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Health
- United States -
Reports |
Articles
Articles
To
Save Medicare, Think Like the Patients Who Use it (May
21, 2012)
Medicare is a lifeline for senior citizens. Before its
existence, many older Americans ended up destitute
without necessary medical care. Medicare changed this
scenario, creating a safety net. It is not without its
flaws. Still, there remains no catastrophic benefit in
the Medicare program. The copays and deductibles are
costly for seniors who have fixed-incomes of less than
$30K a year. Additionally, Medicare promotes quantity
over quality, by reimbursing providers for the number of
services they perform rather than the quality of care.
Now, more doctors are limiting Medicare patients they
will treat. Will Congress find a meaningful solution?
More
Care up Front for $54 a Month (May 21, 2012)
By paying $54 per employee per month to a primary care
provider called Qliance, employees get unlimited doctor
visits to doctors. This direct primary care is very
promising. It is derived from concierge practices that
cater primarily to the affluent. Members are often
charged thousands of dollars annually for unlimited
access to their doctors. This is quite lucrative for
doctors but limits access to those that cannot pay the
membership fee. The idea is to bring down the price
point for average Americans. However, these models do
not cover anything beyond primary care. Employers often
combine direct primary care with high deductible
insurance plan to be used for hospitalizations and
visits to specialists. A House bill would create pilot
programs to offer direct primary care to Medicare
patients. But the federal law must be changed first.
Hospitals
Aren’t Hotels (March 14, 2012)
The US has announced
that by October 2012, Medicare reimbursements and
bonuses will be linked in part to scores on surveys
that independently collect data in various categories
of patient satisfaction. The surveys evaluate
behaviors that are important to high-quality care.
However, many experiences at hospitals are painful and
dehumanizing. This new policy can affect patient
responses and likely will not provide a fair and
valuable judgment of standards of care at the
hospital.
Medicare covers the Dean Ornish Program for
Reversing Heart Disease, which instills a
plant-based, meatless diet, meditation, regular
exercise and group support. Patients can receive up
to 72 one-hour sessions on lifestyle changes.
Additionally, hospitals can now bill Medicare for
their patient’s yoga sessions. Preventative medicine
costs are much less than operations and
medications.
Congress recently created a temporary fix to
calculate the fees paid to doctors by Medicare.
However, a real solution that would be fair to
doctors and make a serious effort to decrease
the rise of Medicare spending needs to be
devised. A bigger challenge will be to improve
the way medical care is provided in Medicare and
the entire health care system, which includes
costly and unnecessary services.
Doctors
‘Disgruntled’
and
Frustrated
by
Looming
Medicare
Cuts
(February
16,
2012)
The continuing
state of uncertainty surrounding the payroll tax
holiday has left doctors disgruntled. The
increasing probability of pay loss has forced
many doctors into rejecting new Medicare
patients, thus creating an access problem.
Congress must develop better ways to pay
physicians and deliver care to patients.
Aging
America
Creates
Demand
for Health-Care Workers (February 2, 2012)
The Labor
Department reported that health care and social
assistance jobs will be the fastest growing sectors.
An aging population will create 33.8 million new
positions between 2010 and 2020. There will be a 70
percent growth in personal care aides and
health-care support employment, the fastest-growing
occupations.
The Congressional
Budget Office projects the cost of government
healthcare programs will more than double by 2022.
However, CBO also projects a slow growth in Medicare
spending per beneficiary, partly because the Medicare
population will be younger, thus needing less
expensive care, even as it expands.
Teaching
Hospitals
Fight
Medicare
Cuts
(January
17,
2012)
Teaching hospitals are
pressuring lawmakers to reject cuts to their Medicare
payments, a possibility that may become reality by
March 1. Such cuts would decrease teaching hospitals’
ability to provide outpatient care to vulnerable
populations, and make it more challenging to train
future doctors in such a specialized environment.
Report
Finds
Most
Errors
at
Hospitals
Go
Unreported
(January
6,
2012)
In a study conducted by the Department of Health and
Human Services, hospital employees do not report most
errors, accidents and other events that harm Medicare
patients when they are hospitalized. Furthermore, these
hospitals rarely change their practices to stop the
repetition of adverse events. The primary problem
resides in the fact that hospital employees do not
properly identify what constitutes patient harm.
Continued commitment from the Obama administration and
hospital industry leaders has not been translated into
strong practice.
2012
Medicare
Debate:
Baby
Boomers
at
Center
of
Issue
(January
1,
2012)
Medicare is headed for big
changes despite the outcome of the 2012 Presidential
elections. By 2024, Medicare will collect payroll taxes to
pay 90 percent of benefits. Additionally, researchers
approximate that 20 to 30 percent of the more than $500
billion that Medicare spends annually is wasted on
unnecessary patient treatments. This in turn means that
policymakers will look for cuts in care rather than
payroll tax increases. Baby boomers better keep their eyes
open for changes in Medicare and direct their attention to
the high fees paid to doctors.
Private
Insurance/Other
Articles
For
the
Elderly,
Emergency Rooms of Their Own (April 9, 2012)
As part of an effort
to continue catering to the medical needs of the
elderly, hospitals like Mount Sinai in New York have
been opening geriatric emergency departments. Because
persons 65 and older make up 15 to 20 percent of
emergency room units, and is expected to increase,
elder patient satisfaction is becoming a priority.
Within these units, there are several innovations
aimed at enhancing an elder patient’s experience, such
as iPads that allow for video conversations with
nurses, and even artificial skylights.
A
Drumbeat on Profit Takers (March 19, 2012)
Arnold Relman and Marcia Angell are two former editors
of The New England Journal of Medicine who, appalled
by the health situation in the US, decided decades ago
to change things. Their crusade? Fighting
against for-profit medicine and its practice. Their
target? The medical-industrial complex that puts
stockholder interests above those of patients. Their
goal is to bring ethics back to the center of the care
system, for example, by getting rid of the private
insurance industry. Their video interview is available
on the New York Times’ website.
A
Successful and Sustainable Health System - How to
Get There from Here (March 15, 2012)
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of
2010, even if it is fully implemented, will not
represent a complete solution to the main issue of
affordability and performance in health care. First,
life expectancy in the United States is trailing
behind other countries internationally. The only
category in which the US far exceeds all other
countries is health expenditures. Now, the joint
problem of relatively low performance and high costs
impede the way of a successful and sustainable health
system. The only morally and politically
acceptable way to curtail costs is to take measures to
preserve or enhance the performance of the health
system, thus getting more value for dollars spent. For
example, the burden of chronic disease could be
mitigated through widespread public health
preventative education.
Young
Doctors
Flock
Toward
New
Specialty
in
End-of-Life
Care
(February
6,
2012)
Medical boards started recognizing the treatment of
pain and end-of-life care as an official subspecialty
four years ago. New rules effectively bar older
physicians from getting certified; doctors in their
early to mid-30s are spearheading the palliative-care
departments across the nation. These younger doctors
however, will have to overcome barriers including
generational gaps, and open communication regarding
sensitive conditions.
Nowhere
to
Go,
Patients
Linger
in
Hospitals,
at
a
High
Cost
(January
2,
2012)
Under New York State law, public hospitals are not
allowed to discharge patients to shelters or to the
street. Coupled with the lack of housing and health
insurance, illegal immigrants are often trapped in
city hospitals deprived of services that could be
provided elsewhere at a lower cost, for example, in
nursing homes. This scenario is also common in
municipal hospitals in states with large
concentrations of illegal immigrants such as
California and Texas. This recent debates over
national health care legislation ignored the situation
of illegal immigrants.
Reports | Articles
Reports
Articles
Generic
Drugs
Prove
Resistant
to Damage Suits (March 20, 2012)
Consumers of generic drugs do not have the same rights as
consumers of brand name drugs. If a patient is prescribed
a generic drug and becomes ill, he is unable to seek legal
and or financial recourse from the drug company, whereas a
patient who is administered a brand name drug has that
option. Such dismissals of generic drug consumers, and
consequently persons of lower income and the elderly,
occur due to the enactment of the Hatch-Waxman Act–a law
which authorized generic drug companies to skip the
approval process, and use, with impunity, the same warning
labels as their counterparts, under the condition that its
drugs were nearly identical to the brand name models.
Data:
Many
Medical
Marijuana
Cardholders
Are
Older
than 50 (March 19, 2012)
According to the Arizona Department of Health
Services, 35 percent of medical marijuana patients in
Arizona are between ages 51 and 81. The collected data
indicates that older (over age 40) individuals are
more likely than any other group to be consumers of
medical marijuana. This is likely because elders often
have a greater need for the drug, as they are
afflicted with more weakening medical conditions. In
contrast, detractors say that consumers are substance
abusers, not patients.
Analysis:
Goal for Alzheimer’s Drug by 2025 too Ambitious?
(January 20, 2012)
The U.S. government has set a deadline of 2025 for
finding an effective way to treat or prevent
Alzheimer’s disease. This effort was mandated by the
National Alzheimer’s Project Act and signed into law
by President Barack Obama. Some experts believe the
deadline to be unrealistic: The law provides no new
needed investment for this goal; no drug has been
found that can keep the disease from advancing;
recruitment and prevention trials would take 15 to 20
years.
HEALTHY LIVING
Reports | Articles
Articles
All Baby
Boomers Should Get Hepatitis C Test – CDC (May 18,
2012)
The Center for Disease Control is urging baby
boomers to get tested for the Hepatitis C virus. One
in 30 seniors born between 1945 and 1965 has
Hepatitis C but is unaware of it. Over 15,000
Americans, primarily baby boomers, die each year
from Hepatitis C-related illnesses. However, there
are treatments which can cure up to 75 percent of
infections.
For
Dementia Patients, Feeding Tubes May Increase Bed
Sores (May 14, 2012)
Recently, Brown University conducted a study in
which it was found, contrary to belief, that feeding
tubes increase the risk of bed sores developing in
bedridden dementia patients. In fact, 35.6 percent
of patients in the study who used feeding tubes
developed stage 2 bed sores -- open sores usually
located in the epidermis. Patients who did not use
feeding tubes and already had bed sores were also
more likely to heal.
Fitness
in Middle Age Lowers Medical Costs Later: Study
(May 10, 2012)
A collaborative study between the University of
Texas-Southwestern Medical Center and the Cooper
Institute found that men and women who led
fitness-related lifestyles significantly lowered
medical expenses as they aged compared to people who
did not exercise regularly. The study's findings
were so consistent that even when certain risk
factors are present in older individuals, exercise
still seemed to lower their medical costs.
After
Foreclosures, Hidden Addictions Emerge Among
Elders (April 23, 2012)
Physicians are now asking their older patients if
they have been taking illicit drugs. According to
the Centers for Disease Control, the number of
positive drug tests has increased during the
recession, especially among seniors who have
experienced home foreclosures.
For
Elders With Dementia, Musical Awakenings (April
18, 2012)
Social worker Dan Cohen creates customized iPod
playlists for older persons with dementia in hopes
of reviving old memories. Since 2008, he has put
iPods in four different eldercare facilities in New
York City where staff have given him positive
feedback about increased socialization among
patients who listen to the music. Cohen wants to
expand the project by reducing the costs and running
iPod donation drives.
Substance Abuse in Seniors Expected to Rise (April
16, 2012)
Older persons in the US will likely need substance
abuse treatment as they age. The increase is
expected to go from 2.8 million at present to 5.7
million by the year 2020. Because many doctors
lack training in how to spot signs of addiction in
patients, it is important for patients seeking
medication to ask for an evaluation to verify the
possibility of dependency. Currently, the most
problematic drug is Oxycontin, but anxiety and
anti-depressants are also heavily abused.
Endless
Screenings Don’t Bring Everlasting Health (April
16, 2012)
Nine major medical specialty groups published a list
of 45 tests and procedures that often have no
specific benefit for patients and instead can cause
harm. In a national survey, most US citizens believe
that cancer screening is almost always a good idea
and that finding cancer early saves lives most of
the time. However, finding cancer early isn’t
enough. To reduce cancer deaths, the treatment must
work, yet it doesn’t always. Second, these
treatments often work better when started earlier.
Last, some of the worst cancers aren’t detected by
screening. The benefits of screening depend on your
chances of dying without screening. Overdiagnosis
can turn people into patients and lead to
unnecessary surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
Talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of
any procedure.
Too
Many Pills for Aging Patients (April 16, 2012)
Overmedication of older persons is a growing
problem. More than 40 percent of people over age 65
take five or more medications, and each year about
one-third of them experience dangerous side
effects. The American Geriatrics Society
updated a series of guidelines and published in its
Journal of as a way to bring attention to the issue
and help practicing physicians teach their patients
about drug safety. Patients most know their
rights, ask questions and be prepared.
Longevity
Up
in
US,
but Education Creates Disparity, Study Says (April
3, 2012)
Americans are living longer, but the gains in life
span are disproportionate and in favor among the
better educated, according to a new report by
researchers at the University of Wisconsin. The
findings show that there is a stronger link between
college education and longevity.
101
Year-Old
Woman Sets Paragliding World Record (March 21,
2012)
(Article in French)
To celebrate her 101st birthday, Mary Allen
Hardison, a resident of Ogden, Utah, decided on
September 1 to try paragliding for the first time.
For the occasion, she gathered four generations of
her family to cheer her on! She becomes the oldest
woman to paraglide, a world record approved by the
Guinness World Records Academy. For her, jumping was
a means of challenging her 75-year-old son, and a
way of showing that by staying active, older people
remain healthy.
Aging
and Anorexia Part II: Advice on Eating Disorders
in Midlife and Beyond (February 29, 2012)
In the second part of this interview, Dr. Bishop at
the Eating Recovery Center points out that while
older persons dealing with eating disorders have
greater awareness (and less denial), their bodies
are physically less resilient. Older women with
eating disorders are more often suffering from
relapses. Older women (versus those in midlife)
often develop food disorders from food phobia and
not from dieting.
Doctors See More STDs
in Older Patients (February 26, 2012)
Doctors are now treating more cases of STDs in older
people even though the numbers remain low. Older
people are less likely to be concerned with safe
sex, even as more elderly people are engaging in sex
with new partners, especially when pregnancy is not
possible. In Ohio, the number of people
between ages 45 and 64 newly diagnosed with HIV or
AIDS rose from 170 in 2000 to 261 in 2010.
Anorexia
and Aging: Is There a Silent Crisis of Eating
Disorders in Older Women? (February 25, 2012)
While there is a lot of information available on
eating disorders among teenage girls, little
attention is paid or information offered about
eating disorders in older women--an emerging issue.
Often, symptoms in older women are attributed to
“that's just the way she is." In a 2006 survey of a
randomly selected nonclinical sampling of 1,000
women ages 60-70, more than 80 percent controlled
their weight and more than 60 percent stated they
were dissatisfied with their bodies.
Musical
Experience Slows Aging in the Brain, Study Finds
(February 23, 2012)
Researchers at Northwestern University report that
musicians who have learned and played a musical
instrument since the age of nine experience less
neural aging. Older musicians have the same hearing
ability as younger musicians, while older
non-musicians are less sensitive to sound than
younger non-musicians.
Avoiding
Surgery
in
the
Elderly
(January 25, 2012)
It is becoming more evident that for the very old,
nursing home residents specifically, hospitals are
places to avoid and surgery can become a source of
great risk. Using national Medicare claims and
nursing home surveys, approximately 71,000 nursing
home residents who had surgery from 1999 through
2006 were identified. The information was then
compared with more than a million elders who
underwent the same procedures but did not reside in
a nursing home. The risk of dying increased sharply
for those living in nursing homes.
Grapes Are Great for Elderly Vision Health
(January 17, 2012)
(Article in
Russian)
The Free Radical Journal published a study from New
York University researchers regarding the benefits
of grapes on eye retina tissue. They found that
grapes significantly slow down age-related macular
degeneration. Scientists believe that the
antioxidant properties of grapes help older adults
prevent macular degeneration and, by doing so,
prevent age-related blindness.
New
York City Has Longest Life Expectancy (January 13,
2012)
(Article in
Russian)
New York City was awarded first place in the US in
terms of its residents’ life expectancy. The average
age of Big Apple residents is roughly 2.5 years
longer than the average age of the residents of
other US cities. The current average life expectancy
of New York women is 83, 78 for men. The only
disadvantage of the longevity is that many women
have to grow old alone.
Socially
Active Older People are Happier (January 9, 2012)
(Article in
Spanish)
Dr. Florence Clark of the University of Southern
California conducted a study of the elderly whose
results indicated that loneliness can be deadly.
This research was carried out with 285 elderly
people divided into three groups: one received
occupational therapy; the second had activities and
the third had no activities. This study showed that
sharing time at dinner and playing card games are
simple things that can encourage seniors to achieve
a better quality of life, including better health.
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