http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay) -- The United States spends more on health care than any other country, but those high costs may be paying off in cancer survival, a new report suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cancer-higher-europe-survival-longer.html Cancer Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:00:01 EST news253207469 (HealthDay) -- Screening people at high risk for lung cancer could be at least as cost-effective as screening for breast, colorectal and cervical cancers, a new study suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-lung-cancer-screening-analysis.html Cancer Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:40:01 EST news253207319 In the current hyper-charged United States healthcare debate, the focus on lowering cost without compromising quality of care remains a priority. But according to a new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues, one common approach may have serious unintended consequences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-caution-curbing-overuse-healthcare-resources.html Health Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:31:07 EST news253207858 (HealthDay) -- For office-based physicians, electronic access to patient imaging and laboratory test results does not decrease -- and may actually increase -- the number of diagnostic tests ordered, according to research published in the March issue of Health Affairs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-electronic-result-access.html Health Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:10:01 EST news250262874 (Medical Xpress) -- The cost of caring for the uninsured population who will gain coverage through the Affordable Care Act of 2014 can be reduced by almost half once the act is implemented, according to a new study from Virginia Commonwealth University researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-uninsured-significantly-ed.html Health Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:10:01 EST news247998679 (AP) -- Trust your doctor? A survey finds that some doctors aren't always completely honest with their patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-mds-honest-patients.html Health Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:33:50 EST news247944824 A University of Connecticut researcher known for his work on red wine's benefits to cardiovascular health falsified his data in more than 100 instances, university officials said Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-red-wine-accused-falsifying.html Other Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:39:42 EST news245522365 An Emory University study published in the January issue of Health Affairs assesses real-world lifestyle interventions to help delay or prevent the costly chronic disease that affects nearly 26 million Americans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-diabetes-spotlight-lifestyle-interventions.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:40:05 EST news245420652 Is health-care relief finally in sight? Health spending stabilized as a share of the nation's economy in 2010 after two back-to-back years of historically low growth, the government reported Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-america-health.html Health Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:05:34 EST news245354727 A study on the geographic mobility of registered nurses (RNs) recently published in the December Health Affairs magazine suggests that the profession's relative lack of mobility has serious implications for access to health care for people in rural areas. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-registered-nurses-lack-geographic-mobility.html Health Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:50:01 EST news242649546 At a time when most new moms are bonding with their babies, Cheri Stout-Robinson was hospitalized for treatment of flesh-eating bacteria. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-war-hospital-infections.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:50:01 EST news242383028 Health care coverage increased dramatically in parts of China between 1997 and 2006, a period when government interventions were implemented to improve access to health care, with particularly striking upswings in rural areas, according to new research by Brown University sociologist Susan E. Short and Hongwei Xu of the University of Michigan. The findings appear in the December issue of Health Affairs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-chinese-health-coverage-efforts.html Health Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:37:55 EST news242325454 Chronically and seriously ill adults who received care from a medical home—an accessible primary care practice that helps coordinate care—were less likely to report medical errors, test duplication, and other care coordination failures, according to a new Commonwealth Fund international survey of patients' experiences in the U.S. and 10 other high-income countries. Published as a Health Affairs "Web First" article, the study also found that patients connected with medical homes had better relationships with their doctors and rated their care more highly. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-international-health-survey-sicker-adults.html Health Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:39:38 EST news240039555 The number of low-income, uninsured Americans enrolling in Medicaid under the expanded coverage made possible by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 could vary considerably from the levels currently projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. They report that it's probably more realistic to say somewhere between 8 million and 22 million may enroll in Medicaid by 2014 instead of the 16 million predicted by the CBO. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-policymakers-major-uncertainties-medicaid-expansion.html Health Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:55:57 EST news238866949 Where you live could play a larger role in health disparities than originally thought, according to a new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. They examined a racially integrated, low-income neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland and found that, with the exception of smoking, nationally reported disparities in hypertension, diabetes, obesity among women and use of health services disappeared or narrowed. The results are featured in the October 2011 issue of Health Affairs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-larger-health-disparities.html Health Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:37:35 EST news237116232 (AP) -- The nation's worst hospitals treat twice the proportion of elderly black patients and poor patients than the best hospitals, and their patients are more likely to die of heart attacks and pneumonia, new research shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-worst-hospitals-larger-poor.html Health Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:00:01 EST news237051370 Two decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act went into effect, people with disabilities continue to face difficulties meeting major social needs, including obtaining appropriate access to health care facilities and services. In an article in the October issue of Health Affairs, Lisa Iezzoni, MD, director of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, analyzes available information on disparities affecting people with disabilities and highlights barriers that continue to restrict their access to health services. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-health-affairs-article-focuses-disparities.html Health Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:34:53 EST news237051286 At the beginning of the 2011-12 flu season, a new study finds that the proportion of nursing home patients who get a shot remains lower than a national public health goal and that the rate is lower for blacks than for whites. The disparity persists even within individual nursing homes, said researchers at Brown University, who investigated the disparity and some of the reasons behind it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-nursing-home-flu-shots-fall.html Health Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:34:07 EST news237051239 The number of underinsured adults -- those with health insurance all year, but also with very high medical expenses relative to their incomes -- rose by 80 percent between 2003-2010, from 16 million to 29 million, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study published in the September issue of Health Affairs. Nearly half (44%) of U.S. adults -- 81 million people -- were either underinsured or uninsured in 2010, up from 75 million in 2007 and 61 million in 2003. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-underinsured-percent-.html Health Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:14:01 EST news234677622 (AP) -- A healthy diet is expensive and could make it difficult for Americans to meet new U.S. nutritional guidelines, according to a study published Thursday that says the government should do more to help consumers eat healthier. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-healthy-privilege-rich.html Health Thu, 04 Aug 2011 04:20:01 EST news231647115 Hospitals across the nation are increasingly implementing palliative care programs to help patients manage the physical and emotional burdens of serious illnesses, but a new University of Georgia study finds that 82 percent of the state's hospitals do not offer palliative care services. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-georgia-hospitals-lag-palliative-ill.html Health Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:46:46 EST news229614394 In the last decade, minorities have poured into nursing homes at a time when whites have left in even greater numbers, according to a new Brown University study that suggests a racial disparity in elder care options in the United States. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-disparity-nursing-homes-whites-minorities.html Health Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:40:11 EST news229257600 As the nation seeks to expand health care coverage to more citizens without adding burdensome costs, researchers from Harvard University, Brigham and Women's Hospital and CVS Caremark reported that preventative health care may be significantly less costly than previously thought, due to expanded use of cost-effective generic medications for the treatment and prevention of chronic disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-medications-economics-chronically-ill-patients.html Health Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:12:40 EST news229255945 Giving wealthier counties greater access to influenza vaccine than poorer counties could worsen a flu epidemic because poor areas have fairly high population densities with higher levels of interaction among households and communities, enabling the infection to spread faster, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-inequitable-access-flu-vaccinations-worsen.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:08:14 EST news226915659 Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger report the lowest number of confirmed meningitis A cases ever recorded during an epidemic season this year following the successful introduction of a new vaccine that could eliminate the primary cause of the deadly disease from Africa's meningitis belt, announced the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) today, which spearheaded development of the vaccine. Also today, a new analysis published in the journal Health Affairs shows that introducing this vaccine in seven highly endemic African countries could save as much as US$300 million over a decade and prevent a million cases of disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-fall-cases-meningitis-west-african.html Medications Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:04:56 EST news226814665 Massachusetts' innovative use of "pay-for-performance" bonuses to try to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the case of Medicaid patients has turned up no evidence of the problem at any of the state's 66 acute-care hospitals, according to a new study that raises questions about the effectiveness of the state's novel approach. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-hospital-pay-for-performance-falls-short-goals.html Health Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:03:49 EST news226814616 Currently, one in five elderly patients discharged from a hospital is readmitted within a month. Seeking to address the human and substantial financial burden of revolving door hospital readmissions, the Affordable Care Act proposes a number of initiatives to improve care and health outcomes and reduce costs for the growing population of chronically ill people in the U.S. While transitional care is a central theme in these provisions, there is little information available to guide those responsible for implementing these important opportunities. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-revolving-door-hospital-re-admissions.html Health Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:28:19 EST news226146487 Unrealistic and uninformed media portrayals of weight not only can negatively influence individual behavior, but can impact how policymakers approach issues of weight and health. The result, according to experts from the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance and the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), is a continued belief that these issues are largely a matter of personal responsibility and that little can or should be done in policy to address them. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-words-policy-health.html Health Mon, 09 May 2011 12:37:51 EST news224163432 Air pollution from industrial sources near Michigan public schools jeopardizes children's health and academic success, according to a new study from University of Michigan researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-air-pollution-michigan-schools-linked.html Health Wed, 04 May 2011 14:49:39 EST news223739349 With growing evidence of the link between exposure to toxic chemicals and chronic diseases, especially in children, the United States needs to step up its efforts to protect the public from hazardous chemicals, say researchers writing in the May issue of Health Affairs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), stymied by the outdated Toxic Substances Control Act, must seek partners in academia to help evaluate the risks of industrial chemicals on the market today, say Sarah A. Vogel of the Johnson Family Foundation and Jody Roberts of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-efforts-restrict-chemicals-threaten-health.html Health Wed, 04 May 2011 04:56:54 EST news223703796