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Leading experts urge Canadian health-care providers to improve care for people living with SCI

Leading Canadian spinal cord injury (SCI) experts have launched the unprecedented Spinal Cord Injury: A Manifesto for Change—a call to action and a plea for Canadian health-care providers and stakeholders to work in coordination to improve care and the health of people living with SCI in Canada.

3 Oct 2014

Viewpoints: Another troubled website rollout; insurers fight consumer measures in Calif.

If the federal government's new Open Payments website were a consumer product, it would be returned to the manufacturer for a full refund. Open Payments is the government's site for publishing payments made to doctors and teaching hospitals by drug and medical device manufacturers. It includes 4.4 million payments, worth $3.5 billion, to more than half a million doctors and almost 1,360 teaching hospitals (Charles Ornstein, 10/1).

3 Oct 2014

Study: Abortion restrictions lead to poorer health

The study, however, was paid for by groups that support abortion rights. Elsewhere, California's Catholic Church leadership files a civil-rights complaint over making insurance plans cover abortion.

3 Oct 2014

State highlights: Infant mortality rises in D.C.; Medicaid managed care rates

The District's infant mortality rate ticked up in 2012, city officials announced Wednesday -- an unwelcome development that comes amid the loss of a key federal grant and the launch of a new effort to reduce infant deaths (DeBonis, 10/1).

3 Oct 2014

Some employers weigh options as coverage requirement approaches

The Wall Street Journal reports that some employers are contemplating reducing their number of full-time employees so they can avoid complying with this requirement. Meanwhile, the Magic Valley Times-News in Idaho reports on how this decision making can play out.

3 Oct 2014

Pentagon targets poorly performing military hospitals, clinics

After a review found wide disparities in the quality of care provided by military-run hospitals and clinics, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered improvement plans for under-performing facilities. Some parts of the system performed better than in civilian-run ones, but treatment fells short in others.

3 Oct 2014

New Mayo Clinic app now available as free download from Apple's App Store

Mayo Clinic announced today the launch of the Mayo Clinic app, available as a free download from Apple's App Store. The Mayo Clinic app integrates with Apple Health, providing users a clear and current overview of their health and fitness data.

3 Oct 2014

MNsure rates among nation's lowest despite 4.5% increase

Many assumed the exit of PreferredOne, the cheapest option in the state insurance marketplace, would push rates higher, but state officials say the premiums are still among the lowest in the country. Meanwhile, Colorado officials urge consumers to shop around to get the best insurance deals there.

3 Oct 2014

Study: Expanding Medicaid boosts health care access and use in rural populations

A new study in Health Services Research reveals that expanding Medicaid to cover more adults boosts health care access and use in rural populations.

3 Oct 2014

Missouri consumer group sues feds to get health insurance rates

The Consumers Council of Missouri brought suit to force the public disclosure of health insurance rate information ahead of open enrollment, which begins Nov. 15. The group said the Affordable Care Act requires officials to make rate information public so consumers have the opportunity to challenge the price of coverage.

3 Oct 2014

Women survivors of sexual abuse may suffer emotional distress during pelvic examination

Women who have a history of violent sexual abuse may suffer emotional distress during a routine pelvic examination. Healthcare providers would benefit from greater awareness of symptoms predictive of examination-related distress in this patient population, according to a study published in Violence and Gender, a new peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

3 Oct 2014

Longer looks: Dying at home; losing religion; Obamacare 2.0

He was still her handsome father, the song-and-dance man of her childhood, with a full head of wavy hair and blue eyes that lit up when he talked. But he was gaunt now, warped like a weathered plank, perhaps by late effects of an old stroke, certainly by muscle atrophy and bad circulation in his legs. Now she was determined to fulfill her father's dearest wish, the wish so common among frail, elderly people: to die at home. But it seemed as if all the forces of the health care system were against her - hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, insurance companies, and the shifting crosscurrents of public health care spending (Nina Bernstein, 9/25).

3 Oct 2014

Parent coaching intervention benefits preschool-aged children with autism

A parent coaching intervention brings meaningful benefits for preschool-aged children with autism-spectrum disorders (ASD), according to a clinical trial in the October Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

3 Oct 2014

Health exchange's one-year mark: Looking forward, looking back

As of Oct. 1, the health law's online marketplaces have been up and running for a year. News outlets offer status reports on what appears to have gone well, what problems remain as the second open enrollment period approaches and how these factors are playing politically.

3 Oct 2014

First Ebola case slipped through hospital cracks

Doctors at the Texas hospital that initially treated the man who visited West Africa and contracted the disease sent him home with antibiotics after a lapse in communication. The miss is drawing scrutiny of the U.S.'s readiness to handle an outbreak.

3 Oct 2014

Early review: Open payments database not so open

The new federal website, which was created to provide information about financial links between physicians and the drug industry, is not user-friendly, notes The Associated Press. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal digs into the data to see what it shows about the ties between medical professionals and the drug industry.

3 Oct 2014