« December 2007 | | February 2008 »
January 31, 2008
Eliminating the disparity in medical prices
Ohio Health Policy Review posted yesterday about a Plain Dealer story that reports attorney general Marc Dann wants the state's poor and uninsured to pay the same price for medical care as those with insurance.
From the PD:
[Marc Dann] is concerned about uninsured patients paying high prices for medical procedures because they don't get hefty discounts that insurance companies negotiate.
This is part of the ongoing discussion regarding how 'charity care' is defined.
Again from the PD:
Hospitals throughout Ohio and across the nation define and report charity care differently. Dann and the Ohio Hospital Association said they plan to work together to come up with an Ohio standard.
We blogged about this issue before quoting a Reuters story that said uninsured patients pay 2.5 times more than those with health insurance.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 31, 2008
|
Category: Health Care
Forty-somethings more likely to be depressed
A new study out reports that rates of depression are not uniform and that those in their 40's are the most likely to be depressed.
From Reuters:
The British and U.S. researchers found that happiness for people ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe follows a U-shaped curve where life begins cheerful before turning tough during middle age and then returning to the joys of youth in the golden years.
The article continues saying that in 72 countries people follow a pattern where depression builds until age 40 where it peaks and then starts to decline.
But the good news is that if people make it to aged 70 and are still physically fit, they are on average as happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year old.
The study will appear in an upcoming issue of Social Science & Medicine.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 31, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities
January 30, 2008
Elder Abuse: Framing the Issue
The Case Center for Reducing Health Disparities and Cleveland State University's Center for Health Equity are co-sponsoring the next lecture in our Works in Progress series.
"Elder Abuse: Framing the Issue" will be presented by:
Georgia Anetzberger, PhD, ACSW, LISW, Assistant Professor in the Health Care Adminstration Program - Nance College of Business Adminstration - Cleveland State University.
Date: Friday, February 8, 2008
Time: 3-4 pm
Location: Cleveland State University Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs Sweet Seminar Room - UR 241
1717 Euclid Avenue
Parking: 17th Street Parking Garage (Between Chester & Euclid).
Please RSVP your attendance to Kendra Daniel at k.daniel@csuohio.edu or by phone 216-687-4704.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 30, 2008
|
Category: Works in Progress
January 29, 2008
Racial Disparity in Infant Mortality
From the Tallahassee Democrat:
Black babies have been dying at twice the rate of white babies since the Civil War, a speaker said Saturday at a forum on infant death.
And some social scientists say the racial disparity has worsened since the period of slavery, said Dr. Jack Turman, an associate professor from the University of Southern California.
Pre-term delivery, which increased 30 percent from 1980 to 2004, is the leading cause of infant death, Turman said. About 100,000 preemies born annually will suffer long-term problems, he said. This costs the U.S. health-care system at least $26 billion a year.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 29, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities
January 28, 2008
Using the Primary Socialization Theory
"Using the Primary Socialization Theory to Predict Adolescent Substance Use and Sexual Risk Taking Behaviors."
Presented by Shelly A. Francis, MPH, DrPH, CHES on January 11, 2008 as part of our Works in Progress series.
See this page for information on downloading and subscribing to our podcast.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 28, 2008
|
Category: Audio / Video
January 25, 2008
Racial Disparities in Dental Care
From the Boston Globe:
Children from low-income families are less likely to receive treatment than those from higher-income families. The 67-page report, titled "The Oral Health of Massachusetts' Children" also found significant racial disparities in dental disease and treatment.
The report found that more than 1 in 4 children in the state start school with dental disease, including a disproportionate number of children from minority groups. Some 24 percent of Hispanics and 23 percent of black kindergartners had untreated cavities, about twice the rate of whites.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 25, 2008
|
Category: Dental Care; Health Disparities
January 24, 2008
Disparities in Mammogram Use
Reuters is reporting that paying as little as $12 for a mammogram may deter some women from getting the test.
Screening rates from 2001 through 2004 were nearly 11 percent lower for women who had to contribute a co-pay as low as $12, compared to women whose mammograms were free, researchers from Brown and Harvard universities found.
"It would make clinical sense, and probably economic sense, for a health plan to eliminate a co-payment for a mammogram,"[Dr. Amal Trivedi of Brown] said.
The complete study can be found in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 24, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities
January 18, 2008
Longer ER Waits
The major news outlets have been covering a recent study that shows Americans are waiting longer in the emergency room.
The Washington Post reports that in 2006 the Institute of Medicine labeled the countries ER system "overburdened, underfunded and highly fragmented."
In San Diego, ER patients have to wait up to 12 hours in the emergency room.
In 2005 the Boston Globe reported that some ER patients are 'boarded' until a hospital bed becomes available. One patient waited 22 hours before a bed was available.
We even see disparities in the amount of time people wait with blacks and Hispanics waiting seven and nine minutes longer respectively than whites in the ER.
In a blog post, WhiteCoat offers this take:
No emergency physician is going to give someone monthly prescriptions for high blood pressure medications. No ED performs yearly health screenings. “Treat ‘em and street ‘em.” “Move the meat.”
Really what we’re doing is forcing indigent patients to wait until an emergency develops before society believes that it is “OK” to seek emergency care. How much more bass-ackward can we be?
The original study can be found in the journal Health Affairs.
UPDATE- Cleveland's WCPN hosted a show on the topic of emergency services in Cleveland.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 18, 2008
|
Category: Health Care
January 17, 2008
Eliminating Social Injustice
The Daniel Hale Williams Minority Pre-medical Society will host a forum on the topic of Health Disparities.
"I Have A Dream, Eliminating Social Injustice" will be held at Case Western Reserve's Thwing Ballroom on January 22nd from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
This forum is co-sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 17, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities
January 16, 2008
Blacks less willing to volunteer for research
A Johns Hopkins study looked at the volunteer rates of blacks and whites in clinical trials.
From Reuters:
Their study involved 717 patients -- about a third black and the rest white -- at 13 medical clinics in Maryland. They found that blacks were about 40 percent less willing to participate in the mock clinical trial.
Why the disparity? The researchers used a follow-up questionnaire to get at that question.
They found that 58 percent of blacks, compared to just 25 percent of whites, said they believed doctors use drugs to experiment on people without a patient's consent.
In addition, 25 percent of the blacks, compared to 15 percent of whites, expressed the belief their doctor would be willing to ask them to take part in a study even if the study might harm them. And 28 percent of blacks, compared to 22 percent of whites, said their doctors would be willing to expose them to unnecessary risks.
More information at USNews and World Report.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 16, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities
January 14, 2008
Presidential Candidates on Healthcare
Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review is hosting the first Health Wonk Review of 2008.
One of the more interesting links is to Healthcare Economist who provides summaries of the major candidates and their health care reform plans.
Be sure to check out the charts which nicely list the major issues and each candidate's position.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 14, 2008
|
Category: Healthcare
January 11, 2008
Safety Net Hospitals
NYTimes.com reporting on the financial crisis of one safety net hospital in Atlanta:
Like other public hospitals, Grady is operating on a business model that is no longer sustainable. A third of the hospital’s patients, including those treated as outpatients, are uninsured, among them a rapidly growing group of immigrants. Another third are covered by Medicaid, which reimburses at rates well below Grady’s actual costs. Many hospitals use their privately insured patients to subsidize indigent care, but at Grady, only 8 percent of inpatients fit the privately insured category.
This fiscal year’s budget gap is projected to hit $53 million.
Last year, the Plain Dealer reported on the increasing amount of charity care in the Cleveland area:
MetroHealth's charity care jumped 20 percent in 2006 and could rise just as much this year. In December alone, the hospital hit $20 million in charity care for the first time in its history.
University Hospitals' charity care jumped 16 percent last year. Akron General Medical Center's care climbed 8 percent.
Charity care at the Cleveland Clinic rose 17 percent from 2004 to 2005, the most recent figures available. And Summa Health Systems in Akron experienced a 22 percent leap in free care from 2001 to 2006.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 11, 2008
|
Category: Healthcare
January 10, 2008
Disparities in preventable deaths
From Reuters:
France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.
The full study can be found in the journal Health Affairs.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 10, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities; Preventable Deaths
January 09, 2008
The state of healthcare in China
From Reuters:
China embarked on massive economic reforms three decades ago, and has since abandoned a cradle-to-grave welfare system, causing hardships for millions left behind by rapid development.
The costs of seeing a doctor or staying in hospital are out of reach for many in the world's fourth-largest economy and this lack of access combined with corruption has made the issue a source of social unrest.
[Health Minister Chen Zhu] said last week that market forces must not come to dominate China's health service, as they lead only to inequality and cause the vast and poor countryside to be ignored.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 09, 2008
|
Category: China; Healthcare
January 08, 2008
Racial disparities persist in U.S. cancer treatment
From Reuters:
U.S. blacks continue to get inferior cancer treatment compared to whites, researchers said on Monday in a study showing that disparities first documented in the early 1990s persist despite efforts to erase them.
Black patients were consistently less likely than whites to receive the recommended types of treatment, the study found, and the problem was just as bad in 2002 as in 1992.
The full study can be found in the journal Cancer.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 08, 2008
|
Category: Cancer; Cancer Treatment; Health Disparities
January 07, 2008
Primary Socialization Theory
The Case Center for Reducing Health Disparities will hold the next lecture in our Works in Progress series on January 11, 2008 from 3-4pm.
"Using the Primary Socialization Theory to Predict Adolescent Substance Use and Sexual Risk Taking Behaviors" will be presented by Shelly A. Francis, MPH, DrPH, CHES.
Location:
Case Western Reserve University Medical School
2109 Albert Avenue
T503
RSVP to Sharon Lowstetter at slowstetter@metrohealth.org or by phone at 216-778-8484.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 07, 2008
|
Category: Works in Progress
January 04, 2008
Wealthy and insured get more free drug samples
From Reuters:
Insured and wealthy Americans were more likely than the poor to get billions of dollars in free drug samples distributed by pharmaceutical companies to win patient and doctor loyalty, a study released on Wednesday showed.
The pharmaceutical industry contends that the samples help the uninsured and people with low incomes, but the study of prescription use by nearly 33,000 U.S. residents during 2003 found that the neediest were least likely to get samples.
The study is available at the American Journal of Public Health.
A trade group that represents drugmakers argues the study is not representative because those who are poor and uninsured do not get care from doctor's offices.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 04, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities; Healthcare
January 03, 2008
Obesity and Kidney Transplants
NYTimes.com reporting on a new study that appears in The Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
After controlling for sex, ethnicity, insurance status and other variables, they found that compared with those of normal weight, the obese people were 8 percent less likely to receive a transplant, the severely obese 28 percent less likely and the morbidly obese — those with a B.M.I. over 40 — 44 percent less likely.
The article goes on to say that while obese transplant patients have more complications and worse outcomes the official policy is to assign kidneys based on the length of time spent waiting for a transplant.
From the abstract:
Although matching an available organ with an appropriate recipient requires clinical judgment, which could not be fully captured in this study, the observed differences are dramatic and warrant further studies to understand this effect better and to design a system that is less susceptible to unintended bias.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 03, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities; Health Inequities; Kidney Transplants
January 02, 2008
Minorities less likely to get pain relief
Reuters is reporting on a new study that speaks to disparities in the treatment of pain:
Black and Hispanic patients in pain are less likely than whites to get powerful painkillers from U.S. hospital emergency departments, but the reasons may go beyond sheer racial bias, researchers said on Tuesday.
In a look at 375,000 emergency room visits over 13 years, a study found 31 percent of whites in pain received opioid drugs -- a broad class of narcotic painkillers dispensed only by prescription -- compared to 23 percent of blacks and 24 percent of Hispanics.
In contrast, 36 percent of minority patients received less-potent, non-opioid pain relievers such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen during emergency room visits, compared to 26 percent of white patients.
You can find the full study at the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 02, 2008
|
Category: Health Disparities; Healthcare
January 01, 2008
Test audio player
Community Based Participatory Research - Are the scales balanced?
Presented by Maghboeba Mosavel, PhD, Karen Tabb, MSW, Catherine Oakar, BA, Ayella Shams, BS.
Dr. Mosavel and her team discuss the challenges, rewards, lessons learned, and 'what's next' for their CBPR projects.
You can download this podcast or listen below.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by: David Porter on January 01, 2008
|
Category: