Monthly Archive for May 2009
May 29, 2009
links for 2009-05-29
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From the Journal Urology, May 2009.
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Besieged by high medical costs and overcrowding, Ohio prison officials are turning to nursing homes to care for inmates who are medically incapacitated or terminally ill.
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A recent study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said the number of uninsured Americans could jump to more than 65 million in 10 years as healthcare costs more than double.
Posted by: Staff on May 29, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
May 28, 2009
links for 2009-05-28
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One in five adults said they had been told in the last 12 months that a doctor or clinic was not accepting new patients or would not see patients with their type of insurance. The rejection rates for low-income adults and those with public insurance were double the rates for higher-income residents and those with private coverage.
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Today, BHN hosts the Health Wonk Review, the floating web digest of health policy blog posts.
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The governor's proposal to whack an additional $5.5 billion from state programs stunned even longtime Capitol-watchers with its blunt force. Ending cash assistance for 1.3 million impoverished state residents, for example, would make California the only state with no welfare program.
Posted by: Staff on May 28, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
May 27, 2009
links for 2009-05-27
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About 10% of small businesses are considering eliminating coverage over the next year
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How a 'pre-existing' condition affects getting insurance coverage.
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Blacks and Hispanics were less likely to discuss hospice when compared to white or Asian patients. Non-English speaking patients discussed hospice less than English speaking patients. Those covered under Medicaid were less likely to discuss hospice when compared to those with Medicare or private insurance.
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Malnutrition is not a glamorous field, and so it’s routinely neglected by everybody — donor governments, poor countries and, yes, journalists.
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Almost 25 percent of black women with advanced breast cancer refuse the chemotherapy and radiation treatments that could save their lives, a new study finds.
Posted by: Staff on May 27, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Discussions With Physicians About Hospice
A study published in the May 25, 2009 issue of Archives on Internal Medicine reports that only 53% of patients with stage IV lung cancer discussed hospice with a provider.
Blacks and Hispanics were less likely to discuss hospice than white or Asian patients. Non-English speaking patients discussed hospice less than English speaking patients. And patients with Medicaid discussed hospice less than those patients with Medicare or private insurance.
In addition to the disparity in how often hospice was discussed, the study reports that when the discussion takes place it seems to take place closer to death than diagnosis.
From the study:
These discussions may have occurred very near death for a considerable number of patients who had a discussion. In fact, we found that only half of patients who died within 2 months after the interview had discussed hospice before the interview.
EXTRA: The latest edition of Grand Rounds is up at See First Blog. Be sure to check out what health care bloggers everywhere have been up to.
Posted by: Staff on May 27, 2009
Category: African-American Health; Cancer; Health Disparities; Health Inequities; Latino Health; Lung Cancer; end of life; hospice
May 26, 2009
links for 2009-05-26
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Logic says that a referral should depend only on a patient’s needs and the reputation and skill of the physician to which the patient is referred. But medicine is a business too, so that isn’t how it always works in practice.
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Maybe the answer isn't more money but rather better data collection.
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Studies show that behaviors from virtual worlds can translate to the real world. Our survey suggests that users are engaged in a range of health-related activities in Second Life which are potentially impacting real-life behaviors. Further research evaluating the impact of health-related activities on Second Life is warranted.
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"There has been a rapid rise in the number of retail clinics across the United States, but this growth is not evenly distributed across communities," says Craig E. Pollack, MD, MHS, an internist and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Penn. "Poorer neighborhoods are less likely to have access to these clinics."
Posted by: Staff on May 26, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
May 22, 2009
links for 2009-05-22
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Minority donors make the best matches for minority kidney recipients because of the antigen matches -- or proteins -- that create a person's genetic profile. Chapman said the best match for kidneys comes from within a person's own family, then his or her ethnic community.
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Yolo County supervisors voted with reluctance Tuesday to eliminate health care benefits for hundreds of undocumented workers.
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For all of the quality indicators studied, the association with spending is either nil or negative. The absence of positive correlations suggests that some institutions achieve exemplary performance on quality measures in settings that feature lower intensity of care.
Posted by: Staff on May 22, 2009
Category:
May 21, 2009
links for 2009-05-21
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Recent decades have seen a remarkable change in the delivery of health care services. Nurse practitioners now have much greater prescribing authority, consumers can purchase more than 700 over-the-counter medications once available only by prescription, and numerous devices have become available that enable a nurse, technician, or consumer -- rather than a physician or a laboratory -- to diagnose or monitor a medical condition.
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Minorities continue to fight an uphill battle for a career in medicine and science. They are hampered by historically understaffed, underfunded and ill-supplied schools; a lack of career mentorship as well as institutional and historical racism and inadequate financial resources. Despite these obstacles, there are effective ways to reverse the inequities of minorities in medicine.
Posted by: Staff on May 21, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Community based Air Pollution and Health Research
Sumita Khatri, MD, MS, FCCP, Assistant Professor of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center speaking on May 8th at MetroHealth.
Video also available at Viddler.com.
Posted by: Staff on May 21, 2009
Category: Audio / Video; Pollution; Works in Progress; air quality; asthma; community health
May 20, 2009
links for 2009-05-20
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The Kalamazoo County Board of Comissioners confessed shock and dismay at statistics that show that infant mortality and sexually transmitted disease rates are many times higher among young blacks than whites.
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Ana Rodriguez was 7 years old and tethered to an IV the first time I met her. "I have special blood," she told me in 1995. "It needs extra care."
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The group that represents Ohio's hospitals says the amount of care and services they give away is going up, and an increasingly sour economy is threatening to force cuts in some community services such as mobile mammography.
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Dane County Jail inmates are now able to get free education in how to prevent and treat HIV, thanks to a Madison-based organization employed by the sheriff's office.
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A detailed analysis of state-provided data has found racial disparities in health care among the three million New Yorkers in the state’s public insurance programs.
Posted by: Staff on May 20, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
In memory, and in praise, of Ana
Connie Schultz writing at cleveland.com tells the story of one little girl with AIDS.
"I have special blood," she told me in 1995. "It needs extra care."
The article is well worth the read.
For more information on HIV/AIDS you can visit the website of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.
Posted by: Staff on May 20, 2009
Category: AIDS; Access to Health Care; Childrens Health; HIV; Health Disparities; Heath Inequities; Latino Health
May 19, 2009
links for 2009-05-19
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Good pictures often tell stories. Researchers at MetroHealth Medical Center gave a number of cancer survivors and their caretakers cameras and told them to take pictures of things that speak to their experiences after they were diagnosed. Their work turned into an exhibit titled "Cancer Through the Camera Lens."
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Ohio’s 178 hospitals said they provided a record amount — $2.2 billion — in charity care and other uncompensated benefits to their local communities in 2007
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Why are hospitals keeping same-sex partners from the bedside of their loved ones?
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New liver cancer cases among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are expected to soar in coming years, the result of persistently higher rates of chronic hepatitis B, a leading cause of the disease, and population growth as projected by the US Census.
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Using evidence based medicine to design hospitals.
Posted by: Staff on May 19, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
May 18, 2009
links for 2009-05-18
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Corruption and ineptitude aren't limited to health care, of course; they're endemic in most Iraqi public institutions. When it comes to public health, however, the repercussions are devastating, and they bring into sharp focus the failures that are threatening Iraq's American-financed effort to rebuild itself as a democracy at peace with itself and its neighbors.
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Black and Latino children, whose communities tend to be more sensitive to economic fluctuations, will be affected most by these changes.
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In June, the Cleveland Clinic will expand its presence in local barbershops and beauty salons with a pilot program designed to provide customers with blood-pressure tests and health education.
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"When you control for their health status and all sorts of characteristics like age, [insured immigrants] actually have medical expenditures that are far below those of U.S. citizens."
Posted by: Staff on May 18, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
May 15, 2009
links for 2009-05-15
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Patients who ride MetroHealth Medical System's free vans won a reprieve Thursday when Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones requested the service continue temporarily. Hospital leaders agreed to continue the service while they search for a solution with county officials. The two groups are slated to meet again next week.
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A new report from the National Minority Quality Forum finds that appropriate medications for a variety of diseases often are under-prescribed, over-prescribed, or mis-prescribed for African Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans.
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A recently published study in the May edition of the American Journal of Public Health, has found that children who are the victims of racism are more likely to develop mental health problems as adults.
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A photography exhibit highlights the struggle of cancer survivors.
Posted by: Staff on May 15, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Breaking the Silence - African-Americans and Cancer in Cleveland
Read more about the Cancer Survivor/Cancer Caregiver Photo Exhibition at MetroHealth.org or view a video of the exhibit at NewsNet5.com.
For coverage by WCPN (the Cleveland NPR station) visit their story on Cancer through the Camera Lens.
You can share this post by sending the following url to your friends:
http://tinyurl.com/breakingthesilence
Posted by: Staff on May 15, 2009
Category: African-American Health; Audio / Video; Cancer; Cancer Survivors; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center; Cleveland; Lance Armstrong Foundation; Minority Health
May 14, 2009
links for 2009-05-14
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Thousands of Macedonian citizens, who previously had access only to emergency health care and certain hospital services, are now eligible to receive free primary care through the government. Coverage now extends to vulnerable segments of the population, such as the homeless, the elderly and the unemployed.
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"What a disgrace that RNs and physicians are shut out and arrested while the insurance industry is given a seat at the table. We would expect that from the Bush administration, not in the time of the Obama administration," said NNOC/CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. "The Baucus Committee can arrest nurses, but they cannot silence the voices of RNs who will continue to speak from their hearts on behalf of their patients who want and deserve real reform."
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University Hospitals became the first Northeast Ohio hospital to reveal how much free care and community benefit it provides -- and the numbers signaled a growing need for low-cost medical care in the region. The health system, which provided its annual report for the past year during an evening gathering Tuesday, said the amount it gives to the community increased to $195 million last year, up 16 percent in 2007.
Posted by: Staff on May 14, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
May 13, 2009
links for 2009-05-13
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Since early 2007, and under a mandate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to dramatically increase HIV testing nationwide, emergency rooms such as S.F. General's are moving toward a day when nearly every patient who enters its doors - whether for chest pain or a broken finger - is offered an HIV test.
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In 2004, diarrhoea killed 1.8 million children, yet between 2004-2006 only $1.5 billion was spent globally on improved sanitation – vital in the fight to protect children from diarrhoea. In the same period, $10.8 billion was spent on interventions for HIV/AIDS (responsible for 315,000 child deaths), and $3.5 billion on those for malaria (responsible for 840,000 child deaths).
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Consumer Reports' Nancy Metcalf says that many big-name insurance companies are offering those so-called junk policies. They look like a good deal because the premiums are low—but they're low for a reason. They are so riddled with loopholes, limits, and exclusions that they will not come close to covering your expenses if you ever fall seriously ill. More info at http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health/2009/04/junk-health-insurance-affordable-.html
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While heterosexual couples typically don’t have to provide marriage licenses to hospitals in order to prove they are husband and wife, same sex couples often must document their relationship to hospital officials before being allowed to take part in a partner’s care.
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Around the country, hospitals are now affiliated with more than 25 Wal-Mart clinics. The Cleveland Clinic has lent its name and backup services to a string of CVS drugstore clinics in northeastern Ohio. And the Mayo Clinic is in the game, operating one Express Care clinic at a supermarket in Rochester, Minn., and a second one across town at a shopping mall.
Posted by: Staff on May 13, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
May 12, 2009
links for 2009-05-12
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Melanoma is the sixth most common cancer in men and women in the United States. This year over 60,000 Americans will develop melanoma. However, the incidence and mortality rate is higher for middle-aged and older men. Nearly 50 percent of melanoma deaths in the United States are in white men 50 years and older.
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A study of residents of Illinois finds that city dwellers are more likely to have doctors spot breast, colorectal, lung or prostate cancer later in the disease's progression than their peers residing in the suburbs or rural areas.
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Derek Beeston, Principal Lecturer in Ageing and Mental Health, Centre for Ageing and Mental Health, Staffordshire University, discusses the key issues of ageing and risk factors surrounding older adults and suicide.
Posted by: Staff on May 12, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Health research in virtual worlds. Morphine and Corrupted Blood Part 2
(This post appears as part of our Tech Tuesday series.)
In last week's post I mentioned how Second Life is being used to teach Bioethics to undergraduates. Second Life is an ideal virtual world for many types of research. Researchers can create their own island, control access to that island, and closely monitor the experiment. You can even recreate the famous Milgram study.
There is also the possibility of looking at natural experiments within virtual worlds. This is the case with the Corrupted Blood incident.
World of Warcraft is an incredibly popular (over 11 million paying subscribers) virtual world where players assume the role of a fantasy character and battle monsters and dragons. Often times they work in groups of up to 40 players when battling the most difficult enemies.
In 2005 an update was added to the game that introduced a new dungeon where players would group together to fight a new enemy that had an unique ability; he could place a virus on players that would slowly drain their health. This virus could also spread to other players in the immediate area.
The game designers had created this virus so if a player left the dungeon the virus would not go with them. However, an exploit was found.
Players discovered that if they used a pet to attack the enemy and that pet was infected with the virus, they could place the pet in their inventory and it would remain infected.
Later when the player was in an outpost or town they could remove the pet from their inventory and the virus would spread.
The effect was pretty devastating:
Within hours Corrupted Blood had infected entire cities such as Ironforge and Orgrimmar because of their high player concentrations. Low-level players were killed in seconds by the high-damage disease. For days carpets of skeletons riddled the highest populated towns and were rendered uninhabitable by the persistent plague.
This is interesting to health researchers because it is an excellent example of a natural experiment and how people may act during a pandemic. Researchers requested data from Blizzard, the game developer, so it could be analyzed and at least two articles have appeared in peer-reviewed journals about the incident. One in Epidemiology and another in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
From Reuters:
What made Corrupted Blood so interesting was the way players responded -- providing an insight into the psychological response to plague that most computer models can never hope to capture.
Some players selflessly rushed to help, using their healing powers and acting as first responders despite the risk.
"Their behavior may have actually extended the course of the epidemic and altered its dynamics... keeping infected individuals alive long enough for them to continue spreading the disease, and by becoming infected themselves and being highly contagious when they rushed to another area," the Lancet article said.
Others got infected on purpose and strolled around populated areas -- leading some security analysts to say the incident may provide insight into how terrorists would exploit a pandemic.
And from a related Reuters article:
Fefferman, a medical epidemiologist, immediately recognized human behaviors she had not ever factored in when creating computer models of disease outbreaks. For instance, what she calls the "stupid factor".
"Someone thinks, 'I'll just get close and get a quick look and it won't affect me,'" she said.
Eventually the exploit was fixed and the virus in now confined to Zul'Gurub.
There are also other natural experiments waiting to be looked at in virtual worlds such as WoW. For example, in a game where you have a great deal of control in how your character looks, racism is still a pretty big issue.
Posted by: Staff on May 12, 2009
Category: Corrupted Blood; Second Life; Tech Tuesday; Virtual Worlds; WoW
May 11, 2009
links for 2009-05-11
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The research found three in ten of men would feel embarrassed about seeking help for mental distress, and just 14 per cent aged 35 to 44 would see a GP if they felt low compared with 37 per cent of women.
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Just how much does it cost to have a baby?
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A report by the Commonwealth Fund says seven of 10 working-age women -- or an estimated 64 million women -- have no medical insurance coverage or inadequate coverage.
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For the vast majority of gay couples getting health insurance for a domestic partner is still a challenge.
Posted by: Staff on May 11, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Taking it to the street
When community leaders in Montgomery County, Maryland heard of a proposed 10% cut to the budgets of minority health programs they didn't write a letter or send an email. They took it to the street.
Advocacy groups traveled to Rockville (the county seat) to speak out against the cut (which would be in addition to an already proposed 2% cut) and present the council with a 400 signature petition.
The cuts will be decided today when council votes on the Health and Human Services budget.
Arva Jackson, chairwoman of the African American Health Program, urged group members to be present for Monday's HHS vote.
"Sometimes just showing up makes a difference," Jackson said. "It's much easier to take money from a stranger than it is to take it away from someone you know."
EXTRA: On Wednesday, May 13th there will be a Cancer Survivor/Cancer Caregiver Photo Exhibition at MetroHealth Medical Center. More details here.
Posted by: Staff on May 11, 2009
Category: Community Activism; Health; Healthcare; Latino Health; Minority Health
May 08, 2009
links for 2009-05-08
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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.
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Researchers found that most of the parents avoided seeking care not because of insurance status but rather because they could not find a doctor who speaks Chinese or could not find an interpreter.
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What’s the real cost of health care for rural residents? Richard Oswald explains how labor and delivery equal debt for most young families. And the price only goes up.
Posted by: Staff on May 08, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Doctor offers flat rate insurance. Insurance regulators say no.
A N.Y. doctor has started a new program - he is offering flat rate insurance for his patients for $79 a month.
According to Reuters.com, the doctor started the program last September and a total of about 500 people have registered.
However, state insurance regulators are not happy about the idea. They have told Dr. Muney that a patient can receive unlimited preventative visits for the flat rate fee, but if they come in for a sick visit he must charge an additional fee equal to his overhead charges. This would add about $33.00 for each sick visit.
The following YouTube video contains the story.
Posted by: Staff on May 08, 2009
Category: Health Care; Healthcare; insurance
May 07, 2009
links for 2009-05-07
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As they come to rely more on healthcare providers and caregivers for their needs, this makes LGBT seniors especially vulnerable. A few statistics highlight the needs of the LGBT elder community: LGBT seniors are five times less likely to access services than the mainstream senior population; 62 percent have no partner or live alone; 80 percent have no children; most lack traditional family support. Only 13 percent of long-term care facilities report sensitivity to sexual orientation included in their cultural competency or provider care training.
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Two annual government reports released Wednesday show that progress in improving the quality of health care and narrowing health disparities among ethnic groups remains agonizingly slow, and that patient safety may actually be declining.
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How does one measure, based on MGMA data, the “value” of an NIH grant, writing a peer-reviewed article, performing clinical research, or teaching medical students?
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The second Commission chartbook investigating health across social and economic groups examines the differences in adults’ health based on their levels of education.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley will remain on the Finance Committee at least through next year.
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High cost sharing delays the start of drug therapy for patients with a newly diagnosed chronic disease.
Posted by: Staff on May 07, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
A State-by-State Look at Adult Health
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released a new study on adult health in the U.S.
Some of the main findings are:
One quarter of adults nationwide live in poor or near-poor households.
Non-Hispanic white adults fare better than any other racial or ethnic group.
Within each racial or ethnic group, a steep education gradient is evident. Adult health status improves as educational attainment increases.
In Ohio, 43.2% of all adults ages 25-74 report less than very good health. However that number varies based on education level. For those with less than a high school education 73.3% have less than very good health. Of college graduates 28.4% report less than very good health. Ohio ranks 32nd in regards to the difference between the overall rate of less than very good health and the rate among college graduates.
You can download a pdf of the report at commissiononhealth.org or look at a snapshot for a particular state at commissiononhealth.org/StateByStateData.aspx.
EXTRA: Tomorrow is the final Works in Progress for this academic year. The topic is 'Community-based Air Pollution and Health Research.' More info here.
Posted by: Staff on May 07, 2009
Category: Adult Health; Health Disparities; Minority Health; Ohio; Robert Wood Johnson
May 06, 2009
links for 2009-05-06
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Insurance companies offered Tuesday to end the practice of charging higher premiums to women than to men for the same coverage.
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Providing housing to chronically ill, long-term homeless adults reduces hospitalizations and emergency department visits, according to research conducted in Chicago.
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Eight [single payer advocates] caused a scene at the start of a health-care hearing of the Senate Finance Committee today, getting up one by one and complaining that nobody who shared their view was getting a voice.
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Nearly 2.3 million people in Ohio - most of whom have health insurance - spend more than 10 percent of their pre-tax income on medical care
Posted by: Staff on May 06, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Someone quiet them kids down
According to WSJ.com passions over health care reform ran a little high in the Senate yesterday.
It wasn't any career politician creating the ruckus. Rather, eight passionate advocates of single-payer health care stood up one by one and let it be known that they wanted someone who shares their view to have a voice.
Posted by: Staff on May 06, 2009
Category: Health Care; Senate; Single Payer; Universal Health Care; insurance
May 05, 2009
links for 2009-05-05
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The media may be guilty of exaggerating the results of medical studies, but academic medical centers that hype the results aren’t blameless themselves.
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St. Vincent Charity Hospital has spent almost a year on a narrow, focused experiment to foster the concept that would connect patients — particularly those who use its emergency department for regular care — with full-time physicians, keep patients’ tests up-to-date and encourage them to do more to care for themselves.
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How a newspaper went undercover to break the swine flu story.
Posted by: Staff on May 05, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
Community-based Air Pollution and Health Research
The final Works in Progress presentation of the current academic year will be held on Friday, May 8th.
"Community-based Air Pollution and Health Research" will be presented by Sumita Khatri, MD, MS, FCCP, Assistant Professor of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center.
Please RSVP to Michele Abraham at mep2@case.edu or 216-778-3858. Hope to see you there!
You can view the flyer below or download it here.
Posted by: Staff on May 05, 2009
Category: Health; Research; Works in Progress; asthma
Health research in virtual worlds. Morphine and Corrupted Blood
(This post appears as part of our Tech Tuesday series.)
Recently I attended a Works in Progress lecture sponsored by Case Western's Department of Bioethics on the topic of Bioethics in Second Life.
Paul Lauritzen, who is the director of the Applied Ethics program at John Carroll University, presented a still under construction virtual hospital room that undergraduate students will use to explore issues in bioethics.
In the situation that was demonstrated, a student would be presented with a virtual hospital room that has a patient complaining of severe pain. This 'patient' is not controlled by a real person but programmed in advance and operated by the system. The room has all the trappings of a 'real' hospital room. There is a bed, a window, ambient sounds, and a morphine drip that is connected to the patient.
The student, acting in the role of a doctor, has the ability to increase the amount of morphine being administered. With each increase the patient provides feedback as to how their pain has been affected. The student can continue to increase morphine dosage in an attempt to eliminate all the patient's pain. However something interesting happens along the way.
If the student increases the morphine dose past the point where only mild pain is reported - the patient also starts to hallucinate. Continue to increase the dosage until all pain is gone and the hallucinations become severe.
This seems to put the student in an interesting ethical situation. Is it preferable to have a patient experience no pain but suffer from hallucinations or experience mild pain with no hallucinations?
Next Tuesday we'll look at virtual worlds and Corrupted Blood.
EXTRA: Here is a tech tip for researchers on the Case Network. If you access Pub Med from the following link you will be able to view the full text of the article directly from the Pub Med site.
Posted by: Staff on May 05, 2009
Category: Bioethics; Morphine; Second Life; Tech Tuesday
May 04, 2009
links for 2009-05-04
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Concerned about their own job security, many Japanese are seeing the homeless not as troubled individuals seeking handouts, but as victims of a failing economy and a government system that offered no safety nets.
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Kettering Medical Center and other Kettering Health Network hospitals this year began to consistently request co-pays from patients, including those in their emergency departments.
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Calls to local pharmacies suggest it's not uncommon for chain stores to charge significantly more for prescriptions for those without insurance. And smaller drug stores - such as the apothecary and other local pharmacies in the Hanover area - charge significantly less.
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Every BMJ article published since the journal’s first issue in October 1840 is now available online from bmj.com. Introduction video available at http://www.bmj.com/video/stories.dtl
Posted by: Staff on May 04, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading
May 01, 2009
links for 2009-05-01
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Nearly half of the 428 employers polled said they plan to shift more health costs to employees in 2010.
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About one in three thought that their doctor would be able to cure their diabetes or that they wouldn't always have diabetes, while most didn't know about the hemoglobin A1C test, a key gauge of long-term blood glucose control.
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The number of new cancer cases diagnosed each year will jump 45 percent in the next two decades to 2.3 million up from 1.6 million in 2010, affecting many more older adults and minorities
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed changes to its dialysis reimbursement policy, making one lump payment to cover both dialysis and injectable medications, which were previously reimbursed separately. Researchers at the University of Minnesota caution that, because African-American patients require higher doses of costly blood-boosting drugs than Caucasians, facilities may be biased against treating them.
Posted by: Staff on May 01, 2009
Category: Lunch Break Reading