Are rising health care costs inevitable?

How 'cost disease' will impact the success of health care delivery reform

2014-09-03

(Press-News.org) New Rochelle, NY, September 3, 2014–If continuing increases in health care costs are inevitable, as some economists predict, is it possible for health care delivery reform to succeed in reducing the overall burden of health care expenditures on the U.S. economy? According to the results of a new study, the focus should shift from cost control to improving utilization rates and quality outcomes, as described in detail in an article in Population Health Management, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Population Health Management website until October 3, 2014.

In the article "Evaluating Health Care Delivery Reform Initiatives in the Face of 'Cost Disease'," Steven Thompson, PhD, University of Richmond, VA, Rajiv Kohli, PhD, College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA), Craig Jones, MD and Nick Lovejoy, Vermont Blueprint for Health (Williston, VT), and Katharine McGraves-Lloyd and Karl Finison, Onpoint Health Data (Portland, ME), analyzed claims by patients in Vermont covered by Medicaid and commercial insurance for the 5-year period 2007-2011. The authors evaluated utilization rates and cost of care for inpatient services for individuals treated in patient-centered medical homes, which are part of a novel delivery system model in Vermont that focuses on enhancing preventive health services. Through disease prevention and improved disease management, a goal of this delivery model is reduced inpatient care, with a corresponding decrease in per patient cost of care.

"Research like this is very important in building the evidentiary basis for the Patient Centered Medical Home," says Editor-in-Chief David B. Nash, MD, MBA, Dean and Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor, Jefferson School of Population Health, Philadelphia, PA. "It is especially important when it comes to helping persons in the Medicaid program."

INFORMATION: About the Journal Population Health Management is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online that reflects the expanding scope of health care management and quality. The journal delivers a comprehensive, integrated approach to the field of population health and provides information designed to improve the systems and policies that affect health care quality, access, and outcomes. Comprised of peer-reviewed original research papers, clinical research, and case studies, the content encompasses a broad range of chronic diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, depression, and obesity) in addition to focusing on various aspects of prevention and wellness. Tables of Contents and a sample issue may be viewed on the Population Health Management website. Population Health Management is the official journal of the Population Health Alliance.

About the Publisher Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Women's Health, Journal of Men's Health, Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, and Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Lowering coal-fired power plant emissions may have saved 1,700 lives in 1 year

2014-09-03

After scoring a Supreme Court victory this spring, the Environmental Protection Agency can move forward with its strategy to cut air pollution from coal-fired power plants in several states — and new research suggests the impact could be lifesaving. Scientists assessed the effects of one state's prescient restrictions on plant emissions in a report in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. They estimated that the state's legislation prevented about 1,700 premature deaths in 2012. Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson and Ya-Ru Li explain that the U.S. has been working ...

'Drink responsibly' messages in alcohol ads promote products, not public health

2014-09-03

Alcohol industry magazine ads reminding consumers to "drink responsibly" or "enjoy in moderation" fail to convey basic public health information, according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. A report on the research, published in the September issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, analyzed all alcohol ads that appeared in U.S. magazines from 2008 to 2010 to determine whether messages about responsibility define responsible drinking or provide clear warnings about the risks associated with alcohol consumption. According to the study, ...

Live from inside a battery

2014-09-03

Mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders, notebooks: They all run on lithium-ion batteries. These are characterized by high energy densities while remaining small and light enough to be used in portable devices. "A lithium-ion battery can store three to four times the energy of a comparably sized nickel-cadmium battery," explains Dr. habil. Ralph Gilles, scientist at the Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II). Even temperature fluctuations and longer-term storage do not pose problems for lithium-ion batteries. These advantages make lithium-ion batteries a key ...

Rising risk of failed seasons as climate change puts pressure on Africa's farmers

2014-09-03

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (2 September 2014)—Small-scale family farmers across Africa— already struggling to adapt to rapidly rising temperatures and more erratic rains—risk being overwhelmed by the pace and severity of climate change, according to the 2014 African Agriculture Status Report (AASR).The analysis, prepared by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), with contributions from several African scholars, provides the most comprehensive review to date of how climate change will affect Africa's smallholder farmers and highlights the most promising paths to ...

Why HIV patients develop dementia

2014-09-03

Since the introduction of the combination anti-retroviral therapy (cART) in the mid-90s, the life expectancy of HIV patients has significantly improved. As a result, long-term complications are becoming more relevant: almost every second HIV patient is affected by neurocognitive disorders, which can lead to dementia. It has not as yet been fully understood how these disorders occur. Researchers from Bochum have now successfully demonstrated that infected cells activate specific immune cells in a patient's brain, which subsequently display harmful behaviour and lead to the ...

A fix to our cell-phone waste problem?

2014-09-03

When it comes to cell phones, the world is stunningly wasteful. Customers will buy more than 1.8 billion new ones by the end of this year only to abandon almost half of them to drawers, and they'll recycle a mere 3 percent of them. But creative and enterprising efforts are underway to reverse the seemingly unstoppable tide, says an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society. Alex Scott, a senior editor at C&EN, notes that there is much to be recovered and re-used from a cell phone. An average mobile contains ...

CNIO experts discover the genomic origin of telomere protectors

2014-09-03

RNA is one of the most primitive molecules associated with life that has awakened most interest over the last decade; a sister molecule to cellular DNA from which it originates via a process called transcription. Seven years ago, the groups of María Blasco at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Spain, and Joachim Lingner in Switzerland discovered that the DNA regions that contained telomeres, despite their compact and hard-to-access structure, generated RNAs that they christened TelRNAs or TERRA. Now, a study published in the journal Nature Communications, ...

Breakthrough for carbon nanotube solar cells

2014-09-03

Lighter, more flexible, and cheaper than conventional solar-cell materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have long shown promise for photovoltaics. But research stalled when CNTs proved to be inefficient, converting far less sunlight into power than other methods. Now a research team led by Mark Hersam, professor of materials science and engineering and the Bette and Neison Harris Chair of Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering, has created a new type of CNT solar cell that is twice as efficient as its predecessors. It is also the ...

Ethanol fireplaces: The underestimated risk

2014-09-03

Go to the DIY-market in the morning, buy the fireplace, and that evening, enjoy the cozy warmth and homey atmosphere of your new ornamental hearth. The suppliers of ethanol fireplaces are doing a brisk business with the lightweight, easy-to-install ornamental stoves with no chimney. However, caution is warranted when operating these fireplaces, because ethanol is a fuel that, together with the air, forms a highly combustible atmospheric mixture. If ethanol runs out when filling the combustion chambers and it ignites, then the entire room could go up in flames. On top ...

Fingerprints for freight items

2014-09-03

Thousands of freight items are shipped by plane every day, around seventy percent of them in airliners. Stringent controls are supposed to prevent hazardous substances such as explosives from being smuggled on board. Screening procedures, such as x-ray scanning of freight, are time consuming and costly and have to be repeated in the event of suspicious circumstances. Easily verifiable features that verify that a freight item is "secure" have been lacking until now. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF in Magdeburg are working ...

One of the largest studies on preterm birth finds a maternal biomarker test significantly reduces neonatal morbidities and improves neonatal outcomes

One of the largest studies of its kind finds early intervention with iron delivered intravenously during pregnancy is a safe and effective treatment for anemia

Are rising health care costs inevitable?

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: