http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news from Group Health Research Institute Researchers used electronic health records to identify Group Health patients who weren't screened regularly for cancer of the colon and rectum—and to encourage them to be screened. This centralized, automated approach doubled these patients' rates of on-time screening—and saved health costs—over two years. The March 5 Annals of Internal Medicine published the randomized controlled trial. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-colon-cancer-screening-e-health.html Cancer Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:43:29 EST news281601740 Children age 12 to 35 months who receive DTaP vaccine in their thigh muscle rather than their arm are around half as likely to be brought in for medical attention for an injection-site reaction. So says a new study of 1.4 million children at Group Health and seven other Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) centers across the country, e-published on January 14 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-reaction-dtap-vaccine-kids-thighs.html Pediatrics Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:10:17 EST news277298272 After gastric bypass surgery, diabetes goes away for some people—often even before they lose much weight. So does that mean gastric surgery "cures" diabetes? Not necessarily, according to the largest community-based study of long-term diabetes outcomes after bariatric surgery. For most people in the study, e-published in advance of print in Obesity Surgery, diabetes either never remitted after gastric surgery or relapsed within five years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-gastric-bypass-surgery-diabetes-doesnt.html Overweight and Obesity Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:21:38 EST news273165685 After Group Health Cooperative introduced video-based "decision aids" for people with knee and hip arthritis, rates of knee and hip replacement surgeries dropped sharply: by 38 and 26 percent, respectively, over six months. The cost of caring for those patients also declined: by 12 percent to 21 percent, according to an article in the September Health Affairs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-decision-aids-surgery-arthritis.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:00:01 EST news265964898 Women who have breast cancer and are treated with two chemotherapy drugs may experience more cardiac problems like heart failure than shown in previous studies, according to a new Cancer Research Network study by Group Health researchers and others in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-heart-problems-chemo-drugs-breast.html Cancer Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:00:01 EST news265550767 In the United States, clinicians are struggling to provide better and more affordable health care to more people—while keeping up with new scientific developments. The idea of a "learning health system" is one proposed solution for rapidly applying the best available scientific evidence in real-time clinical practice. In the August 7 Annals of Internal Medicine, a Group Health Cooperative team describes the experience of turning this intriguing concept into action. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-health-idea-action.html Health Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:00:02 EST news263489226 People have more and more chances to participate in genetic testing that can indicate their range of risk for developing a disease. Receiving these results does not appreciably drive up— or diminish—test recipients' demand for potentially costly follow-up health services, according to a new study in the May 17, 2012 early online issue of Genetics in Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-genetic-trigger-health.html Genetics Thu, 17 May 2012 11:35:43 EST news256473333 The collaborative TEAMcare program for people with depression and either diabetes, heart disease, or both appears at least to pay for itself, according to a UW Medicine and Group Health Research Institute report in the May 7 Archives of General Psychiatry. Over two years, after accounting for the $1,224 per patient that the program cost, it may save as much as $594 per patient in outpatient costs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-team-chronic-diseases-cost-effective.html Health Mon, 07 May 2012 16:00:07 EST news255613977 Choosing when to start regular breast cancer screening is a complicated decision for individual women and their providers. For most women, increasing age is the biggest risk factor for breast cancer, which is much more common at age 60 than at 40. But two new articles on other risk factors may inform guidelines and clinical practice about screening mammography from age 40 to 49. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-factors-breast-cancer-screening.html Cancer Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:30:01 EST news255023036