http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The decision by nursing homes whether or not to treat an ill resident on-site or send them to a hospital are often linked to that person's insurance status. A new study out this month shows that on average individuals enrolled in Medicaid are 27 percent more likely to be sent to the hospital than individuals with private insurance – decisions that often result in higher costs of care and poor health outcomes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-nursing-home-hospitalizations-driven-payer.html Health Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:02:36 EST news236865748 (AP) -- As her mother's Alzheimer's worsened over eight long years, so did Doreen Alfaro's bills: The walker, then the wheelchair, then the hospital bed, then the diapers - and the caregivers hired for more and more hours a day so Alfaro could go to work and her elderly father could get some rest. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-families-urge-action-alzheimer.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:04:38 EST news235062121 A statewide telepsychiatry initiative in South Carolina is changing the way that emergency psychiatric patients are treated, and preliminary results are encouraging. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-telepsychiatry-results.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:43:27 EST news234780195 As baby boomers head for retirement, population experts have warned Americans to brace for what they call a "silver tsunami." But that tsunami could pose a special danger to Florida - because of Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-alzheimer-florida-ground.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:10:01 EST news233505389 Nearly three-quarters (72%) of people who lost their health insurance when they lost their jobs over the last two years said that they skipped needed health care or did not fill prescriptions because of cost, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. The same proportion is also struggling with medical bills or medical debt, compared to about half (49%) who lost jobs but not their health insurance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-quarters-lost-jobs-health.html Health Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:49:19 EST news233376539 About half of Medicaid-covered children and adolescents in Ohio who are in treatment for depression complete their first three months of prescribed antidepressants, and only one-fifth complete the recommended minimum six-month course of drugs to treat depression, new research suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-medicaid-covered-kids-ohio-finish-antidepressant.html Health Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:36:47 EST news233246175 (AP) -- Physicians are threatening to stop serving nearly a million Puerto Ricans as a result of a dispute between the island's government and an insurance company over reimbursements for treating poor people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-doctors-threaten-medicaid-cutoff-puerto.html Health Thu, 14 Jul 2011 05:38:55 EST news229840723 Children and adolescents from states that had higher Medicaid payment levels to dentists between 2000 and 2008 were more likely to receive dental care, although children covered by Medicaid received dental care less often than children with private insurance, according to a study in the July 13 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-higher-medicaid-payments-dentists-dental.html Health Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:47:50 EST news229708056 Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and Providence Health & Services have found that expanding low income adults' access to Medicaid substantially increases health care use, reduces financial strain on covered individuals, and improves their self-reported health and well-being. This is the first study to evaluate the impact of insuring the uninsured in the U.S. using a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard in medical and scientific studies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-medicaid-health-decreases-financial-strain.html Health Thu, 07 Jul 2011 03:42:52 EST news229228957 The type of primary insurance patients carry affects outcomes of cardiac valve operations in the United States according to a study in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. As a result, the type of primary insurance should be considered as an independent risk factor during preoperative risk stratification and planning, the researchers reported. They found that uninsured and Medicaid patients incur worse unadjusted and risk-adjusted outcomes following cardiac valve operations compared with those who carry private insurance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-outcomes-cardiac-valve-procedure-patients.html Health Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:06:58 EST news229190793 Better access to preventive screenings and care for people with physical disabilities and cognitive limitations could help avert and prevent worsening of many chronic diseases that result in higher costs to the state’s Medicaid program, according to a University of Kansas researcher. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-boost-results-price-tag-kansas.html Health Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:05:30 EST news229179694 The U.S. Medicaid program is likely paying far more than necessary for medications and not offering patients the most effective ones available, by ignoring international evidence-based lists of safe and effective medications, according to a new study by researchers at University of California, San Francisco. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-medicaid-drug.html Medications Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:00:57 EST news227537888 A new Commonwealth Fund report finds that Medicaid managed care plans that are owned by publicly traded for-profit companies whose primary line of business is managing Medicaid enrollees spent an average of 14 percent of premiums on administrative costs, compared with an average of only 10 percent spent by non-publicly traded plans owned by groups of health care providers, health systems, community health centers, or clinics. Sampling health plans with at least 5,000 enrollees resulted in an initial sample of 225 Medicaid managed care plans representing 23.8 million enrollees. The numbers of plans reporting quality of care measures was limited and varied by measure. Only 27 percent of the publicly traded Medicaid-only plans reported quality measures and scored lower on these measures compared to non-publicly traded plans; they scored 13 percentage points lower when it came to managing chronic illness, and 11 percentage points lower on a composite score measuring preventive care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-medicaid-companies-higher-adminstrative.html Health Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:23:03 EST news227330559 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 While overall emergency department use in Massachusetts continues to rise, the number of low-severity visits dropped slightly since the implementation of the state's health care reform law, according to an Annals of Emergency Medicine study published online. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-impact-massachusetts-health-law-emergency.html Health Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:39:41 EST news226593566 Newly diagnosed cancer patients frequently face hurdles in obtaining an appointment for care with an oncologist, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennnsylvania that will be presented Saturday, June 4 at the 2011 annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology (Abstract #6128). Even callers with private health insurance had difficulty scheduling an appointment, with just 22 percent of them obtaining a slot, compared to 29 percent of uninsured patients and 17 percent of patients on Medicaid, according to results of a study in which research assistants posed as patients seeking an initial evaluation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-two-thirds-newly-cancer-patients-unable.html Cancer Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:07:44 EST news226159651 Young adults ages 19-29 are struggling to get the health care they need more than almost any other age group, demonstrating the need for Affordable Care Act provisions, some already in place, that will expand health insurance and make it more affordable, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. The report found that in 2010, 45 percent of young adults couldn't afford the care they needed, meaning they didn't fill a prescription, didn't go to the doctor when they were sick, or skipped a test, treatment, or follow-up visit, up from 32 percent who went without needed care because of cost in 2001. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-health-reform-essential-young-adults.html Health Thu, 26 May 2011 03:26:56 EST news225598906 Among low-income patients who are black or whose primary language is not English, patient navigators may help improve colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates, according to a report in the May 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article is part of the journal's Health Care Reform series. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-patient-colorectal-cancer-screening-ethnically.html Cancer Mon, 23 May 2011 17:30:10 EST news225390594 More than eight of 10 leaders in health and health care policy (82%) believe states should be allowed to implement key provisions of the Affordable Care Act early with full federal support, ahead of the timeline outlined in the law. Such key provisions include expanding Medicaid eligibility to cover more low-income families and creating insurance exchanges with premium subsidies. Findings are from the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey, which asked respondents about the relative authority states and the federal government should have implementing health care reform. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-states-key-health-reform-law.html Health Mon, 23 May 2011 16:07:27 EST news225385632 Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an indicator for coronary and carotid arterial disease and carries inherent risks of claudication and amputation. PAD screening has increased dramatically, particularly among cardiologists, while vascular surgery has demonstrated the greatest growth in revascularization procedures treating PAD, according to research being presented at the 2011 American Roentgen Ray Society's annual meeting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-peripheral-arterial-disease-revascularization-screening.html Cardiology Wed, 04 May 2011 05:00:29 EST news223704002 Fifteen percent of U.S. nursing homes receive deficiency citations for infection control per year, according to a new study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-infection-violations-percent-nursing-homes.html Health Tue, 03 May 2011 10:36:36 EST news223637781 If implemented successfully, accountable care organizations (ACOs) have the ability to achieve better care, better population health, and lower costs, according to a new report released today by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System. Implementing ACOs effectively will be vital to their success and, to that end, the Commission report also includes 10 recommendations for effective implementation, focusing on the design, payment and functioning of ACOs. An accompanying Commonwealth Fund perspective contains an analysis of how the proposed rules for the new Medicare Shared Savings Program for ACOs issued recently by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) align with these recommendations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-accountable-potential-curb-health.html Health Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:55:24 EST news221971698 A reformed Medicaid program must put coordinated primary care at the forefront of its efforts, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said in a new position paper released today at Internal Medicine 2011, ACP's annual scientific meeting. Medicaid and Health Care Reform highlights how primary care physicians will assume a major role in providing care to Medicaid beneficiaries. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-reformed-medicaid-forefront-efforts.html Health Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:24:39 EST news221502267