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Home visits help new parents overcome tough histories, raise healthy children

Seated at a kitchen table in a cramped apartment, Rosendo Gil asked the young parents sitting across from him what they should do if their daughter caught a cold.

21 Aug 2017

Physicians studying how to prescribe income security

Physicians at St. Michael's Hospital are studying how full-time income support workers hired by health-care clinics can help vulnerable patients or those living in poverty improve their finances and their health.

18 Aug 2017

Study provides insight into development of red blood cells

Every cell in the body, whether skin or muscle or brain, starts out as a generic cell that acquires its unique characteristics after undergoing a process of specialization. Nowhere is this process more dramatic than it is in red blood cells.

18 Aug 2017

New analysis explores promising strategies to increase living kidney donation

A new analysis indicates that few strategies to increase living kidney donation have been evaluated effectively; however, educational strategies targeted to recipients and their family and friends have the best evidence of being successful.

18 Aug 2017

ASTRO commends NRC's final rule that defines medical events for permanent implant brachytherapy

The American Society for Radiation Oncology applauds the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission for yesterday's announcement of a final rule that updates the definition of medical events for permanent implant brachytherapy and protects patients' access to this treatment.

18 Aug 2017

UH gets $3.3 million funding from Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas

The University of Houston has received $3.3 million from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

18 Aug 2017

Too few patients follow the adage: You better shop around

Despite having more financial "skin in the game" than ever, many consumers don't make any attempt to compare prices for health care services, a newly released study found.

18 Aug 2017

Researchers highlight global burden of suboptimal fetal growth in low-and middle-income countries

In low-and middle-income countries, it is common for babies to be born of low birth weight, due to either inadequate growth in utero (fetal growth restriction) and/or preterm birth, (birth before 37 weeks gestation).

18 Aug 2017

Medicare unveils ‘skeletal’ site for hospice comparison shopping

Medicare launched a website aimed at helping families choose a hospice — but experts say it doesn’t help very much.

18 Aug 2017

Opioid crisis strains foster care system; programs aim to keep kids with mom

After Raven Mosser gave birth six years ago, she woke up to a social worker in her hospital room. Her newborn son had been born exposed to opioids — drugs she had been abusing for years. If she didn't get clean, she was at risk of losing him.

18 Aug 2017

Community-acquired infections increase with lower kidney function

Individuals with reduced kidney function may be at increased risk of developing infections acquired in the community, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

17 Aug 2017

New study finds way to improve health, lower costs among Medicaid, uninsured patients

As politicians struggle to solve the nation's healthcare problems, a new study finds a way to improve health and lower costs among Medicaid and uninsured patients.

17 Aug 2017

Gun sellers join forces to curb suicide-by-firearm, rampant in rural areas

John Yule, 53, manages Wildlife Sport Outfitters, a hunting and fishing supplies store on the edge of Manchester, N.H., and is "deeply involved in the Second Amendment community."

17 Aug 2017

Families incur largest financial burden linked to dementia care

A new study on the lifetime cost of dementia indicates that families of people living with the disease incur the largest financial burden.

17 Aug 2017

Often missing in the health care debate: Women’s voices

Women, in particular, have a lot at stake in the fight over the future of health care. Not only do many depend on insurance coverage for maternity care and contraception, they are struck more often by such diseases as autoimmune conditions, osteoporosis, breast cancer and depression.

17 Aug 2017

Study finds link between outdoor light at night and breast cancer risk

Women who live in areas with higher levels of outdoor light at night may be at higher risk for breast cancer than those living in areas with lower levels, according to a large long-term study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The link was stronger among women who worked night shifts.

17 Aug 2017

Insurers can bend out-of-network rules for patients who need specific doctors

The Affordable Care Act has so far survived Republican attempts to replace it, but many people still face insurance concerns. Below, I answer three questions from readers.

16 Aug 2017

Research shows probiotics can reduce incidence of sepsis in infants

A research team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health has determined that a special mixture of good bacteria in the body reduced the incidence of sepsis in infants in India by 40 percent at a cost of only $1 per infant.

16 Aug 2017

Doctors warm to single-payer health care

Single-payer health care is still a controversial idea in the U.S., but a majority of physicians are moving to support it, a new survey finds.

16 Aug 2017

Experts explore ways to improve safety of care for nursing home residents with dementia

By 2050, the number of people 65 and older with dementia in the United States is expected to nearly triple – from 5 million to more than 13 million – increasing the numbers in assisted living and nursing homes.

16 Aug 2017