Library, 200 N. Main Street, New City.

Dates: May 6, 13, 20 27, June 3, 10, 17, 24
Time: Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Place: King’s Daughter’s Public Library, 10 W. Ramapo Rd, Garnerville.

Advanced registration is required. For more information or to register, contact the Department of Health at 845-364-2501.

A coalition of Westchester health care and social service agencies will hold a health screening event for men tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Bally Total Fitness, 260 Boston Post Road in Port Chester.

The Pump Up/Check Up men’s wellness event is free and open to the public. Diabetes screenings, blood pressure checks, HIV testing and body mass indexing will be provided. Nutrition consultants and fitness trainers will also be on hand.

The event will feature raffles and prizes and free gas cards for participants, all provided by Project Wave. Refreshments will be served. “It’s important for everyone to know his or her HIV status and I encourage everyone to get tested,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Lipsman.

Westchester County has the most people living with HIV or AIDS in New York State, and the CDC estimates that one in five people who have HIV do not know they do. The Pump Up/Check Up is sponsored by the Westchester County Department of Health, along with the MSM Coalition of Westchester, AIDS-Related Community Services, the Hudson River community Health, The Loft, Westchester Medical Center and Bally Total Fitness in Port Chester.