Insurance coverage has increased across all types of insurance since the major provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act took effect, with a total of 16.
Category: HEALTHCARE/MEDICAL
Out-of-Network, Out of Luck? A Growing Body of Caselaw Addressing…
It’s become a common scenario for medical providers: a provider treats a patient covered by employer-provided health insurance for which the provider is out-of-network, receives an assignment of benefits from the patient and is reimbursed by the benefits plan administrator at a rate much lower than the amount charged, if at all. The provider then embarks upon the often Sisyphean journey of navigating the plan’s lengthy and nebulous appeals process.
Measles danger lingers for years after infection: study
Measles can harm the immune system for up to three years, leaving survivors at a higher risk of catching other infectious and potentially deadly diseases, researchers say.
New recommendations aim to improve safety of pain-relieving spinal steroid injections
More and more people are seeking injections of anti-inflammatory steroid medications for back and neck pain. In 2011, the last year for which complete information is available, doctors pushed the plunger on 2.3 million steroid injections into the spine — and that’s just among people covered by Medicare. These injections deliver drugs that mimic the effects of two hormones, cortisone and hydrocortisone, to reduce inflammation and help relieve pain. When they work — they don’t always — such injections can bring profound relief. “If you are in severe pain with a ruptured spinal disc and you get a steroid injection, you are going to feel better sooner,” says Dr. James P. Rathmell, professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. “That’s the good
TBT: Turf versus Access to Care
This week’s TBT post was written during last year;s National Nurses Week. Although the situation has improved there still is a ways to go. The post is a good reminder of what nurses do and how an expanded role for them would improve the health care system. This is Nurses Week, often a time when health care organizations patronize nurses with free food and tchotchkes. We’d rather have the right to be able to contribute our talents and expertise to improving the health of people by being able to practice to the full extent of our education and training. Last week, the New York Times published a commentary on The Opinion Pages by cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar that continued to prop up the old and inaccurate
Connecting uninsured patients to primary care could reduce emergency department use
An intervention to connect low-income uninsured and Medicaid patients to a reliable source of primary health care shows promise for reducing avoidable use of hospital emergency departments in…
Elton John believes AIDS can be eradicated in his lifetime with increased funding
Elton John tells a US Senate hearing AIDS can be eradicated in his lifetime if the superpower stays at the forefront of funding and research.
Nurses are consumers’ trusted partners-in-health
In honor of National Nurse’s Week we will be running posts on nurses and all the work they do for patients and the health care field. The following post originally ran on Health Populi and can be accessed here. The two most trusted health professionals in the eyes of U.S. consumers are nurses and pharmacists, and both of these health workers will be key partners for people wanting to engage in health/care. That was my introductory message kicking off the annual conference of ANIA, the American Nursing Informatics Association, in Philadelphia on April 24, 2015. Meeting in the City of Brotherly Love gave ANIA the opportunity to theme the meeting a “Declaration of Nursing Informatics,” carrying that theme through the exhibition hall with a Benjamin
Pets can help their humans create friendships, find social support
Pets can provide their owners with more than companionship. A new study shows they can also help create human-to-human friendships and social support, both of which are good for long-term health. That’s old news to dog walkers, most of whom routinely meet neighbors, other dog walkers, or strangers on their rambles. “I didn’t meet many people when I moved into my new neighborhood,” says Dr. Elizabeth Frates, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. “But that changed when we got Reesee, our goldendoodle. She opened the door to a new universe of people.” A new study, published online in the journal PLoS One, shows that other kinds of pets, including cats, rabbits, and snakes,
Dr. Collins interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Paul Basken
Dr. Collins speaks with the Chronicle of Higher Education about NIH’s FY2016 budget and the Precision Medicine Initiative.
Trees are source for high-capacity, soft batteries
A method for making elastic high-capacity batteries from wood pulp has been developed. Using nanocellulose broken down from tree fibers, scientists have produced an elastic, foam-like battery material that can withstand shock and stress.