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Cardiac rehabilitation still underutilized despite proven benefits

Announcing a new article publication for Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications journal.

23 Nov 2023

New insights into patient-surgeon gender concordance and post-surgical mortality

Death rates after major surgery are similar regardless of whether a male or female surgeon operates on a male or female patient, finds a large US study published by The BMJ today.

22 Nov 2023

Gender concordance between patient and surgeon may not affect mortality rates, study finds

New research finds little evidence that post-surgical patient mortality is lower when patient and surgeon are the same gender.

22 Nov 2023

AI model predicts lung cancer risk in never-smokers using routine chest X-rays

Using a routine chest X-ray image, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool can identify non-smokers who are at high risk for lung cancer, according to a study being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

22 Nov 2023

A guide to long-term care insurance

If you're wealthy, you'll be able to afford help in your home or care in an assisted living facility or a nursing home. If you're poor, you can turn to Medicaid for nursing homes or aides at home.

22 Nov 2023

Long-term acute care hospital closures may have unintended consequences for patient care

Long-term acute care hospitals (LTCHs) are common sites of post-acute care for patients recovering from severe respiratory failure requiring long-term mechanical ventilation.

21 Nov 2023

Out for blood? For routine lab work, the hospital billed her $2,400

Reesha Ahmed was on cloud nine. It was January and Ahmed was at an OB-GYN's office near her home in Venus, Texas, for her first prenatal checkup.

21 Nov 2023

Lost in the mix of Medicaid ‘unwinding’: Kentucky cut off her health care over a clerical error

The day her Medicaid coverage ended, Beverly Likens was in the hospital after a scary trip to the emergency room.

21 Nov 2023

Academic medical centers may help mitigate structural racism in cardiovascular care for Black women

Investigators from the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai have found that among a cohort of women with obstructive coronary artery disease treated at academic medical centers, racial and ethnic disparities did not impact their long-term outcomes.

20 Nov 2023

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Congress kicks the (budget) can down the road. Again.

Congress narrowly avoided a federal government shutdown for the second time in as many months, as House Democrats provided the needed votes for new House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson to avoid his first legislative catastrophe of his brief tenure.

16 Nov 2023

Compensation is key to fixing primary care shortage

Money talks. The United States faces a serious shortage of primary care physicians for many reasons, but one, in particular, is inescapable: compensation.

16 Nov 2023

$3.9 million NIH grant supports research on the Effects of integrated palliative care on Parkinson’s, related dementia

A five-year, $3.9 million grant to study the effects of integrated palliative care on health service outcomes and disparities in Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's disease dementia has been awarded to UTHealth Houston and other institutions by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health.

15 Nov 2023

UVA researchers receive NIH grant to optimize online weight-management programs for rural residents

University of Virginia School of Medicine public health researchers, together with colleagues at the University of South Carolina, have received a $3.37 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to determine if online behavioral weight-management programs for rural residents can be improved by adding a human touch.

15 Nov 2023

Biden administration’s limit on drug industry middlemen backfires, pharmacists say

The Biden administration's first major step toward imposing limits on the pharmacy benefit managers who act as the drug industry's price negotiators is backfiring, pharmacists say.

15 Nov 2023

Adult children discuss the trials of caring for their aging parents

I am 39 years old. I had to care for my father, who passed from cancer in 2019; my mother, who passed in November 2021 from cancer; and since my mother's passing, I have inherited the care of my grandmother.

14 Nov 2023

Facing financial ruin as costs soar for elder care

Margaret Newcomb, 69, a retired French teacher, is desperately trying to protect her retirement savings by caring for her 82-year-old husband, who has severe dementia, at home in Seattle.

14 Nov 2023

Study reveals coadministered COVID-19 and flu vaccines effective, especially in seniors

The study in JAMA Network Open evaluates the effectiveness of simultaneously administering the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 BA.4/5 COVID-19 vaccine and seasonal influenza vaccines versus separate administration. Results suggest similar or slightly increased COVID-19 outcomes and lower influenza-related outcomes with coadministration, particularly in those aged 65 and above.

13 Nov 2023

Who will care for older adults? We’ve plenty of know-how but too few specialists

Thirty-five years ago, Jerry Gurwitz was among the first physicians in the United States to be credentialed as a geriatrician — a doctor who specializes in the care of older adults.

10 Nov 2023

Another GOP primary debate … another night of verbal clashes

On Wednesday night, a shrinking group of GOP Republican presidential hopefuls — former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — faced off in Miami for their party's third debate.

9 Nov 2023

An Arm and a Leg: ‘Your Money or Your Life’: This doctor wrote the book on medical debt

In 2019, emergency medicine physician and historian Luke Messac was working as a medical resident.

9 Nov 2023

Medicare News and Research

Cardiac rehabilitation still underutilized despite proven benefits

New insights into patient-surgeon gender concordance and post-surgical mortality

Gender concordance between patient and surgeon may not affect mortality rates, study finds

AI model predicts lung cancer risk in never-smokers using routine chest X-rays

A guide to long-term care insurance

Long-term acute care hospital closures may have unintended consequences for patient care

Out for blood? For routine lab work, the hospital billed her $2,400

Lost in the mix of Medicaid ‘unwinding’: Kentucky cut off her health care over a clerical error

Academic medical centers may help mitigate structural racism in cardiovascular care for Black women

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Congress kicks the (budget) can down the road. Again.

Compensation is key to fixing primary care shortage

$3.9 million NIH grant supports research on the Effects of integrated palliative care on Parkinson’s, related dementia

UVA researchers receive NIH grant to optimize online weight-management programs for rural residents

Biden administration’s limit on drug industry middlemen backfires, pharmacists say

Adult children discuss the trials of caring for their aging parents

Facing financial ruin as costs soar for elder care

Study reveals coadministered COVID-19 and flu vaccines effective, especially in seniors

Who will care for older adults? We’ve plenty of know-how but too few specialists

Another GOP primary debate … another night of verbal clashes

An Arm and a Leg: ‘Your Money or Your Life’: This doctor wrote the book on medical debt

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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