Study: Doctors Give In To Patient Demands For Brand-Name Drugs
Doctors are more likely to prescribe brand-name drugs over lower-cost generics when patients request them and when physicians have contacts with drugmakers, a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine Monday shows. The researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston analyzed data from a survey of 1,891 doctors in 2009 and found that 37 percent of […]
Health Insurance Executive: ‘Incorporating All The New Regulations’ Will Be Challenge In 2013
Blue Shield of California chairman and CEO Bruce Bodaken discusses his views on the health law and the current state of the insurance industry.
Med Students Switch Gears After Sandy KO’s Training Hospitals
After completing a medical rotation in pediatrics, Hannah Kirsch was looking forward to starting another one in psychiatry at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital – but then Hurricane Sandy hit. Kirsch is among about 170 third-year and fourth-year medical students at NYU School of Medicine who were required to change their plans after two of NYU’s […]
Eye Experts Say States Should Consider Making Vision Care An Exchange Benefit
As states set up their exchanges under the federal health law, they should consider including adult vision benefits, according to the authors of a new study showing that people without such coverage are less likely to seek care. Although the federal health law mandates vision coverage for children, the same requirement does not apply to […]
Uninsured Die At Higher Rates After Brain Surgery, Study Finds
Your chances of surviving brain surgery might be affected by whether you have health insurance. According to the findings of a new study by Johns Hopkins University researchers, uninsured patients died at a higher rate after receiving brain surgery to remove cancerous tumors than those with private insurance. Uninsured patients had a death rate of […]
Survey: Maryland Voters Know Little About Federal Health Law
Although Maryland is a leader in implementing major provisions of the federal health law, many of its voters are still unsure of what changes are actually in store for them. The results of a new poll, released Monday, found that while the majority of Maryland voters support the measure, only 30 percent of survey respondents […]
States Count Down To Decisions On Health Exchanges
With time running out, 17 states and D.C. commit to setting up the new markets, eight are undecided and the rest weigh partnering with the federal government — or letting the feds take over.
Hospital Shift Changes A Dangerous Time For Patients
Before physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital finish their 13-hour shifts in the surgical intensive care unit, they hand off their patients to the crew taking over. The outgoing and incoming doctors carefully exchange important information about each patient to ensure that they are properly cared for through the next shift. Cheryl Ryan, a clinical nurse […]
Status Update: Medical Schools May Check Applicants On Facebook
While applying to medical school as a college student, Drew Lee did what many of his fellow “premeds” were doing at the time – he gave himself an anonymous name on his Facebook account. “We always heard of students being denied admission because of Facebook,” Lee said, adding that he had nothing to hide but […]
Less Experienced Doctors Cost Health Care System More, Study Says
Which physicians are driving up the nation’s health care costs the most? That’s the question that researchers at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, aimed to answer. Their new study, published in this month’s edition of Health Affairs, found that doctors with less experience spend more money treating patients than their veteran colleagues. “We […]
Halvorson: Premium Costs In The Exchanges Will ‘Depend Entirely’ On Participation
The Kaiser Permanente chairman and CEO offers his take on a wide variety of health care issues insurers face in the current marketplace.
Seniors Satisfied With Medicare, Anxious About Future, Survey Finds
Although most seniors appear to be at least somewhat satisfied with their Medicare coverage, many are deeply worried about what the future may hold for the program, according to a national survey released this week. More than 60 percent of seniors surveyed said they are concerned about changes the program may undergo. The poll, commissioned by […]
Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP All Targets For Fraud
When it comes to health care fraud, medical facilities and hospitals are the top two offenders. That’s according to a new Government Accountability Office report released this week. According to the report, 10,187 individuals and entities were investigated in 2010 for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Medical facilities (including medical […]
