Today's Globe: hospital accessibility, Genzyme drug rationing, swine flu, alcohol deaths in Russia, patient-centered healthcare

In a landmark agreement, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital are pledging to spend millions of dollars to resolve complaints that ill-suited equipment and sometimes-indifferent medical workers make disabled patients feel unwelcome.

Genzyme Corp. yesterday said supplies of two drugs that treat rare genetic disorders could be rationed for longer than originally thought. The extension is a result of an expanded cleanup effort at the biotechnology company’s Boston manufacturing plant and lower inventory for one of the drugs than initially calculated.

Swine flu has infected as many as 1 million Americans, US health officials said yesterday, adding that 6 percent or more of some urban populations are infected.

Alcohol abuse has devastated Russia, with drinking causing more than half of deaths among Russians aged 15 to 54 in the turbulent era following the Soviet collapse, a team of public health researchers say.

"CVS Caremark’s research shows that one-quarter of original prescriptions for chronic conditions never get filled, and more than half of patients taking a maintenance medication will stop taking it within their first year, likely leading to significant increases in surgeries, unnecessary hospital admissions, and other costly treatments," Thomas M. Ryan, chairman, CEO, and president of CVS Caremark, writes on the opinion page. "By increasing prescription adherence, savings would be substantial, estimated at $177 billion annually."