Primary Care News and Research

Latest Primary Care News and Research

Australian sports medicine experts invited to lend skills for Vancouver Winter Olympics

Two of Australia's sports medicine experts have accepted the only invitation issued to non-Canadian physiotherapists to provide physiotherapy services at the Vancouver Winter Olympics polyclinic.

3 Feb 2010

Tenet Healthcare signs multi-year agreement with MultiPlan

Tenet Healthcare Corporation today announced that it signed a multi-year agreement with MultiPlan, Inc., effective Jan. 1, 2010. The agreement includes participation in the PHCS (formerly Private Healthcare Systems) Network, the MultiPlan Network and, in select markets, PHCS Savility, which is MultiPlan’s newest primary PPO network.

3 Feb 2010

Local programs for medical homes, free care may offer blueprint for larger changes

News outlets explore the increasingly popular concept of "medical homes" -- a coordinated system that emphasizes primary care, prevention and wellness -- and another program that provides free care to those in need.

2 Feb 2010

Aetna, Grove City Medical Center sign a three-year agreement

Aetna announced today that it has signed a three-year agreement with Grove City Medical Center, expanding network access for its members in Western Pennsylvania’s Mercer County.

2 Feb 2010

Leapfrog Group urges hospitals to report infection rates for consumers’ benefit

For the first time, in 2009, The Leapfrog Group asked hospitals across the country on behalf of Leapfrog's purchaser members to publicly report their rates of one of the most common and deadly forms of hospital-acquired infections: central-line associated blood stream infections, or CLABSIs.

2 Feb 2010

Millennials overly optimistic about their health despite unhealthy habits

According to Life University, a leading chiropractic college and vital health university, Millennials (ages 15-27), are overly optimistic about their own health, despite admitting to the same unhealthy habits that have caused chronic illness in previous generations.

2 Feb 2010

MEND Program: Effective treatment for pediatric obesity

Ground-breaking results from a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the MEND Program (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it!), a multi-component community-based childhood obesity intervention (www.mendcentral.org), are published today in the US journal Obesity (www.nature.com/oby/journal/v18/n1s/abs/oby2009433a.html). The results coincide with the launch of Michelle Obama's initiative to reduce childhood obesity announced in the State of the Union speech.

2 Feb 2010

Researchers urge policy makers to consider coverage for smoking and weight loss counseling

Reducing obesity and smoking have become national priorities in the United States. Research has shown that intensive counseling can positively impact each problem. However, because such counseling is typically not covered by medical insurance, cost can be a barrier.

2 Feb 2010

ADT can worsen heart risk factors and may increase the risk of heart attack

Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), commonly used to treat prostate cancer, can worsen heart risk factors and may increase the risk of heart attack and/or cardiac death, although the relationship between ADT and heart attack or cardiac death has not been definitively established, according to a science advisory published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association and CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

2 Feb 2010

Ipsen reports consolidated group sales of €1,032.8M for 2009

Ipsen reported today its sales for the fourth quarter and full year 2009.

1 Feb 2010

PeaceHealth-San Juan Island community's new hospital initiative receives Certificate of Need approval

State of Washington Department of Health (DOH) officials approved a Certificate of Need for a new critical access hospital on San Juan Island. The new facility will be owned and operated by PeaceHealth, a regional health system that serves communities in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

30 Jan 2010

MMA continues to support GAMC program

The Minnesota Medical Association Board of Trustees decided Saturday that it will continue to support efforts to save the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program, but not if such efforts include cuts in payments for services, since the existing payments already do not cover the cost of providing care.

30 Jan 2010

Novel health care approaches: The 'Medical Home' and 'Medicine at Work'

WBUR (Boston) reports that the term "medical home" has "become a health reform buzzword" and is "touted as a way to cut costs and improve primary care. Massachusetts recently launched several programs to create medical homes."

30 Jan 2010

Research roundup: Raising seniors' co-pays increases costs; The stimulus and safety net providers

New England Journal of Medicine: Increased Ambulatory Care Copayments And Hospitalizations Among The Elderly - This study examines the consequences of increasing copayments for outpatient care of Medicare enrollees in managed-care plans. "As compared with matched control plans in which copayments for ambulatory care were unchanged, Medicare plans that increased these copayments by an average of 95% for primary care and 74% for specialty care had a reduction in the number of outpatient visits but an increase in hospital admissions, in the number of days of hospital care, and in the proportion of enrollees who used hospital care," the authors write.

30 Jan 2010

Today's opinions and editorials

By not acknowledging America's concerns about health reform Wednesday night, the president appeared inflexible and incapable of real compromise (Dr. Marc Siegel, 1/28).

30 Jan 2010

Quantrx Biomedical signs agreement to acquire NuRx Pharmaceuticals

QuantRx Biomedical Corporation today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire NuRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCBB: NUXP). The transaction is structured as a tax-free, all stock acquisition resulting in a combined company with no debt and a simplified ownership and capital structure.

29 Jan 2010

ACP urges Congress to reach agreement on comprehensive health reform legislation

The American College of Physicians (ACP) today urged Congressional leaders to "reach agreement on a legislative pathway to provide affordable care to all Americans and ensure that they have access to primary care physicians and other specialties facing shortages."

29 Jan 2010