Primary Care News and Research

Latest Primary Care News and Research

Celera and Aurora to collaborate on cardiovascular genetics

Aurora Health Care, Wisconsin's largest health care provider, and Celera Corporation announced today that they have entered into an agreement to collaborate on the integration of genetic testing aimed at optimizing heart care for Aurora patients

6 Aug 2009

Neurosurgeons support new healthcare reform bill

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) announced their support for many of the provisions contained in H.R. 3400, the “Empowering Patients First Act,” which was unveiled in Congress last week.

6 Aug 2009

Take Care Health Systems now offering nebulizer treatments for acute respiratory distress

Take Care Health Systems is now offering nebulizer treatments, when clinically appropriate, for clinic patients exhibiting acute respiratory distress.

6 Aug 2009

Therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest is cost-effective

A brain-preserving cooling treatment called therapeutic hypothermia is a cost-effective way to improve outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which claims the lives of more than 300,000 people each year in the United States and leaves thousands of others neurologically devastated.

6 Aug 2009

$1 million grant to Rhode Island hospital for melanoma screening training program

Rhode Island Hospital dermatologist Martin Weinstock, MD, PhD, has received a $1 million, 2-year Team Science Award grant from the Melanoma Research Alliance to serve as principal investigator to develop a training program for primary care physicians to improve melanoma screening in primary care. The goal is to develop a web-based training module that will lead to earlier detection of melanoma and ultimately reduce the number of melanoma deaths by half.

6 Aug 2009

Louisiana cuts rates for Medicaid providers

"Louisiana will start paying less money Tuesday to many private health care providers for taking care of Medicaid patients, a move the state health department estimates will save $86 million this year," The Associated Press/The Advocate reports.

4 Aug 2009

Comp. effectiveness promises better, cheaper health care but cricits link it to rationing

"Federal health agencies, seeking to hand out stimulus funds to research the effectiveness of various medical treatments, said they will include projects that look in part at the cost of drugs and other treatments.

3 Aug 2009

Doctor shortage and disparities after reform examined, nurses prepare for changing role

A former Clinton administration official said last week that there aren't enough doctors in America to handle the increase in patients if health reform covers more uninsured, NPR reports.

3 Aug 2009

Divisions over future Medicare spending surface in house

"A week-old agreement among House Democrats to smooth out disparities in the way Medicare reimburses rural and urban health providers is in danger of crumbling, as disputes erupted Friday over what actually was agreed to," The Wall Street Journal reports.

3 Aug 2009

Maternal mortality; health system strengthening, Opinions

Columnist Nicholas Kristof examines maternal health in developing countries in his latest New York Times opinion piece. Kristof describes a Pakistani woman's birth experience to illustrate the sort of "dramas" that "play out constantly in poor countries" where one "woman dies a minute from complications of pregnancy or childbirth somewhere in the world, and 20 times as many suffer childbirth injuries," he writes.

30 Jul 2009

Primary care gets boost from stimulus money, experiment on 'medical home'

"Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday that $200 million will be available for grants, loans, loan repayments and scholarships for the training of some 8,000 health professionals by the end of fiscal 2010," Congressional Quarterly reports.

30 Jul 2009

System 50 years out of date for chronic illness

Many people with chronic health conditions have more than one disease, which makes caring for them much more complex. Unfortunately, the way our health system is structured now, and the way it is paid for, reflects the health needs our society had about 50 years ago.

27 Jul 2009

NHS on the cards for an ailing Australian health system

A new report is recommending a Federal takeover of the Australian public health and dental system - the report by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) says the health system is under strain and in need of a new prescription.

27 Jul 2009

More than half of primary care doctor graduates are immigrants

"Nationally, about a quarter of all residency graduates began their medical training abroad. And in primary care - where there is a national shortage of physicians - more than half of all graduates are immigrants," The Concord Monitor reports.

22 Jul 2009

Health care experts examine top performing, low cost communities

Talk about health care reform efforts has focused largely on all that is wrong with the current system. In contrast, an event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., examined best practices in ten top performing communities where they spend less and have better quality of care.

22 Jul 2009

Small businesses, doctors voice concerns about health reform

"Small business is suddenly playing a big role in negotiations over health care," NPR reports. "Supporters and opponents of various plans to overhaul the system are all trying to paint themselves as champions of mom and pop entrepreneurs."

20 Jul 2009

Software improves patient satisfaction at discharge from hospital

When hospitalists use discharge communication software, patients and the outpatient doctors who carry out the care have better perceptions of the quality of the discharge process, according to new research published in the August issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

17 Jul 2009

Insurer, tech vendor plan major 'telehealth' network

A major health insurer, UnitedHealth, and a computer networking company, Cisco Systems, are teaming up to create "a network of virtual clinics to make medical care available in offices, stores and rural areas around the country," Bloomberg reports.

16 Jul 2009

Women veterans don't always get privacy at VA clinics

Veterans Affairs hospitals and outpatient clinics under review are not always complying fully with federal privacy requirements, often exposing women when they bathe or receive exams, according to government auditors, The Associated Press reports.

15 Jul 2009

New research tool – map of genomic variation for diagnosing and identifying genetic problems

Genetics researchers have unveiled a powerful new resource for scientists and health providers studying human illnesses -- a reference standard of deletions and duplications of DNA found in the human genome. Drawn from over 2,000 healthy persons, the study provides one of the deepest and broadest sets of copy number variations (CNVs) available to date, along with a new research tool for diagnosing and identifying genetic problems in patients.

15 Jul 2009