A program to pay hospitals bonuses for hitting key performance measures, or dock them if they miss, failed to improve the health outcomes of patients, according to a large, long-term study. The study could lead to a re-examination of financial incentives in healthcare, as policymakers seek ways to reward results rather than paying doctors and other providers for each service they provide, such as a diag... (read more)
iPads not only make doctors feel more efficient at their jobs, the device actually improved their work flow according to a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers gave iPads to 115 University of Chicago internal medicine residents so they could access electronic patient records, the hospital's paging system to order tests, and medical publications for reference information. Other... (read more)
Computerized patient records are unlikely to cut health care costs and may actually encourage doctors to order expensive tests more often, a study published on Monday concludes. Industry experts have said that electronic health records could generate huge savings — as much as $80 billion a year, according to a RAND Corporation estimate. The promise of cost savings has been a major justification for... (read more)
Antibiotics won't chase away patients' sniffles any faster than watchful waiting, researchers found. In a randomized trial, patients with acute rhinosinusitis had no differences in symptoms or quality of life three days after starting on amoxicillin compared with patients who received a placebo instead, Jay Piccirillo, MD, of Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues reported in the Journal of the American Medic... (read more)
Different ingredients in marijuana appear to affect regions of the brain differently during brain processing functions involving responses to certain visual stimuli and tasks, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Sagnik Bhattacharyya, M.B.B.S., M.D., Ph.D, at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's ... (read more)
"I'm a great kvetcher," said Pearl Schwartz, sitting in her hospital bed at NYU Langone Medical Center. Indeed, during her brief stay to receive a pacemaker, Ms. Schwartz, an 88-year-old retired state worker, had a litany of complaints. Sure, the nurses were "splendid, warm and kind" and sang in her room — and her operation went off without a hitch. But her sink was to... (read more)
Legalizing medical marijuana doesn’t push more teens to light up, new research shows. A study from Brown University compared rates of marijuana use in Massachusetts to those in Rhode Island – where medical use of the drug was legalized in 2006. Findings suggested the legislation has no influence on teens’ drug habits. Dr. Esther Choo, assistant professor of emergency me... (read more)
The Obama administration is wrestling with the thorny question of whether scientists should inject healthy children with the anthrax vaccine to see whether the shots would safely protect them against a bioterrorism attack. The other option is to wait until an attack happens and then try to gather data from children whose parents agree to inoculate them in the face of an actual thr... (read more)
The Obama administration ended a major benefit in the 2010 health-care law on Friday, announcing that a program to offer Americans insurance for long-term care was simply unworkable. Although the program had been dogged from the start by doubts about its feasibility, its elimination marks the first time the administration has backed away from a key piece of what remains of President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. To continue reading, click the link below.
Full data from a late-stage clinical trial of Biogen Idec Inc's experimental multiple sclerosis drug, BG-12, showed robust results across multiple measures and revealed no new safety concerns. The news sent the biotech company's shares soaring as much as 6.7 percent on Friday. Earlier this year the company released initial data from the trial, known as DEFINE, which showed the drug, when given twice a day, cut t... (read more)
The U.S. healthcare system is lagging further and further behind other industrialized countries on major measures of quality, efficiency and access to care, according to a new report from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, a leading health policy foundation. That is having a profound effect on overall health in the U.S., the report found. Americans die far more frequently than their counterpar... (read more)
New tests are coming to market that can detect Down syndrome in a fetus using a sample of the mother’s blood, potentially reducing the need for riskier invasive tests while also stirring ethical concerns. Researchers say the new tests may not be reliable enough yet to replace amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, two invasive techniques that carry a slight risk of inducing a miscarriage. But they may lo... (read more)
An influential federal health-care task force is expected to oppose testing for the human papillomavirus to detect cervical cancer in women over age 30, according to an analysis released Monday. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which recently took a high-profile stand against certain uses of screening tests for prostate cancer, is expected to make its recommendations about cervical cancer this week.... (read more)
Employers across Georgia are tucking a strong message into benefit enrollment packages going out to employees this fall: They want their workers to do more to get healthy. Many employers will offer everything from a T-shirt to a $50 gift card just for filling out a health risks survey. Employees with chronic health problems who agree to work with a coach to manage the condition could get a bigger bonus — ca... (read more)
Ohio retailers will no longer be able to sell synthetic recreational drugs marketed as bath salts and K2 or spice, and use and possession of the substances also will be banned when a new state law goes into effect today. The legislation signed by Gov. John Kasich in July adds synthetic marijuana known as K2 or spice and six synthetic derivatives of cathinone that have been found in bath salts to the list of Schedule 1 contr... (read more)
Britain's health-cost watchdog said the country's publicly funded national health insurer shouldn't cover a new skin-cancer treatment from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. because the therapy isn't cost-effective. The preliminary decision Friday by Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence may mark an early example of payer resistance to the high costs of a new wave of cancer treatments, tho... (read more)
The state's largest doctor group is calling for legalization of marijuana, even as it pronounces cannabis to be of questionable medical value. Trustees of the California Medical Assn., which represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide, adopted the position at their annual meeting in Anaheim late Friday. It is the first major medical association in the nation to urge legalization of the drug... (read more)
Healthy men should no longer receive a P.S.A. blood test to screen for prostate cancer because the test does not save lives over all and often leads to more tests and treatments that needlessly cause pain, impotence and incontinence in many, a key government health panel has decided. The draft recommendation, by the United States Preventive Services Task Force and due for official release next week... (read more)
Private medical data for nearly 20,000 emergency room patients at California’s prestigious Stanford Hospital were exposed to public view for nearly a year because a billing contractor’s marketing agent sent the electronic spreadsheet to a job prospect as part of a skills test, the hospital and contractors confirmed this week. The applicant then sought help by unwittingly posting the confidential data on ... (read more)
The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has launched an investigation into drug distributors that are obtaining cancer and other critical-care products in short supply and offering to resell them to hospitals at several times the wholesale price. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland sent document requests to five closely held companies Wednesday seeking information about how they o... (read more)
Surgery is surprisingly common in older people during the last year, month and even week of life, researchers reported Wednesday, a finding that is likely to stoke, but not resolve, the debate over whether medical care is overused and needlessly driving up medical costs. The most comprehensive examination of operations performed on Medicare recipients in the final year of life found that nationally in 2008... (read more)
Hospital-based palliative care programs that focus on patient comfort rather than simply medical treatment are growing rapidly. And for patients, their families, and hospitals themselves, that is a very good thing. A new study by the National Palliative Care Research Center finds the number of these important new programs has grown from 600 to more than 1500 over the past decade. Of the nation’s 2,500 hospitals with... (read more)
College conjures up images of parties, drinking, and students embracing their newfound freedom away from home. With popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter offering an easy outlet to express emotion, post pictures of activities, leave comments, and update their status, many more young adults are highlighting their drinking habits online. These updates are projected on a publ... (read more)
Health care costs rose faster than inflation and wages this year — a trend that will hit home for many workers in the next several weeks as employers offer open enrollment. Employers usually pick up much of the tab for health insurance, but many are expected to shift more of this growing burden onto workers next year. That means employees are likely to see higher premiums and deductibles. And a growin... (read more)
The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear a case concerning the 2010 health care overhaul law. The development, which came unexpectedly fast, makes it all but certain that the court will soon agree to hear one or more cases involving challenges to the law, with arguments by the spring and a decision by June, in time to land in the middle of the 2012 presidential campaign. The Just... (read more)
Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific health care goals within a society." According to the World Health Organization, an explicit health policy can achieve several things: it defines a vision for the future; it outlines priorities and the expected roles of different groups; and it builds consensus and informs people.
There are many categories of health policies, including personal health care policy, pharmaceutical policy, and policies related to public health such as vaccination policy, tobacco control policy or breastfeeding promotion policy. They may cover topics of financing and delivery of health care, access to care, quality of care, and health equity.
There are also many topics in the politics and evidence that can influence the decision of a government, private sector business or other group to adopt a specific policy. Evidence-based policy relies on the use of science and rigorous studies such as randomized controlled trials to identify programs and practices capable of improving policy relevant outcomes. Most political debates surround personal health care policies, especially those that seek to reform health care delivery, and can typically be categorized as either philosophical or economic. Philosophical debates center around questions about individual rights, ethics and government authority, while economic topics include how to maximize the efficiency of health care delivery and minimize costs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_policy
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