Health

System grading doctors is inefficient, needs revisions

A system created to grade doctors and empower patients to make better decisions falls short of its goal of providing information useful to consumers, according to a study by University of Michigan researchers.

Surgery

Increase in patient load linked to poorer urologist ratings

(HealthDay)—Academic urologists have higher mean weighted ratings than their nonacademic peers, and those with increased patient load have poorer ratings, according to a research letter published online March 21 in JAMA ...

Surgery

Across U.S., wide variation seen in thyroidectomy rates

(HealthDay)—There is wide variation in thyroidectomy rates among Medicare beneficiaries nationally, suggesting widely divergent local practice patterns for the management of thyroid nodules and cancer, according to a study ...

Arthritis & Rheumatism

Study examines opioid use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

A new analysis indicates that the use of opioid pain medications in older US rheumatoid arthritis patients peaked in 2010 and is now declining slightly. By 2014, 41% of rheumatoid arthritis patients were regular opioid users.

Health

Nurse practitioners could help meet need for elderly home care

(HealthDay)—Nurse practitioners could meet the growing need for house calls to frail, elderly Americans, but restrictions in some states may get in the way, according to research published recently in the Journal of the ...

Dentistry

Few older Americans have dental insurance

Only 12 percent of older Americans have some form of dental insurance and fewer than half visited a dentist in the previous year, suggests new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research on Medicare beneficiaries.

Alzheimer's disease & dementia

Doctors may not be informing of Alzheimer's diagnosis

(HealthDay)—Doctors are not telling a majority of their patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's that they have the degenerative brain disease, a new report by the Alzheimer's Association indicates.

page 3 from 7