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Come for your eye exam, leave with a band-aid on your arm

With multiple COVID-19 vaccines rapidly heading toward approval, optometrists and dentists are pushing for the authority to immunize patients during routine eye exams and dental cleanings.

3 Dec 2020

During ACA open enrollment, picking a plan invites new COVID complications

People buying their own health insurance have even more to think about this year, particularly those post-COVID-19 patients with lingering health concerns, the "long haulers," who join the club of Americans with preexisting conditions.

3 Dec 2020

Innovative, integrated approaches can improve cardiovascular health, shows study

For cardiovascular health to improve in the general population, healthcare systems will need to collect and assess treatment data, establish collaboration between researchers and healthcare professionals, and evolve patient care in real-time based on those data.

3 Dec 2020

Studies show that age bias varies among countries and even states

Elders are more respected in Japan and China and not so much in more individualistic nations like the United States and Germany, say Michigan State University researchers who conclude in a pair of studies that age bias varies among countries and even states.

1 Dec 2020

Financial symptoms could be used as early predictors of dementia

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors found that Medicare beneficiaries who go on to be diagnosed with dementia are more likely to miss payments on bills as early as six years before a clinical diagnosis.

30 Nov 2020

Study investigates whether telemedicine could enhance ER care delivery

Overcrowding in emergency rooms is a costly and concerning global problem, compromising patient care quality and experience. In a new study, a researcher from The University of Texas at Dallas investigated whether telemedicine could enhance ER care delivery.

30 Nov 2020

Medicaid expansion may lead to earlier diagnosis, improved care for colon cancer patients

The Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion for low-income people appears to lead to earlier diagnosis of colon cancer, enhanced access to care, and improved surgical care for patients with this common cancer, researchers report in a new study.

23 Nov 2020

Were you notified about missing tax forms for your ACA subsidy? Blame COVID.

The notice from the federal health insurance marketplace grabbed Andrew Schenker's attention: ACT NOW: YOU'RE AT RISK OF LOSING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE STARTING JANUARY 1, 2021.

23 Nov 2020

Study recommends key factors to address U.S. health care costs

Structuring negotiations between insurers and providers, standardizing fee-for-service payments and negotiating prices can lower the United States' health care spending by slowing the rate at which healthcare prices increase, according to a Rutgers study.

22 Nov 2020

High cost of drugs could lead to more than 1.1 million deaths among Medicare recipients

More than 1.1 million Medicare patients could die over the next decade because they cannot afford to pay for their prescription medications, according to a new study released today by the West Health Policy Center, a nonprofit and nonpartisan policy research group and Xcenda, the research arm of the drug distributor AmerisourceBergen.

19 Nov 2020

Surprise federal drug rule directs insurers to reveal what they pay for prescription drugs

Health insurance companies will have to give their customers estimated out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and disclose to the public the negotiated prices they pay for drugs, under an unexpected new Trump administration rule.

19 Nov 2020

Stronger relationships between nursing homes and health systems can enhance patient care

In a new editorial in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Kathleen Unroe, M.D., MHA, a geriatrician, is advocating for stronger relationships between health systems and nursing homes to provide better care for patients in times of crisis and during day-to-day operations.

17 Nov 2020

Fish oil and vitamin D supplements do not decrease nor increase the risk of atrial fibrillation

Taking omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D3 supplements does not neither increase nor decrease the risk of developing atrial fibrillation, according to late-breaking research presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2020.

15 Nov 2020

Women with kidney failure have low rates of contraceptive use, research finds

New research from the University of Cincinnati finds that women with kidney failure have low rates of contraceptive use.

12 Nov 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Transition interrupted

Five days after the election was called for President-elect Joe Biden, President Donald Trump has not conceded — and instead ordered his administration not to begin the transition of power.

12 Nov 2020

Nursing homes still see dangerously long waits for COVID test results

Nursing homes are still taking days to get back COVID-19 test results as many shun the Trump administration's central strategy to limit the spread of the virus among old and sick Americans.

12 Nov 2020

$Reduced lead exposure may explain the declining rates of hip fracture$

Reduced lead exposure may explain the declining rates of hip fracture

Hip fractures are one of the leading causes of hospitalization among older adults and are a strong predictor of mortality.

12 Nov 2020

Surgery studies show progress, opportunity to decrease opioid prescribing

Having surgery means placing complete trust in a team of professionals, and counting on them to fix what's wrong while keeping surgical risks as low as possible.

11 Nov 2020

Medical diagnoses of “diseases of despair” increase in Pennsylvania

Medical diagnoses involving alcohol-related disorders, substance-related disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors – commonly referred to as diseases of despair – increased in Pennsylvania health insurance claims between the years 2007 and 2018, according to researchers from Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute and Highmark Health Enterprise Analytics.

10 Nov 2020

Justices bound to see ACA as ‘indispensable,’ says Californian leading defense

When the U.S. Supreme Court hears a case Tuesday that could decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act, California will be leading the defense to uphold the federal law that touches nearly every aspect of the country's health care system.

9 Nov 2020