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Medicare to overhaul ACOs but critics fear fewer participants

Accountable care organizations were among the key initiatives of the Affordable Care Act, designed to help control soaring Medicare costs.

9 Aug 2018

Older kidney disease patients on dialysis have higher dementia risk

Older kidney disease patients who are sick enough to require the blood-filtering treatment known as dialysis are at high risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, according to a study led by scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

9 Aug 2018

Lax oversight leaves surgery center regulators and patients in the dark

The first man died in April 2014. Another died later that month. Then on July 18 of that year, a woman was rushed to a hospital where she was told she was lucky to be alive.

9 Aug 2018

New AI algorithm helps predict medication response in patients with complex mood disorder

Mood disorders like major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder are often complex and hard to diagnose, especially among youth when the illness is just evolving.

9 Aug 2018

Adolescent abortion-fund patients experience greater hardships than adults

Adolescents who received funding to help pay for an abortion experienced greater hardships that affected abortion access compared to adult abortion-fund patients, according to the results of a new study by a University at Buffalo social work researcher.

9 Aug 2018

Learning to live well with dementia

Imagine your doctor telling you have Alzheimer's disease or some other type of dementia. Then, imagine being told, "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do. You might want to start getting your affairs in order."

9 Aug 2018

Inducing labor in first-time mothers at 39 weeks can help prevent cesarean births, finds study

A new national study has found that inducing labor in first-time mothers at 39 weeks can help prevent cesarean births and high blood pressure.

9 Aug 2018

Electing to induce labor at 39 weeks reduces the need for C-section

Inducing labor in healthy women at 39 weeks into their pregnancy reduces the need for cesarean section and is at least as safe for mother and baby as waiting for spontaneous labor.

9 Aug 2018

New guideline released to improve diagnosis, care for people with prolonged disorders of consciousness

For people in a vegetative or minimally conscious state caused by brain injury, an accurate diagnosis and ongoing medical and rehabilitative care based on the latest scientific evidence could mean a better chance for recovery, according to a new guideline by the American Academy of Neurology, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.

9 Aug 2018

Pharmacy-made pain creams flagged on fears of Medicare fraud and risk

Medicare pays hundreds of millions of dollars each year for prescription creams, gels and lotions made-to-order by pharmacies — mainly as pain treatments. But a new report finds that officials are concerned about possible fraud and patient safety risks from products made at nearly a quarter of the pharmacies that fill the bulk of those prescriptions.

9 Aug 2018

FDA flags risks linked to improper use of ROM tests

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today alerted women and their doctors about serious adverse events related to the improper use of tests intended as an aid in detecting if a pregnant woman's water has broken (also known as a rupture of the membranes containing amniotic fluid).

9 Aug 2018

Breathing ‘a chore’: California wildfires threaten the health of young and old

Debbie Dobrosky noticed a peculiar hue in the sky on Monday — "a very ugly yellow casting" — as she peeked outside. A large cloud of smoke had begun to cover the sun.

8 Aug 2018

As opioid crisis rages, some trade ‘tough love’ for empathy

It was Bea Duncan who answered the phone at 2 a.m. on a January morning. Her son Jeff had been caught using drugs in a New Hampshire sober home and was being kicked out.

8 Aug 2018

LSU Health research may lead to a change in worldwide obesity prevention strategy

A team of LSU Health New Orleans researchers has found a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity among youth in Grenada compared to US adolescents.

7 Aug 2018

Once its greatest foes, doctors are embracing single-payer

When the American Medical Association — one of the nation's most powerful health care groups — met in Chicago this June, its medical student caucus seized an opportunity for change.

7 Aug 2018

Adolescents exposed to tobacco ‘power wall’ more likely to use e-cigarettes

Adolescents who view advertising for tobacco products on the tobacco "power wall" in convenience stores report being more willing to try vaping products in the future compared to peers who visited a store where the tobacco power wall was hidden, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

7 Aug 2018