Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and Web.

Iowa News:

Spellman service award goes to Michalak
The Mercy Medical Center Foundation announced last week that Dr. John C. “Jack” Michalak is the recipient of the Dr. George S. Spellman Annual Service Award. The award will be presented during the foundation’s annual gala Nov. 6 at the Marina Inn and Conference Center in South Sioux City. (Sioux City Journal)

Sioux Center Hospital donates food to volunteers
Besides elbow grease, there are other ways people are pitching in. Folks from the Sioux Center Community Hospital bought lunch for all those volunteers today and even helped serve it up. (KTIV)

Cancer treatment at Trinity to expand
Trinity Regional Medical Center got the green light Wednesday to acquire the equipment necessary to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients. (Fort Dodge Messenger)

U.S. News

Administration sees $8B Medicare savings in 2011
The new health overhaul law is starting to produce savings for Medicare and will eventually add more than a decade of solvency to the program’s trust fund, the Obama administration said in an upbeat report released Monday. (KWWL via Associated Press)

Paramedics Will Employ New Therapy in Cardiac Arrest Cases
Paramedics in New York City are being trained in a relatively new cooling therapy that has been shown to increase the chances for cardiac arrest patients to survive and to avoid brain damage, city officials said on Monday. (New York Times)

Health Blog Q&A: Mayo Clinic’s New Center for Social Media
Mayo Clinic has been taking advantage of social media — including Facebook, Twitter and patient and employee blogs — for several years. (Wall Street Journal Health  Blog)

Mass. health care bill awaits gov’s signature
A Massachusetts health care bill that would force insurers to spend almost 90 percent of their premium revenues on medical care instead of administrative costs awaits Gov. Deval Patrick’s signature.

Insurers and ratings groups post information to help patients choose doctors
For most people, picking a doctor is hardly a scientific process. They ask friends or family members to pass along names of doctors they like and trust, or rely on another doctor’s referral.