http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) offer low premiums but high deductibles on the premise that patients who are faced with deductibles of $1,000 or more for individual coverage (or twice that for family coverage) will shop around for the best price for the health care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-medical-patients-arent-bargain-hunters.html Health Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:03:56 EST news284223830 Very low birth weight infants, those weighing less than 3.25 pounds, account for half of infant deaths in the United States each year, yet a new study released in today's issue of JAMA Pediatrics documents that these critically ill infants do not receive optimal nursing care, which can lead to hospital-acquired infections that double their death rate and may result in long-term developmental issues affecting the quality of their lives as adults. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-nurse-understaffing-infection-vlbw-babies.html Pediatrics Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:00:08 EST news282828605 When hospitals hire more nurses with four-year degrees, patient deaths following common surgeries decrease, according to new research by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research as reported in the March issue of the prestigious policy journal Health Affairs. Less than half the nation's nurses (45%) have baccalaureate degrees, according to the most recent data available (2008). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-bsn-nurses-patient-deaths.html Health Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:26:37 EST news281877990 (Medical Xpress)—The addition of a GP clinic at hospitals should reduce waiting times in emergency departments, according to new research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-co-located-gp-clinics-ease-ers.html Health Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:30:01 EST news281779792 Early access to hip replacement is cost-effective and provides significant benefits for patients' quality of life, a study has shown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-cost-effectiveness-benefits-patients-early-hip.html Surgery Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:19:04 EST news280660737 Studies have found that conditional cash transfer programs, in which governments pay citizens if they consistently practice societally beneficial behaviors, have improved pediatric health care and education in Mexico, increased HIV testing in Malawi, and reduced sexually transmitted infections in Tanzania. Public health researchers therefore investigated whether the idea could be applied to HIV risk behaviors among gay men and male sex workers in Mexico City. A new study reports not only that some members of those populations would change behavior for conditional cash payments, but the exact prices they would accept. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-incentive-price-hiv-mexico.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:31:28 EST news279199881 (Medical Xpress)—A new weight-loss programme available on the NHS for severely-obese individuals offers a safer, more cost-effective remedy than gastric surgery, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-low-energy-liquid-diet-effective-weight.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:05:17 EST news278759064 More than a third of the adult population in Indiana who consume alcohol admit to regular binge drinking, a habit that may cause severe neurological and physiological damage, says a new report from Ball State University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-hoosiers-alcohol-bingeing.html Addiction Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:00:01 EST news277116095 A disposition to be overweight is shaped even before birth. This has been proven by scientists of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in an international study, which has appeared in the professional journal Plos One. The study reveals children with a birth weight of more than 4,000 grams are twice as much at risk of becoming overweight in later life than those with normal birth weight. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-womb-lifestyle-mother-disposition-child.html Health Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:15:07 EST news277038897 European researchers have published a study which analyses the health economics of increased dairy foods and related reduction in risk of osteoporotic fractures in the population aged over 50. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-health-economic-benefits-boosting-dietary-calcium.html Health Tue, 13 Nov 2012 01:00:01 EST news271956063 After three major scares, President Obama's health care reform law is now part of the nation's legal and health care landscape, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) panelists said Thursday, though its effects will vary depending on where you live. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-green-obamacare-panelists-road-potential.html Health Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:20:50 EST news271927217 New research into controversial pay-for-performance schemes has suggested they may help to save the lives of NHS patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-financial-incentives-hospital-mortality.html Health Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:00:14 EST news271518169 (Medical Xpress)—Nearly 31 percent of the adult population of Indiana reports being obese, ranking the state eighth worst nationally in terms of percentage of population severely overweight, says a new study by Ball State University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-reveals-percent-hoosiers-obese-indiana.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:33:42 EST news269595195 (Medical Xpress)—Certificate of Need, a form of state government regulation designed to keep mortality rates and health care costs down, appears to do neither for heart bypass surgery, according to a health economics researcher at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). Her findings are reported in an article appearing in today's online edition of the journal Medical Care Research and Review. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-state-deregulation-open-heart-surgery-beneficial.html Cardiology Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:07:09 EST news268499221 Governments could add billions of dollars to their economies annually by funding the provision of an eye examination and a pair of glasses to the estimated 703 million people globally that needed them in 2010 according to a new study to be released soon. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-sight-global-economy-us202-billion.html Other Tue, 02 Oct 2012 08:33:50 EST news268385322 A new report, published today, provides an in-depth examination into why men from disadvantaged backgrounds in their 30s, 40s and 50s are at higher risk of suicide than the rest of society. Men from low socio-economic backgrounds living in deprived areas are ten times more likely to die by suicide than men from high socio-economic backgrounds living in the most affluent areas. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-uk-middle-aged-men-die-suicide.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 21 Sep 2012 07:50:12 EST news267432601 Secondhand smoke is accountable for 42,000 deaths annually to nonsmokers in the United States, including nearly 900 infants, according to a new UCSF study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-secondhand-large-physical-economic-toll.html Health Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:37:38 EST news267377850 NHS hospitals have substantial scope to improve their efficiency by adopting best practice, according to research published today by Professor Andrew Street and colleagues at the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) at the University of York. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-english-hospitals.html Health Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:29:04 EST news261379739 (Medical Xpress) -- Middle-aged women who spend long hours working are more at risk of gaining weight, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-women-gain-weight.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 10 Jul 2012 08:30:01 EST news261126578 In a study of more than 18,000 patients having surgery for hip fracture, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that the use of regional anesthesia versus general anesthesia, was associated with a significant reduction in major pulmonary complications and death. The new study will be published in the July issue of the journal Anesthesiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-regional-anesthesia-complications-death-hip.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:42:36 EST news259400492 People with a history of high cholesterol who come from higher income countries or countries with lower out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, as well as those from countries with high performing healthcare systems, defined using World Health Organization (WHO) indices, tend to have lower subsequent cholesterol rates, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-countries-economy-health-care-linked-cholesterol.html Cardiology Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:00:04 EST news253189402 (Medical Xpress) -- Obesity now accounts for almost 21 percent of U.S. health care costs -- more than twice the previous estimates, reports a new Cornell study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-obesity-accounts-percent-medical.html Health Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:47:18 EST news252823567 Back problems are a highly prevalent health issue, and people with the condition have a significantly greater chance of retiring early from the workforce, much more so than for any other health condition. A group of Australian researchers reports that not only does early retirement limit the immediate income available to these individuals, but it also reduces their long-term financial capacity, by reducing their ability to accumulate wealth to a significant degree. Their study is published in the January issue of Pain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-people-early-due-problems-long-term.html Health Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:26:51 EST news247245966 (Medical Xpress) -- At least two billion dollars could be slashed from the annual healthcare budget if Australians increased their dairy intake, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-dairy-linked-billion-healthcare.html Health Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:10:02 EST news242552783 (Medical Xpress) -- A new national study of eating out and income shows that fast-food dining becomes more common as earnings increase from low to middle incomes, weakening the popular notion that fast food should be blamed for higher rates of obesity among the poor. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-fast-food-popular-middle-incomes.html Health Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:09:57 EST news239008170 Previous studies have found that health outcomes improve during an economic downturn. Job loss means less money available for potentially unhealthy behaviors such as excessive drinking, according to existing literature on employment and alcohol consumption. A new study by health economist Michael T. French from the University of Miami and his collaborators has concluded just the opposite--heavy drinking and alcohol abuse/dependence significantly increase as macroeconomic conditions deteriorate. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-economy-alcohol-consumption.html Health Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:58:39 EST news237718521 (PhysOrg.com) -- Which scientific health and medical research projects receive government funding in any given year relies to some extent on 'chance' according to recent research by a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) expert in health economics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-high-randomness-grant-funding-decisions.html Medical research Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:14:57 EST news236434481 For all long-term care residents, pressure reduction foam mattresses were cost-effective 82% of the time compared to standard mattresses, with average savings of $115 per resident, the researchers showed. Foam cleansers for incontinence care would be cost-effective 94% of the time compared to soap and water, saving an average of $179 per resident. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-bedsores-long-term-homes-cost-effective.html Health Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:55:19 EST news236274908 Hospitals could reduce health care costs arising from pressure ulcers, commonly known as bedsores, by investing in pressure-reduction mattresses for elderly patients in emergency departments, according to new research from the University of Toronto. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-mattresses-hospital.html Health Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:46:42 EST news232814718 The Alberta Diabetes Surveillance System was created in 2006 in partnership between Alberta Health and Wellness and the Institute of Health Economics. Led by Jeff Johnson in the University of Alberta's School of Public Health, the group has been identifying trends in diabetes, its associated health conditions and monitoring trends in accessing health-care services and has published a comprehensive report called a Diabetes Atlas every two years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-diabetes.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:32:16 EST news230383926