Monthly Archive for September 2008
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September 30, 2008
links for 2008-09-30
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Science Times asked some of its contributors for their favorite resources on health, whether online or in print.
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Mayo CEO Denis Cortese and Johns Hopkins Medicine CEO Edward Miller argue on the op-ed page of today’s Chicago Tribune that instead of Congress, some sort of board should make big decisions about Medicare’s payment policies.
Posted by: Staff on September 30, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Reducing minority youth's detention and incarceration placements in Cleveland
The Case Center for Reducing Health Disparities and Cleveland State's Center for Health Equity are hosting the next presentation in this semester's Works in Progress series.
"Alternatives for Youth's Advocacy Program: Effectively reducing minority youth's detention and incarceration in Cleveland, Ohio" will be presented by Christopher A. Mallett, PhD, Esq, LISW.
Date: Friday, October 10, 2008.
Time: 3-4 p.m.
Location:
Cleveland State University
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs
Sweet Seminar Room - UR 241
1717 Euclid Avenue
Parking:
The East 17th Street Parking Garage (Between Chester and Euclid.)
Please RSVP your attendance to Kendra Daniel at k.daniel@csuohio.edu or by phone at (216) 687-4704.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Posted by: Staff on September 30, 2008
Category: Works in Progress
September 29, 2008
links for 2008-09-29
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A study conducted on behalf of the not-for-profit National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC) shows that Hispanic women are dramatically more likely to misidentify breast cancer as the leading cause of death among women and to report not having enough information about breast cancer.
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8 dems and 8 repubs are working on universal health care legislation.
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According to a new study by the GAO only one-third of the 20 million children in the United State who are covered by Medicaid got any dental care.
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Listen to Chris Seper review the big medical stories of the past week.
Posted by: Staff on September 29, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Time for a health care bailout?
David Kibee writing at the Health Care Blog:
I'm very worried that there is as much excess and greed in health care as there has been exposed in banking and on Wall Street, and that a collapse and bailout is eventually likely, but that we have not reached the crisis point quite yet. But aren't we getting there? Fifty million people are without health insurance, and at least that many are under insured, while revenues going into the industry continue to increase at double digit rates of increase year after year. Medicare Part A, the portion of the fund that pays for hospital expenses for Medicare beneficiaries, went broke this year.
The net yearly shrinkage in employees receiving health care benefits from their employers is between 2 and 3 per cent, and disposable personal income spent for health care has now, for the first time, exceeded the costs of housing, groceries, and clothing for the average American. How can this go on much longer?
Posted by: Staff on September 29, 2008
Category: Health Care
September 26, 2008
links for 2008-09-26
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The Ohio Department of Child and Family Services announced Wednesday that an additional $80 million will be trimmed from its budget, but the cuts will not affect Medicaid benefits
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The law allows hospitals to charge patients for the cost of care, plus a mark-up of 35%. That may not strike you as a fantastic bargain, but it’s still a lot less than list prices, which can run to two to three times the cost of care.
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As the political parties mobilise for the conference season it is tempting to believe there is broad consensus about the future of the NHS. But three debates that go to its heart are raging....
Posted by: Staff on September 26, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
On busy days hospitals discharge patients faster
From Medical News Today:
A new study in the RAND Journal of Economics examined how hospitals' admission and discharge behavior is affected by fluctuations in demand. Results show that on days when hospitals face high demand, patients are discharged earlier than expected when compared to those discharged on days when demand is low.
You can read the abstract of the article here.
Posted by: Staff on September 26, 2008
Category: Health Care; Hospitals
September 25, 2008
links for 2008-9-25
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A slew of recent reports, including one released today, show that more people are having problems paying their medical bills, that costs of insurance and hospital beds continue to rise and that fewer people are filling prescriptions and going to the doctor.
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As it stands, a person with a physical illness is apt to have a much lower deductible than a person with a mental illness. Co-pays for seeing a mental health specialist are apt to be higher than for seeing other specialists. And mental health patients often find that only a set number of visits to a psychologist or a psychiatrist will be covered.
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Evidence is mounting that the current economic climate has led to reductions in health spending .
Posted by: Staff on September 25, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
September 23, 2008
links for 2008-09-23
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Doctors provide little in the way of empathy, even when their patients seem to ask for it, according to a study in the Sept. 22 Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers looked at real doctor/patient encounters between 137 patients and their oncologists or thoracic surgeons from a Veterans Affairs hospital.
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Contrary to public perceptions, foreign-born children are increasingly uninsured, rather than publicly insured, in the wake of immigration policy changes, according to a study by public health researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
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New York City plans to expand primary health care facilities in 11 high-poverty areas, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn announced on Monday, saying she hoped to put $26 million toward the effort in the next four years, city finances permitting.
Posted by: Staff on September 23, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
September 22, 2008
Cognitive dissonance in U.S. health care
On Friday The Health Care Blog posted an interesting article on the mindset of Americans towards health care:
[Uwe Reinhardt] concludes: “In short, Governor Corzine, in my professional view, the extraordinarily expensive, often excellent just as often dysfunctional, confused and confusing American health system is a faithful reflection of the minds and souls making up America’s body politic.”
The way we pay health care providers who take Medicaid patients illustrates just how conflicted we are. Doctors who treat these patients are paid much less then they would be if they were treading Medicare patients. In other words “Americans tell providers that the value of their work is lower when applied to uninsured patients or to patients insured by Medicaid.” Reinhardt observes.
Posted by: Staff on September 22, 2008
Category: Cognitive Dissonance; Health Care
September 20, 2008
links for 2008-09-20
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African-American patients are approximately twice as likely as their Caucasian counterparts to die following major liver surgery, or hepatectomy, U.S. researchers report.
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Spanish-speaking Hispanics in the United States have difficulty accessing the health-care system, University of North Carolina researchers report.
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For reasons that are complex, Asian Americans seek mental health treatment in far lower numbers than the rest of the population, according to preliminary findings from a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis.
Posted by: Staff on September 20, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
September 18, 2008
links for 2008-09-18
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Alberta spends more than any other province on health care, but has a mediocre medical system burdened by long wait times for treatment and a shortage of physicians, according to a new study.
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Universal health care is something many Canadians cherish and want to fiercely protect, but a new study finds it lags far behind the standard of care that is commonplace in Western Europe.
Posted by: Staff on September 18, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
September 16, 2008
links for 2008-09-16
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A vast majority of emergency room patients are discharged without understanding the treatment they received or how to care for themselves once they get home, researchers say.
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Several sources of frustration underlie doctor-hospital disputes. One is financial: Many physicians, including myself, are earning less these days as a result of diminishing reimbursements from health insurers, more uninsured patients, the high cost of medical liability insurance and the rising costs of maintaining a private practice.
Posted by: Staff on September 16, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
September 12, 2008
links for 2008-09-12
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"The male-to-male sexual contact transmission category represented 72 percent of new infections among males, including 81 percent of new infections among whites, 63 percent among blacks, and 72 percent among Hispanics," the report said.
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Grassley is leaning on NIH to get tougher with the researchers and universities receiving government grants. “Starting today, the NIH could send a signal that business as usual is over,” Grassley said. “The simple threat of losing prestigious and sizable NIH grants would force accurate financial disclosure.”
Posted by: Staff on September 12, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Racial health disparities in Akron
Tracy Wheeler writing in the Akron Beacon Journal:
Statistics supplied by the Akron Health Department show that, unlike whites, blacks gain no health benefits by moving up the economic ladder. Blacks living in neighborhoods above the poverty line lived no longer than blacks in impoverished areas, dying at essentially the same age — 67.1 years compared with 66.8 years.
By comparison, though, whites living in Summit County's more well-to-do neighborhoods live to an average age of 76.4, compared with just 67.1 for blacks in the same type of neighborhoods — a gap of 9.3 years.
Posted by: Staff on September 12, 2008
Category: Health Disparities; Health Inequities; Social Determinants of Health; racial differences
September 11, 2008
links for 2008-09-11
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According to a new study, African American women with breast cancer who have a lumpectomy are less likely to receive radiation treatment compared to white women-the standard for early stage breast cancer.
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CLOSING the gap has become a common theme in discussions of policy towards the indigenous people of Australia. Newcomers are appalled at the enormous differences between mainstream and indigenous life expectancies, employment rates and housing conditions.
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In the study, published online in the journal Cancer on September 8, 2008 - only 40 percent of colon cancer survivors who were followed for three years had all the right doctor visits and tests.
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Provena Covenant Medical Center Urbana will appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn a ruling last month by a state appeals court that put the hospital's tax exemption in jeopardy.
Posted by: Staff on September 11, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Mobilizing Local Health Knowledge through the Internet
The Case Center for Reducing Health Disparities and Cleveland State's Center for Health Equity are hosting the first presentation in this semester's Works in Progress series.
"Mobilizing Local Health Knowledge through the Internet - Challenges and Progress from ClevelandHealth.info." will be presented by Johnbuck Creamer, MD, BSN.
Date: Friday, September 12, 2008.
Time: 3-4 p.m.
Location:
Case Western Reserver University School of Medicine
2109 Adelbert Avenue.
T503
(the School of Medicine is #50 on this map.)
Please RSVP your attendance to Sabina Hossain at hossain.sabina@case.edu or by phone at (216) 778-8474.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Posted by: Staff on September 11, 2008
Category: Works in Progress
September 10, 2008
links for 2008-09-10
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A majority of the students surveyed also said they don't think adequate health care is a guaranteed right or that access to health care is a problem in the U.S....
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A new system that assigned a medical home to patients, usually a primary care practice, cut hospital admissions by 20 percent and costs by 7 percent....
Posted by: Staff on September 10, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Med school students and access to health care
From STLtoday:
Most graduating medical school students don't want to work in the areas that need doctors most, according to a national survey that included schools in Missouri and Illinois.
Fewer than one-fourth of medical students said they planned to practice medicine in an underserved area, the survey of 20,000 students sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges reported.
A majority of the students surveyed also said they don't think adequate health care is a guaranteed right or that access to health care is a problem in the U.S., according to an analysis of the survey to be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Here is a link to that JAMA article.
According to the article of all respondents less than 23% planned to practice in underserved areas. Less than 45% strongly agreed with the idea that access to health care is a major problem and less than 45% strongly agreed that everyone is entitled to adequate care.
Posted by: Staff on September 10, 2008
Category: Health Care
September 08, 2008
links for 2008-09-08
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According to a survey from the Mercer consulting firm, 59 percent of companies intend to raise the amount worker will be required to pay for health care in 2009.
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The level of healthcare inequality across the country is disclosed in a detailed report which shows some areas are spending twice as much tackling heart disease and cancer as others.
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A federal judge in Brooklyn decided to unseal confidential materials about Eli Lilly’s top-selling antipsychotic drug, citing questions about the way drugs are approved for new uses.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley is pounding on two non-profit hospitals demanding to know whether they restrict the care they give patients based on their ability to pay.
Posted by: Staff on September 08, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
How the UK rations health care
From Telegraph.co.uk:
Last week, Colin Ross, a cancer sufferer who has been told he will not survive the autumn unless he receives the cancer drug Revlimid, took his case to the High Court.
Mr Ross, 55, who suffers from multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood cells, was denied the drug, which costs £4,000 a month, by West Sussex PCT, Despite a leading cancer expert describing him as ``eminently suitable" for treatment. It could prolong his life by three years.
If he lived a mile-and-a-half away from his home in Horsham, West Sussex, Mr Ross's case would come under a different PCT where he would have been more likely to receive the drug.
Jane Tomlinson, the cancer campaigner who died a year ago, was denied a drug that doctors believed could prolong her life although neighbouring PCTs provided it. She eventually received it as part of a clinical trial.
The Government argues that rationing within the NHS is necessary to ensure that resources which could be spent elsewhere are not wasted and that patients receive only treatments which have real clinical benefits.
Earlier we posted about health care delivery problems in Canada.
Posted by: Staff on September 08, 2008
Category: Health Care
September 05, 2008
Don’t expect a long life living in W.Va.
From the Register-Herald:
“If you include both men and women, only four counties in [West Virginia] have a life expectancy rate above the national average,” [Perry] Bryant said. “If you look only at women, no county in the state is above the national average.”
In an audio report available at West Virginia Public Broadcasting we learn about one case of childhood obesity:
The rise in diabetes is tied to a rise in obesity. Dr. Paul Little, medical director of Tug River Medical Center in McDowell County, has one eight-year-old patient who already weighs 160 pounds.
“He goes to McDonalds every single day,” Little said. “And we try to educate parents that’s not good. And they say, he cries, he carries on. So we say, let the kid cry and carry on. You need to start to do this and this, because here he is, eight years old, and he’s already obese.”
Little said the boy is just following his father’s example.
Posted by: Staff on September 05, 2008
Category: Health Disparities
September 04, 2008
links for 2008-09-04
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A new study shows that life expectancy is declining in parts of rural America â including several counties in West Virginia.
Posted by: Staff on September 04, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
September 03, 2008
links for 2008-09-03
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If your doctor or hospital is unhappy with the payment it receives from your insurance company and decides to bill you for the balance, do you have to pay? Often, the answer is no.
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The US health system spends far more on the "technology" of care (e.g., drugs, devices) than on achieving equity in its delivery.
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Reducing and eliminating disparities in health is a matter of life and death. Each year in the United States, thousands of individuals die unnecessarily from easily preventable diseases and conditions.
Posted by: Staff on September 03, 2008
Category: Lunch Break Reading
JAMA now placing ads for articles in the public domain?
This morning I visited the website of JAMA to see if the new issue had any articles that dealt with the topic of health disparities.
One title caught my eye, "Disparities in Secondhand Smoke Exposure."
Normally accessing peer-reviewed journals is not an issue since I am affliated with an large research focused university. I simply click on the link that opens up the full text version.
However, today I happened to be sitting at a computer that is not on the university network so I was not recognized as a subscriber. When I clicked on "Full Text of this Article" I was presented this ad:
Aside from the issue of JAMA showing ads - I'm confused because this JAMA article is simply a cut and paste copy of a a report by the CDC that appeared in MMWR.
According to their website, "All material in the MMWR Series is in the public domain and may be used and reprinted without special permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated."
So why is JAMA requiring non-subscribers to view an advertisement prior to reading an article that is in the public domain?
Posted by: Staff on September 03, 2008
Category: JAMA; Peer Reviewed; Public Domain