Monthly Archive for December 2006
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December 27, 2006
Insurance Doesn't Cure Health-Care Disparities
HealthDay is reporting on an upcoming article in the journal Cancer that looked at outcomes in patients with insurance and diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
They found that even with insurance not all disparites in outcomes were eliminated.
The KaiserNetwork carries a comment by study author Chyke Doubeni, "Racism and discrimination is still at play. Most of this occurs at an unconscious level. But there are preconceived ideas and prejudices about patients."
The HealthDay article is a worthwhile read and more information about health disparites and cancer can be found here.
Postscript - videos of the Disparities in Health Symposium can now be viewed in the education section of this website. Here is the link.
Posted by: Staff on December 27, 2006
Category: Health Disparities; Health Inequities
December 14, 2006
The Use and Misuse of Genetic Research in Health Disparities
Richard S. Cooper MD presenting at the Center for Reducing Health Disparities Research Festival. The symposium was held Septembr 2006.
Video also available at Viddler.com.
Posted by: Staff on December 14, 2006
Category: Audio / Video; Genetic Research; Health Inequities
Health Disparities and Hypertension.
John M. Flack, MD, MPH presenting at the Center for Reducing Health Disparities Research Festival. The symposium was held Septembr 2006.
Video also available at Viddler.com.
Posted by: Staff on December 14, 2006
Category: Audio / Video; Heath Inequities; hypertension
Public Policy Approaches To Health Inequities
Dennis Raphael, PhD. presenting at the Center for Reducing Health Disparities Research Festival. The symposium was held Septembr 2006. Introduction by Center Director Ashwini R. Sehgal, MD.
Posted by: Staff on December 14, 2006
Category: Audio / Video; Health Inequities
December 12, 2006
Milwaukee Hospital Stops Accepting the Poor
From the Journal Sentinel Online:
For most procedures and tests, the flagship hospital of Aurora Health Care now refers people in the Medicaid and BadgerCare programs to two other hospitals within its system: Aurora Sinai Medical Center and West Allis Memorial Hospital.
What makes this disturbing is the hospital's tax exempt status:
Aurora Health Care is a tax-exempt health care system that by law must be run for the public benefit.
The hospital maintains that the poor are receiving care but it makes no mention of transportation issues.
"The patients who need the care are getting it," said Michael Brophy, a spokesman for Aurora St. Luke's. "And that should be the bottom line."
In fact, other hospitals are now receiving new patients.
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Francis, less than one mile away from Aurora St. Luke's, already has seen an increase in the number of Medicaid patients its treats.
And the effect of all this?
The new policy effectively means that someone who lives near Aurora St. Luke's can go to the hospital for an MRI if the person is in a commercial health plan, but not if he or she is in a Medicaid health plan.Those people instead will be sent to Aurora Sinai or West Allis Memorial, each about four miles away.
"It is part of segregating people into the haves and have-nots in health care," said Bobby Peterson, a lawyer and executive director of ABC for Health, a statewide public interest law firm in Madison.
He recognizes that health plans often put limitations on people's choices. But he characterizes Aurora St. Luke's move as a slippery slope.
"It's saying, 'If you are Medicaid, no thank you. If you are commercial, the door's open,'" Peterson said. "It's troubling news."
Posted by: Staff on December 12, 2006
Category: Access to Health Care; Health Care; Health Disparities; Health Inequities