Health Care News and Research

RSS

Spike in mortality after cardiac surgery is associated with 30 days survival measurement

Analyzing a national database of hospital inpatient records, a team of researchers reports an expected spike in mortality six days after cardiac surgery, but also a more surprising and potentially troubling jump in deaths at the 30-day mark.

10 Apr 2014

Affordable Care Act may alter costs for Automobile and liability insurance

The expansion of health insurance accomplished under the Affordable Care Act may alter costs for several major types of liability insurance, although any such changes are likely to be modest, according to a new RAND Corporation report.

10 Apr 2014

Scientists discover promising agents to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria

In the fight against "superbugs," scientists have discovered a class of agents that can make some of the most notorious strains vulnerable to the same antibiotics that they once handily shrugged off. The report on the promising agents called metallopolymers appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

10 Apr 2014

Doc receives grant for helping young adults to move from child-centered to adult-oriented health care system

Oscar Taube, M.D., director of the Pediatric Outpatient department and the coordinator of Adolescent Medicine at the Herman & Walter Samuleson Children's Hospital at Sinai, has been awarded a grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics to provide adolescents, young adults and their family members with the tools to make a smooth transition from pediatric medical care to adult medical care.

10 Apr 2014

Health law: Attack ad fuel for midterms

The Wall Street Journal reports on three ads that focus on health care with roots in the 2008 presidential election, while the Koch brothers have launched health law ads against Democratic senators they deem vulnerable. And many health law critics have accepted the law's subsidies.

10 Apr 2014

Study finds pharmacist-patient telephone consultations appear to reduce hospitalizations

Having a pharmacist call patients at home to go over their medications can identify many medication-based problems. However, a new study in Health Services Research found that pharmacist-patient telephone consultations only appear to reduce hospitalizations in patients who are least at risk.

10 Apr 2014

Viewpoints: Sebelius' questionable arithmetic; Rand finds 9.3 million gained insurance; new numbers on your doctor

In setting the 2015 calendar parameters for health plans and employers, Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, quietly did some creative but questionable arithmetic that forced taxpayers to give still more help to businesses and people who buy health insurance (Casey B. Mulligan, 4/9).

10 Apr 2014

UCLA signs agreement with Centre Testing to create clinical laboratory in Shanghai

The University of California and UCLA Department of Pathology have signed an agreement with Centre Testing International Corp., a Chinese firm, to create a company that will operate a clinical laboratory in Shanghai. The new lab will support clinical trials and enhance medical care for Chinese patients with cancer and other diseases.

10 Apr 2014

Va. Senate sends budget with Medicaid expansion to House

A key Republican leader says, however, that the House will not take up that measure. In Georgia, protesters resume demands for Medicaid expansion, and Sen. Mary Landrieu encourages lawmakers in Louisiana to move forward on the effort there.

10 Apr 2014

Research finding sheds more light on cancer development and metastasis

The push and pull of physical force can cause profound changes in the behavior of a cell. Two studies from researchers working at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center reveal how cells respond to mechanical manipulation, a key factor in addressing the underlying causes of cancer and other diseases.

10 Apr 2014

Maryland A.G. urges probe of state health exchange

Douglas Gansler, also a Democratic candidate for governor, called on Gov. Martin O'Malley to launch an independent probe of problems and management issues that related to the state's online insurance marketplace.

10 Apr 2014

Johns Hopkins student receives 2014 Excellence in Public Health Award

Ramy El-Diwany, a fifth-year M.D./Ph.D. student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has won a 2014 Excellence in Public Health Award from the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Physician Professional Advisory Committee for his contributions to community health services.

10 Apr 2014

Democrats and GOP lock horns over Paul Ryan's budget

Democrats and Republicans clashed Tuesday over the proposals in Paul Ryan's budget which includes $5 trillion in cuts over the next decade to several programs, including Medicaid. It also would repeal the health law.

10 Apr 2014

CAP receives CDC grants to improve adoption of evidence-based laboratory testing guidelines

The College of American Pathologists (CAP), the world's largest organization of board-certified pathologists, has been awarded two grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

10 Apr 2014

Small financial incentives can improve people’s completion of HBV vaccination, study finds

Small financial incentives, totalling as little as £30, can dramatically increase the likelihood of people who inject drugs completing a course of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination, according to new research published in The Lancet.

10 Apr 2014

CMS releases trove of Medicare physician billing data

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is making this information available for the first time in 35 years. Meanwhile, in their first run at the data, news outlets report that a small number of doctors account for a large share of Medicare costs.

10 Apr 2014

Study shows dabrafenib has no added benefit in comparison with dacarbazine

Dabrafenib (trade name: Tafinlar) has been approved since August 2013 for the treatment of advanced melanoma. In January 2014, in an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) had determined that dabrafenib has no added benefit in comparison with dacarbazine.

10 Apr 2014

Natural compound from green tomatoes protects against muscle atrophy

Using a screening method that previously identified a compound in apple peel as a muscle-boosting agent, a team of University of Iowa scientists has now discovered that tomatidine, a compound from green tomatoes, is even more potent for building muscle and protecting against muscle atrophy.

10 Apr 2014

Novel discovery could lead to new therapy to combat obesity, diabetes

By manipulating a biochemical process that underlies cells' energy-burning abilities, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have made a novel discovery that could lead to a new therapy to combat obesity and diabetes.

10 Apr 2014

Portrait of newly insured takes shape

Early enrollees in the health law's marketplaces were more likely to use expensive specialty drugs and less likely to use contraceptives, according to an analysis of two months of drug claims data by Express Scripts. A Rand analysis, meanwhile, argues that most of the newly insured signed up with an employer rather than buying it through the marketplaces.

10 Apr 2014