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France, Japan and Australia top in dealing with preventable deaths...U.S. bottom!

When it comes to dealing with preventable deaths researchers have found that the French, Japanese and Australians are at the top of the league and the Americans at the bottom.

9 Jan 2008

Study proves the co-pay connection in chronic disease

As 2008 begins, millions of Americans are having to dig deeper into their own pockets every time they refill a prescription or see a doctor.

9 Jan 2008

Bisphosphonates appear to reduce the risk of jaw degradation

Athanasios Zavras began receiving messages from distraught patients in 2005 after case reports linked oral osteoporosis meds to bone death in the jaw.

3 Jan 2008

Health improves for previously uninsured adults after receiving Medicare coverage

Previously uninsured adults who received Medicare coverage reported improvements in health, especially those with cardiovascular disease or diabetes, according to a study in the December 26 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

28 Dec 2007

Health coverage improves health and reduces major heart complications

As presidential candidates ramp up their primary campaigns, health care reform looms prominently among voters' main concerns.

28 Dec 2007

Brief intervention helps emergency patients reduce drinking

Asking emergency department patients about their alcohol use and talking with them about how to reduce harmful drinking patterns is an effective way to lower rates of risky drinking in these patients, according to a nationwide collaborative study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

28 Dec 2007

Health care savings, coverage for all could lower spending $1.5 trillion over 10 years

Guaranteed health insurance for all combined with several federal policy options to achieve health care system savings could result in $1.5 trillion in reduced spending over 10 years, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report prepared by Fund staff and the Lewin Group for study by the Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System.

20 Dec 2007

Study finds disease management programs improve the quality of health care

Disease management programs that help guide the care of patients with chronic health problems appear to improve the quality of health care, but there is little evidence that such efforts actually save money, according to a study issued by the RAND Corporation.

10 Dec 2007

New recommendations provide evidence-based solutions to America's many health care problems

In a new evidence-based paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) analyzes health care in the United States and 12 other industrialized countries and identifies lessons that could be applied to the particular political and social culture of the United States to achieve a high performing health care system, including achieving universal health insurance coverage for all Americans.

4 Dec 2007

America's mental health ranked

Mental Health America has released its report, "Ranking America's Mental Health: An Analysis of Depression Across the States," a first-of-its-kind study examining state and national data for statistical associations between factors that govern access to mental health care and actual mental health outcomes, including suicide rates.

29 Nov 2007

Lack of health insurance may stop some diabetics from seeking critical treatment

With more than 80,000 lower-limb amputations reported annually among people with diabetes in the United States, there's a possibility many amputations, especially among African-Americans, could have been prevented if patients had health insurance.

20 Nov 2007

Worrying about your health will just make you sick

According to a newly released survey people are increasingly worried about their own and their family's health. The irony is that the worry itself could be doing significant damage to their health.

19 Nov 2007

A comprehensive survey on the health of college students

A report released by the University of Minnesota Boynton Health Service is the first of its kind in the nation to conduct a comprehensive survey on the health of college students.

16 Nov 2007

People with schizophrenia are more likely to suffer from ruptured appendix

People with mental illness suffer more than just psychological problems. People with schizophrenia are more likely to suffer from ruptured appendix than others, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health.

16 Nov 2007

Rising drug expenditures for ADHD

The NHS is likely to face a 10-fold increase in the cost of drugs prescribed to children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the decade to 2012.

16 Nov 2007

75% of Medicare beneficiaries with stand-alone prescription drug plans could face premium increases in 2008

The open enrollment period for the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit begins Thursday and continues through the end of the year, and beneficiaries should "look closely" at their plans because many of them are increasing premiums, copayments and deductibles, the Baltimore Sun reports.

12 Nov 2007

MedPAC finds uneven quality in newer Medicare Advantage plans

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission officials at a meeting on Friday expressed concern over data showing differences in quality among newer Medicare Advantage plans and increasing enrollment in private fee-for-service MA plans, CQ HealthBeat reports.

12 Nov 2007

Proposals for health care reform face many barriers

Supporters of health care reform, each time they offered new proposals, expected "popular clamor" to "drive elected officials to end the national embarrassment of millions of uninsured and rein in health expenditures that were needlessly high and bought less than they should," but, each time, "reformers were right in their indictment and wrong in their political judgments," Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece.

6 Nov 2007

Group sues to obtain records on Clinton health care task force

Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the National Archives to obtain records on the White House task force on health care led by then-first lady Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the group announced on Monday, the AP/Denver Post reports.

6 Nov 2007

Heart attacks/pneumonia falls short of national goals

Emergency departments across the nation are failing to meet national goals in treating many heart attack and pneumonia patients, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers published in the October issue of Academic Emergency Medicine.

1 Nov 2007