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More Californians are dying at home. Another covid ‘new normal’?

The covid-19 pandemic has spurred a surge in the proportion of Californians who are dying at home rather than in a hospital or nursing home, accelerating a slow but steady rise that dates back at least two decades.

26 Jan 2023

Machine learning-based behavioral intervention can improve end-of-life cancer care

Electronic nudges delivered to health care clinicians based on a machine learning algorithm that predicts mortality risk quadrupled rates of conversations with patients about their end-of-life care preferences, according to the long-term results of a randomized clinical trial published by Penn Medicine investigators in JAMA Oncology today.

12 Jan 2023

A medical cost-sharing plan left pastor with most of the cost

Jeff King needed his heart rhythm restored to normal with a procedure called an ablation — sooner rather than later, his doctor said. Jeff asked the hospital for a cost estimate but said he didn't hear back before his scheduled surgery in January 2021 at Stormont Vail Health in Topeka, Kansas.

21 Dec 2022

Two Cents' Worth: Shared decision making in renal cell carcinoma (RCC)

In this interview, we speak to Steve Pointon, patient advocate in remission from RCC, and Dr Harm van Melick, Consultant Urologist, about their experiences with shared decision-making and the impact it can have on people living with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

From Ipsen 15 Dec 2022

Poll: Most older Americans prefer to keep religious or spiritual beliefs separate from their health care

When it comes to matters of personal beliefs, most older Americans prefer to keep their health care and their spiritual or religious lives separate, a new University of Michigan poll finds.

12 Dec 2022

A-HIPI decision model can predict survival in adults with advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma

Investigators from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state's only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and leading cancer program along with Tufts Medical Center in Boston, developed and validated the Advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma International Prognostication Index (A-HIPI).

12 Dec 2022

A family death during the holidays prompts questions and reflection

It wasn't the Thanksgiving holiday any of us had expected. Two weeks before, my 94-year-old father-in-law, Melvin Zax, suffered a stroke after receiving dialysis and was rushed to a hospital near his residence in western New York.

8 Dec 2022

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Medicaid machinations

The lame-duck Congress is back in Washington with a long list of bills it would like to pass and a short time to do it before Republicans take over the House majority in January.

1 Dec 2022

Terminally ill patients across the West Midlands still living in fear of early death from Covid-19

People with terminal illness across the West Midlands are still living in fear of catching Covid-19 and dying early according to research.

29 Nov 2022

Study focuses on improving support for older adults who experience homelessness

Improving supports for older adults who experience homelessness in three major Canadian cities is the focus of an ongoing study being led by Simon Fraser University adjunct professor Sarah Canham.

22 Nov 2022

Sick profit: Investigating private equity’s stealthy takeover of health care across cities and specialties

Two-year-old Zion Gastelum died just days after dentists performed root canals and put crowns on six baby teeth at a clinic affiliated with a private equity firm.

14 Nov 2022

Regular statin use may reduce the risk of death and severity of COVID-19

Commonly used cholesterol-lowering statins may reduce the risk of death and severity of COVID-19 disease, suggests a study of more than 38,000 patients being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2022 annual meeting.

24 Oct 2022

Study examines the frequency of concurrent hospice and dialysis care among veterans with ESKD

Today, patients utilizing their Medicare Hospice Benefits with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) are forced to make the traumatic choice between continuing dialysis or enrolling in hospice.

21 Oct 2022

If you’re worried about the environment, consider being composted when you die

Would you rather be buried or cremated when you die? If you feel the way I do, the answer is neither. I cringe at the thought of my body burning up at well over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit or being pumped full of toxic chemicals and spending the rest of eternity in a cramped box 6 feet underground.

11 Oct 2022

Vaccine effectiveness of a second mRNA COVID-19 vaccine booster among nursing home residents

Researchers compared the effectiveness of double booster SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations and single booster vaccinations among nursing home residents in the US.

3 Oct 2022

Researchers compare end-of-life care in persons with and without dementia

Researchers have known that race and ethnicity play a role in the intensity of medical care at the end of life, but the difference is more pronounced among individuals with dementia, the researchers found.

30 Sep 2022

Newer-generation clot-busting drug outperforms traditional stroke treatment in many areas

A newer-generation clot-busting drug called tenecteplase outperforms the traditional treatment for ischemic strokes in several key areas, including better health outcomes and lower costs, according to a new study published today in the American Stroke Association's journal Stroke.

23 Sep 2022

New SIO-ASCO practice guideline addresses the use of integrative therapies for cancer pain management

A new joint practice guideline from the Society for Integrative Oncology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. has been published to address gaps in healthcare providers' knowledge of how to safely and effectively treat common cancer symptoms and side effects using integrative medicine approaches.

19 Sep 2022

New study suggests metformin is associated with less severe COVID-19 across prediabetic individuals

In a new study, researchers illustrated that metformin was associated with decreased coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity among prediabetic patients.

1 Sep 2022

Hospices have become big business for private equity firms, raising concerns about end-of-life care

Hospice care, once provided primarily by nonprofit agencies, has seen a remarkable shift over the past decade, with more than two-thirds of hospices nationwide now operating as for-profit entities.

29 Jul 2022