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Use of NSAIDs underreported

Patients underreported their use of common but potentially dangerous over-the-counter pain medications known as NSAIDs, according to research presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.

16 Oct 2007

Mortality rates 71 percent lower at top-rated hospitals

Patients have on average a 71 percent lower chance of dying at the nation's top-rated hospitals compared with the lowest-rated hospitals across 18 procedures and conditions analyzed in the tenth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, issued today by HealthGrades, the healthcare ratings company.

16 Oct 2007

Health-care costs of NSAIDs injury

16 Oct 2007

Patients perceived cancer care unaffected by lower Medicare reimbursements

Patients perceive no significant change in the quality of care for cancer since the United States' government passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) according to a study published in the November 15, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

9 Oct 2007

Federal jury in Miami convicts company owner of Direct Nursing Assistance Inc

A federal jury in Miami has convicted the owner and operator of Direct Nursing Assistance Inc. of Medicare fraud, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida announced today.

4 Oct 2007

AACAP reaction to S-CHIP Veto

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry strongly urges Congress to override President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (H.R. 976) act.

4 Oct 2007

Major gender gap in use of life-saving heart device

Women who might have benefited from the use of an implantable heart monitor following a cardiac arrest were far less likely than men to have one prescribed, according to experts at the Duke University Medical Center.

3 Oct 2007

Doctor involved in HIV infusion therapy scam sentenced to 18 months

A doctor involved in a $7 million HIV infusion therapy scheme to defraud Medicare has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, seven months home confinement, and three years supervised release, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida announced today.

3 Oct 2007

Colonoscopy most effective screening option for colon cancer

According to the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), colonoscopy remains the most effective screening option for colorectal cancer.

3 Oct 2007

Average premiums for stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans will increase by 8.7%

Medicare beneficiaries have the ability to switch prescription drug plans, or enroll in the program for the first time, between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31 (Zhang, Wall Street Journal, 9/29). According to CMS spokesperson Tony Salters, about 10% to 15% of Medicare beneficiaries will switch prescription drug plans during the enrollment period (Moos, Dallas Morning News, 9/29).

2 Oct 2007

Medicare part B premiums to increase by 3.1% in 2008 to $96.40 per month

CMS on Monday announced that the standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B, which covers physician visits and outpatient hospital care, will increase by $2.90, or 3.1%, to $96.40 in 2008 -- the smallest increase since 2000, when the premium remained the same, the New York Times reports.

2 Oct 2007

New York announces funds for hospitals to be closed or merged

The 23 hospitals and seven nursing homes in New York state that will be closed or merged with other facilities will receive more than $360 million to pay for legal costs associated with the closures and to pay debts, state health officials said, the New York Times reports (Kershaw, New York Times, 9/29).

2 Oct 2007

Wilmot Cancer Center adds gastrointestinal, brain cancer experts

Three specialists in gastrointestinal and brain cancers recently joined the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center to meet the growing need in the Rochester and Upstate New York region.

1 Oct 2007

Health and economic benefits of reducing the number of students per classroom in US primary schools

Reducing class sizes in the early grades of elementary school could be among the most cost-effective ways to reduce costs for health care and medical intervention, a new study has found.

27 Sep 2007

UCLA Medical Center performs its first living donor kidney swap

UCLA Medical Center on Sept. 20 performed its first living donor kidney “swap,” a procedure in which a loved one of a kidney transplant patient who is not compatible as a donor exchanges organs with another incompatible pair under an innovative new paired donation program.

27 Sep 2007

Rehabilitation significantly underused after heart attack and bypass surgery

Despite strong evidence that cardiac rehabilitation reduces disability and prolongs life, fewer than one in five people receive rehabilitation services after a heart attack or coronary bypass surgery, according to a Brandeis study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

26 Sep 2007

The value of preventive health services in the U.S.

An estimated 63.5 million U.S. adults visited a physician for a preventive health or gynecological examination each year between 2002 and 2004, at an annual cost of approximately $7.8 billion, according to a report in the Sept. 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

25 Sep 2007

African American and Latino diabetics far less likely to blood sugar under control

Despite decades of advances in diabetes care, African Americans and Latinos are still far less likely than whites to have their blood sugar under control, even with the help of medications, a new nationally representative study finds.

25 Sep 2007

The cost and value of that annual preventative health check up

Even though as many as an estimated 63.5 million American adults visit their doctor for a preventive health or gynecological examination each year, the value of such visits is a controversial issue.

24 Sep 2007

Older women more knowledgeable about cholesterol than younger women

Older adult American women are better informed about cholesterol and more likely to monitor it than younger adult women, but gaps remain in cholesterol knowledge and efforts to screen for it adequately, according to results of a national survey released by the Society for Women's Health Research, a Washington, D.C., based advocacy organization.

21 Sep 2007