Caveats to consider when calculating healthcare value
Concerns about the impact of healthcare costs on the economy and the exploration of new reimbursement models have colluded to encourage a transition “from volume to value” in U.S. healthcare. “Volume” meant that healthcare providers received a payment for providing a particular service, regardless of outcomes or need; healthcare reimbursement has been volume-based for 50 years. The American Journal of Medicine
(8/2015) Share: 
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Midlife blood pressure and late-life glomerular filtration rate
Although chronic kidney disease is common in the elderly, the causes are often uncertain. In the well-defined AGES (Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility)–Reykjavik Study cohort, Inker et al. measured glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using plasma clearance of iohexol in 805 elderly adults (80.8 ± 4.0 years). They noted that higher midlife systolic and diastolic blood pressure, assessed when participants were an average of 51 years old, were independently associated with lower GFR and higher albumin-creatinine ratio later in life, confirming that midlife risk factors contribute to late-life kidney disease. American Journal of Kidney Diseases
(8/2015) Share:
HealthCare.gov: Perspective of young adults
Young adults found the process of selecting a health insurance plan on the exchange HealthCare.gov website challenging. Young adults' perspective on health insurance can inform strategies to design plans and communication about these plans in a way that engages and meets the needs of young adult populations. Journal of Adolescent Health
(8/2015) Share:
Support to decrease nursing home hospital readmissions
Reducing hospital readmissions is key to reducing health care costs, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has outlined. Researchers from Connecticut implemented a Quality Improvement Project in skilled nursing facilities to try to decrease hospital readmissions. While mixed clinical results were found, they did succeed in identifying the need for providing technical support to train nursing home faculty and staff on how to utilize quality improvement tools such as INTERACT (Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers). Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
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Identifying future high-cost users of healthcare
Healthcare spending occurs disproportionately among a very small portion of the population. This study used population-based health administrative databases to identify potential future high-cost users (HCU) of health care in Ontario and calculated person-centered estimates of annual healthcare spending for the subsequent five years. Future HCU status was most strongly associated with food insecurity, personal income, and non-homeownership. Findings suggest that addressing social determinants of health, such as food and housing security, may be important components of interventions aiming to improve health outcomes and reduce costs. (Available for CME credit.) American Journal of Preventive Medicine
(8/2015) Share:
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Study estimates years of life lost due to heart attack
After a heart attack, men lose an average 3.5 years of potential life, while women and blacks lose 5.5 years, and whites lose an average 4.5 years, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "This study reiterates that these disparities still exist, and we can do better," said researcher Emily M. Bucholz of Yale University. Reuters
(8/3) Share:
CDC: Rate of violence against children in the U.S. remains high
Though homicide rates declined from more than 10 homicides per 100,000 people in 1980 to five homicides per 100,000 people in 2013, it is still the leading cause of death among blacks aged 1 to 44 and the fifth-leading cause of death among whites of the same age group, the CDC reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers also found child protective service agencies saw a more than 50% decline in official reports of sexual and physical abuse since 1992, but more than 10 million children under age 18 are maltreated, neglected or physically abused annually. Reuters
(8/4) Share:
Study links inflammatory bowel diseases to risk of anxiety disorders
A study published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases found that patients with Crohn's disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases were twice as likely to have had generalized anxiety disorder at some point in their lives compared with people who do not have IBD. Risk is particularly acute for women with IBD, who face four times the risk that men do. Risk was also elevated among those with chronic pain or a history of childhood sexual abuse. HealthDay News
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Most practices aren't ready for ICD-10, group says
The latest ICD-10 readiness survey from the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange found that fewer than 50% of medical practices say they are prepared for the new codes. WEDI sent a letter to HHS recommending steps to ease the transition, including asking the agency to be fully transparent about the ICD-10 preparedness of every Medicaid agency in the country, quickly completing the appointment of an ombudsman and reaching out to health care professionals about the most recent local coverage determination codes. Healthcare IT News
(8/3) Share:
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Social, economic factors are key drivers of heart disease, AHA says
Socioeonomic status, race, education, place of residence and culture are among the factors that affect risk of cardiovascular disease, according to an American Heart Association paper in the journal Circulation. "Overall population health cannot improve if parts of the population do not benefit from improvements in prevention and treatment," the authors write. Reuters
(8/3) Share:
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We become what we think about."
-- Earl Nightingale, radio personality, writer and motivational speaker Share:
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