http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—Health care spending is much higher for older Americans than for younger adults and children, on average, and analysts have said that increasing spending leads to longer life expectancy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-health-yield.html Health Wed, 22 May 2013 09:00:05 EST news288429838 The increasing proportion of the population that received treatment for a specific medical condition – called "treated disease prevalence"—along with higher spending per treated case accounted for most of the rise in health care spending in the U.S. between 1987 and 2009, according to a recent analysis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-medical-treatment-greatest-health.html Health Mon, 06 May 2013 16:00:10 EST news287073417 A slowdown in the growth of U.S. health care costs could mean that Americans could save as much as $770 billion on Medicare spending over the next decade, Harvard economists say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-slowdown-health-growth-americans-billion.html Health Mon, 06 May 2013 16:00:05 EST news287059565 (HealthDay)—A geographically based value index to set Medicare reimbursements may not take into account differences in health care decision-making by individual practitioners or organizations, according to an interim report released March 22 by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-geographic-index-efficient.html Health Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:40:01 EST news284302548 (HealthDay)—For specific types of surgery, minimally invasive procedures correlate with significantly lower health plan spending and fewer days of absence from work, compared with standard surgery, according to a study published online March 20 in JAMA Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-impact-minimally-invasive-surgery.html Surgery Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:30:01 EST news283095583 The wide consensus that health care spending poses a threat to the nation's fiscal solvency has led to the championing of "value" as a goal of health care reform efforts. But the divergence of opinions between patients and physicians on the meaning of value presents an obstacle to progress in achieving genuine reform, says Lisa Rosenbaum, MD, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and cardiologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-emphasis-health-reform-messages-physician.html Health Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:00:09 EST news281808174 Clogged arteries and sedentary lifestyles have replaced germs as the world's leading killers. Where hunger once held much of the world in its grip, the 1.6 billion overweight and obese now outnumber the malnourished by nearly 2-to-1. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-obesity-consequences-rapidly-world.html Health Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:50:02 EST news278689633 (AP)—The government says Americans kept health care spending in check for three consecutive years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-unusual-respite-surging-health.html Health Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:51:44 EST news276799899 Despite wide investments nationally in electronic medical records and related tools, the cost-saving promise of health information technology has not been reached because the systems deployed are neither interconnected nor easy to use, according to a new RAND Corporation analysis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-health-fulfill-technology.html Health Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:00:12 EST news276771601 (Medical Xpress)—Implementation of the Mental Health Parity Act could save tens, possibly hundreds of billions of dollars and prevent needless suffering. The federal government has promised further guidance about how the law applies, but to date, there is confusion and no publicly available compliance data. Judith Bentkover, academic director of Brown's Executive Master of Health-Care Leadership Program, urges citizens and elected leaders to break the silence around mental-health services. Her essay originally appeared in the Providence Journal on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-mental-health-parity.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 24 Dec 2012 05:48:43 EST news275550511 (HealthDay)—The cost of lost productivity among U.S. workers with cancer is equal to 20 percent of the nation's health care spending, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-cancer-billions-yearly-worker-productivity.html Cancer Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:40:01 EST news274989680 (HealthDay)—The current growth in health care's share of the gross domestic product (GDP) and need to implement learning health systems is forcing physicians to make important choices, according to a perspective piece published online Dec. 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-current-health-docs-urgent-choices.html Health Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:20:01 EST news274618653 The use of helmets by skiers and snowboarders decreases the risk and severity of head injuries and saves lives, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests. The findings debunk long-held beliefs by some that the use of helmets gives athletes a false sense of security and promotes dangerous behavior that might increase injuries. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-helmets-skiers-snowboarders.html Health Mon, 12 Nov 2012 05:44:03 EST news271921349 The cost of lung cancer to the UK economy is £2.4 billion each year, far higher than the cost of any other cancer. This highlights the urgent need to continue to reduce the number of young people who become addicted to tobacco – as smoking causes more than eight in 10 lung cancers in the UK. The research is presented at the NCRI Cancer Conference in Liverpool today (Wednesday). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-lung-cancer-uk-price-tag.html Cancer Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:23:11 EST news271495382 Physicians with the least experience spend significantly more money treating patients than physicians who have the most experience, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-less-experienced-physicians-costly-more-experienced.html Health Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:00:05 EST news271337346 Reforming Medicare payments based on large geographic regions may be too bluntly targeted to promote the best use of health care resources, a new analysis from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health suggests. The analysis will be published in the Nov. 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-regional-analysis-masks-substantial-local.html Health Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:19:07 EST news270933530 The healthcare systems of the USA and the UK are often thought of as polar opposites, yet the two countries may have much to learn from each other as they both embark upon significant health reforms, according to the authors of a Health Policy paper, published in the Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-uk-health-lancet-paper.html Health Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:30:03 EST news269193336 Inpatient hospital treatment accounts for the largest proportion of health care spending in the U.S., with the use of diagnostic imaging services such as MRIs, frequently implicated as the probable cause.  A new analysis finds that the biggest expense may not be imaging technology but from supplies including medical devices, such as stents and artificial joints. "One of the take-away messages for hospitals is that they should examine their own data in closer detail to explore the costs that are rapidly rising and have a better understanding for the underlying reasons," said lead author Jared Lane Maeda, Ph.D., of Truven Health Analytics in Washington, D.C. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-inpatient-linked-medical-devices.html Health Wed, 29 Aug 2012 09:00:01 EST news265447154 Patients who are frequently hospitalized account for a disproportionate amount of health care spending in the United States. Working with a $6.1 million grant, a new University of Chicago Medicine program will test whether an updated version of the traditional general practitioner can reduce spending while also improving care for these patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-stronger-doctor-patient-relationship-costliest-patients.html Health Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:45:47 EST news261841491 Spending on health care for children grew faster than spending for adults between 2007 and 2010 due to increasing prices for all categories of goods and services, finds a new report from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). This rise in spending occurred despite a decline in number of commercially insured children and a drop in the use of costly health care services, such as hospital stays and brand-name drugs, says the Children's Health Care Spending Report: 2007-2010. This is the first such analysis to track changes in spending, prices, and use of health care services by children covered by private employer-sponsored health insurance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-children-health-faster-adults-years.html Health Sun, 01 Jul 2012 06:10:54 EST news260341847 The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a concept at the heart of many health care reform models that aim to both improve the quality of care and reduce wasteful spending. But a new analysis of federally qualified health centers finds that clinics with higher scores as medical homes also had higher per-patient operating costs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-price-tag-patient-centered-medical-home.html Health Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:40:01 EST news259811926 (HealthDay) -- Health care spending in the United States from 2011 to 2013 is expected to grow 4 percent, which is slightly more than the historic low of 3.8 percent in 2009, government officials said Tuesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-modest-health.html Health Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:10:01 EST news258741757 Rising prices for care were the chief driver of health care costs for privately insured Americans in 2010, according to the first report from the newly formed Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). The per capita spending on inpatient and outpatient facilities, professional procedures, and prescriptions drugs rose 3.3 percent in 2010 for beneficiaries under age 65 with private, employer-sponsored group insurance. HCCI data show that this 3.3 percent increase follows spending increases in 2008 (6.0%) and 2009 (5.8%). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-private-health-prices-growth.html Health Mon, 21 May 2012 03:51:59 EST news256791109 If consumer-directed health plans grow to account for half of all employer-sponsored insurance in the United States, health costs could drop by $57 billion annually -- about 4 percent of all health care spending among the nonelderly, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-consumer-directed-health.html Health Mon, 07 May 2012 16:00:15 EST news255615368 The United States spends more on health care than 12 other industrialized countries yet does not provide "notably superior" care, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund. The U.S. spent nearly $8,000 per person in 2009 on health care services, while other countries in the study spent between one-third (Japan and New Zealand) and two-thirds (Norway and Switzerland) as much. While the U.S. performs well on breast and colorectal cancer survival rates, it has among the highest rates of potentially preventable deaths from asthma and amputations due to diabetes, and rates that are no better than average for in-hospital deaths from heart attack and stroke. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-health-industrialized-nations-quality-varies.html Health Thu, 03 May 2012 03:05:42 EST news255233122 Prevention is better than cure; however, when it comes to screening for cancer new research shows that U.S. health services are not as cost-effective as international, and publically run, counterparts. The research, published in The Milbank Quarterly, compares U.S. screening services to screening in the Netherlands and found that while three to four times more screening took place in the United States, the rates of mortality were similar. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-effective-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:06:19 EST news251456769 Among hospitals in Ontario, Canada, those with higher levels of spending, which included higher intensity nursing and greater use of specialists and procedures, had an associated lower rate of deaths, hospital readmissions, and better quality of care for severely ill hospitalized patients, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-outcomes-patients-universal-health.html Health Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:00:03 EST news250869296 (AP) -- Nearly two years after President Barack Obama signed landmark legislation to cover the uninsured, a new poll finds his health care overhaul is neither better liked nor better understood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-poll-health-overhaul-unpopular.html Health Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:44:19 EST news250436650 (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to review the first lower-cost versions of biotech drugs, expensive medications which have never before faced generic competition. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-fda-outlines-path-lower-priced-biotech.html Medications Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:50:26 EST news248032203 The financial burden Americans face paying out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs has declined, although prescription costs remain a significant challenge for people with lower incomes and those with public insurance, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-financial-burden-prescription-drugs.html Health Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:41:15 EST news247941667