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Blacks more likely to die of curable lung cancer than whites

Even when they have equal access to specialized care, blacks with potentially curable lung cancer are about half as likely as whites to undergo surgery that could save their lives, according to a study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers.

28 Dec 2005

Impact of Medicare drug law on retiree health benefits

Four in five businesses (79%) that now provide retiree health benefits will accept government subsidies for continuing to provide retiree drug coverage at least as good as Medicare’s coverage when the new drug benefit starts in 2006, according to a new survey of 300 of the nation’s largest private-sector employers conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates.

15 Dec 2005

Heart drug designed for U.S. blacks a cheaper option

According to researchers a new heart-failure drug designed especially for blacks could reduce the amount it costs to treat the disease by as much as 34 percent.

14 Dec 2005

Fee-for-service associated with a significantly higher rate of cataract surgery

A system in which physicians are reimbursed for each procedure they perform (fee-for-service) is associated with a significantly higher rate of cataract surgery and related surgical costs, compared to a system in which physicians receive a lump sum for each patient they manage (contact capitation), according to a study in the December issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

13 Dec 2005

New alcohol biomarker test lowers the cost of caring for patients with chronic illnesses

Adding a new alcohol biomarker test to patients' revelations about their drinking habits could lower the cost of caring for patients with chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure, a health economics analysis finds.

2 Dec 2005

Elderly as much at risk with old mental health drugs as new ones

Researchers at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston are saying that many of the older drugs designed to treat mental problems such as delirium, agitation and psychosis may be even more hazardous to the elderly than newer medicines that now carry U.S. government warnings.

2 Dec 2005

$Radiotherapy for certain cancers increases the risk of pelvic fractures$

Radiotherapy for certain cancers increases the risk of pelvic fractures

A new study suggests that older women who receive pelvic radiation treatment for cervical, anal or rectal cancer may have an increased risk of pelvic fracture.

24 Nov 2005

The Medicare Drug Benefit: A Prescription for Confusion

If many seniors are scratching their heads about the new Medicare prescription drug plan, so are the experts.

20 Nov 2005

Hospital liver transplant program suspended after 32 die waiting

Following reports in the media that a Southern California hospital had suspended its liver transplant program and had turned down scores of donor organs while 32 patients awaiting transplants had died, the facility has had it's certification of the liver transplant program revoked.

14 Nov 2005

Cancer survivors require tailored follow-up plans

Citing shortfalls in the care currently provided to the country's 10 million cancer survivors, a new report recommends that each cancer patient receive a "survivorship care plan."

13 Nov 2005

Socioeconomic status determines life expectancy in HIV patients

HIV patients with a low socioeconomic status are likelier to die much more often than patients with higher levels of wealth and education, a new UCLA study has found.

3 Nov 2005

Women show a better response to lung cancer therapy, resulting in better survival rates

However, in untreated patients, women also had a 21 percent decreased risk of death as compared with men, leading researchers to believe lung cancer in women has a different biologic behavior and natural history than in men.

3 Nov 2005

Nearly one-fourth of all dialysis patients have a close relative on dialysis

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, and others, report in the current online edition of the American Journal of Nephrology. The researchers suggest screening other relatives for undetected kidney disease.

3 Nov 2005

Fake flu jabs given to over 1,000 Exxon workers

According to the U.S. attorney in Houston, more than 1,000 employees of the largest U.S. refinery were the victims of a scheme by a Houston man to make money by providing fake flu vaccines.

31 Oct 2005

Risk of ischemic stroke increases with a rise in air pollution

The risk of ischemic stroke - which results when a blood clot travels to the brain - increases with a rise in particulate air pollution, according to a study in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

30 Oct 2005

Depression raises disability risk

Depressed middle-aged adults are at four times greater risk for being unable to perform everyday tasks than their non-depressed peers, a Northwestern University study found.

25 Oct 2005

Quality of care determines heart attack outcomes

Ninety days after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) - or heart attack - death rates for African Americans and white patients were found to be significantly higher in hospitals that disproportionately serve African-American patients than in hospitals that serve mainly white patients, according to a major new study led by researchers at Dartmouth Medical School.

24 Oct 2005

Medicare patients have a substantially higher risk of early death following bariatric surgery than previously suggested

...and the risk of death is higher among men, older patients, and patients of surgeons who perform lower numbers of bariatric procedures, according to a study in the October 19 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

19 Oct 2005

Surgery to treat obesity far more risky for men

Researchers say that using stomach-shrinking surgery to treat severe obesity is riskier than previously thought for men, the elderly and people with conditions such as hypertension.

19 Oct 2005

Hospitals alter billing and collection practices for uninsured patients

Many hospitals have adopted more generous charity-care guidelines for uninsured patients after a barrage of publicity about aggressive hospital billing and collection practices and a spate of lawsuits alleging hospitals overcharged uninsured patients, according to a study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).

12 Oct 2005