HEALTH DISPARITIES BLOG

April 20, 2009

links for 2009-04-20

• Students meet growing demand for interpreters in health care field
  More than one-quarter of Arizona residents do not speak English at home, according to the most recent Census data. Federal laws require any organization that receives government funds to provide interpretation services.
• Racial disparities and treatment trends in a large cohort of elderly black and white patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer
  There have been substantial disparities in receiving recommended treatments between blacks and whites, and these disparities have been relatively stable without a significant trend of narrowing during the past 12 years. Efforts should focus on providing appropriate quality treatment and educating blacks on the value of having these treatments to reduce these disparities in receipt of treatment for NSCLC.
• Medicare has $1,068 deduction for stays in hospitals
  That is the beneficiary's only cost for up to 60 days of Medicare-covered inpatient hospital care in a benefit period. Many beneficiaries buy supplemental policies, known as "Medigap," to pay for deductibles and other costs not covered by Medicare.
• Give patients more rights
  A new study on patient empowerment in 31 European countries has found that there are great disparities in how health care consumers are treated among the different countries, in areas ranging from access to test results and specialists' opinions to the frequency of under-the-table payment for medical care.