Health Systems News and Research

RSS

Hospitals divert primary care patients to health center ‘look-alikes’ to boost finances

A growing number of hospitals are outsourcing often-unprofitable outpatient services for their poorest patients by setting up independent, nonprofit organizations to provide primary care.

9 Sep 2022

Patient satisfaction surveys earn a zero on tracking whether hospitals deliver culturally competent care

Each day, thousands of patients get a call or letter after being discharged from U.S. hospitals. How did their stay go? How clean and quiet was the room? How often did nurses and doctors treat them with courtesy and respect? The questions focus on what might be termed the standard customer satisfaction aspects of a medical stay, as hospitals increasingly view patients as consumers who can take their business elsewhere.

8 Sep 2022

York University secures CAD7.25 million grant to help tackle emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases

At a time when the risk of emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases (ERIDs) is increasing, an international team led by York University successfully competed to receive a CAD7.25 million grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to help tackle the issue.

7 Sep 2022

Leopoldina Annual Assembly focuses on broad spectrum of global health issues

The aim of global health is to improve the situation of and equity for the entire global population with respect to health.

6 Sep 2022

Private equity ownership of physician practices may impose measures to squeeze out more profits, research says

New research reveals private equity firms that acquire physician-owned medical practices appear to be imposing measures to squeeze out more profits.

2 Sep 2022

Study shows how COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress in women and children's health

Declines in essential health care utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in low- and lower-middle-income countries devastatingly impact women and children's health, according to a new study publishing August 30th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Tashrik Ahmed of the World Bank, US, and colleagues.

30 Aug 2022

Tight control of blood sugar in teens may help reduce diabetes-related brain damage

Tight control of blood sugar in teens with Type 1 diabetes may help reduce the disease's damaging effects on the brain, effects which have been shown even in younger children, according to a study published online today in Nature Communications.

30 Aug 2022

Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children appears to be lower than in adults

A new study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) RECOVER Pediatric Electronic Health Records (EHR) Cohort and authored by Suchitra Rao, MD, infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital Colorado, found that the risk of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), or long COVID, in children appears to be lower than what has been reported in adults.

29 Aug 2022

Implanted brain-stimulating device disrupts craving-related signals and reduces bingeing episodes

A small device that detects food craving-related brain activity in a key brain region, and responds by electrically stimulating that region, has shown promise in a pilot clinical trial in two patients with loss-of-control binge eating disorder (BED), according to researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

29 Aug 2022

Penn-CHOP Kidney Innovation Center focuses on early detection, prevention, and treatment of kidney disease

In an effort to improve the lives of children and adults with kidney disease, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine are jointly launching the Penn-CHOP Kidney Innovation Center.

26 Aug 2022

Tiny, touch-based sensor rapidly detects lithium levels from sweat on the surface of a fingertip

Lithium can alleviate the symptoms of bipolar disorder and depression - if taken in just the right amount.

22 Aug 2022

NIH-funded centers of excellence to conduct research on the role of telehealth in cancer care

The National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, will award $23 million to four academic institutions to establish centers of excellence that will conduct research on the role of telehealth in delivering cancer-related health care, a practice that became more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

18 Aug 2022

Some rural hospitals are in such bad shape, local governments are practically giving them away

Kyle Kopec gets a kick out of leading tours through the run-down hospitals his boss is snapping up, pointing out what he calls relics of poor management left by a revolving door of operators. But there's a point to exposing their state of disrepair — the company he works for, Braden Health, is buying buildings worth millions of dollars for next to nothing.

18 Aug 2022

Expert panel identifies critical challenges in recruiting study participants

Unless cures are found, Alzheimer's dementia is projected to affect nearly 13 million Americans by 2050 - overwhelming families, caregivers and our healthcare system. Yet only one new therapeutic, aducanumab, has come to market in the past 20 years, and therapeutic progress remains hampered for several reasons: recruiting study participants in clinical trials for Alzheimer's is more challenging than other disease areas, the trials take longer to complete and they are more costly.

17 Aug 2022

Buy and bust: Collapse of private equity-backed rural hospitals mired employees in medical bills

The first unexpected bill arrived in December, just weeks before Tara Lovell's husband of 40 years died from bladder cancer.

16 Aug 2022

They call it ‘tranq’ — and it’s making street drugs even more dangerous

Approaching a van that distributes supplies for safer drug use in Greenfield, Massachusetts, a man named Kyle noticed an alert about xylazine.

11 Aug 2022

Wastewater surveillance expanded to detect the presence of monkeypox

An ongoing program that monitors wastewater for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and which has effectively predicted subsequent surges in COVID-19 cases in San Diego has been expanded to detect the presence of monkeypox.

11 Aug 2022

Rapper Fat Joe says no one is making sure hospitals post their prices

Rapper Fat Joe takes on hospital industry executives in an advertisement, contending that many hospitals are disobeying a law that requires them to publicly post the prices they charge cash-paying patients and insurance companies for every service they offer.

10 Aug 2022

What does the future look like for TB care?

In this interview, we speak to Charles Wells from Gates MRI about their current research into tuberculosis (TB) as well as the recent updated guidelines for TB care.

5 Aug 2022

Study pinpoints a three-pronged approach that makes liver cancer cells stop growing

Liver cancer's rapid growth leads to a vulnerability in its energy-production and cell-building processes that may be potently exploited with a new combination-treatment strategy, according to a study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

3 Aug 2022