PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Employers and workers can join forces to keep diabetes under control

Disease-specific employee-based health plan helps people manage their treatment better

2015-05-07
(Press-News.org) People with diabetes who enroll in a health plan tailored to their medical condition are more likely to stick to their medication and actively take charge of their own health care. These are among the findings¹ of a study into the effectiveness of the Diabetes Health Plan, the first disease-specific health plan in the United States for patients with diabetes and pre-diabetes.

The health plan also helps reduce medication costs and ultimately may provide value for money to employers who provide this option to their employees, writes lead author O. Kenrik Duru of the University of California, Los Angeles, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer.

People who regularly take their diabetes-related medications are less likely to be hospitalized or need emergency treatment. Their good habits also reduce their costs of care in the long run. Given these issues, employers have a strong interest in trying alternative approaches to providing better medical care for their employees with diabetes.

One such option is the Diabetes Health Plan that has been available to many public and private employers since 2009. It stipulates that enrollees be actively involved in their own health care. Its benefits package includes features such as reduced cost-sharing for medications and office visits, and free or low-cost resources to manage the disease. The plan was designed to provide an estimated annual out-of-pocket savings of between 150 and 500 dollars per participant.

Duru's team wanted to ascertain whether the Diabetes Health Plan provides value for money to ten employers who purchased this health care option for their employees. In one of the tests, they analyzed how diligently participants, over the course of 12 months, took three types of drugs discounted by the plan, and two that are not.

These results were weighed against those of 190 employers who did not offer the plan to their workers. It was found that the Diabetes Health Plan ensures a modest improvement of almost five percent in patients' medication adherence for at least the first year, for only the medications discounted by the plan. According to Duru, this can be translated to about a one percent reduction in health care spending and 0.6 percent fewer visits to hospitals and emergency treatment centers.

"Linking the incentive of decreased cost-sharing to a requirement that those who enroll demonstrate engagement in their own health care is an intriguing option for employers and health plans to consider," concludes Duru. "The ultimate benefit of the Diabetes Health Plan will depend greatly on the baseline health status of the employees with diabetes, and how they use health care."

INFORMATION:

References:

1. Duru, O.K. et al (2015). Adherence to Metformin, Statins, and ACE/ARBs Within the Diabetes Health Plan (DHP). Journal of General Internal Medicine. DOI 10.1007/s11606-015-3284-8

2. The Journal of General Internal Medicine is the official journal of the Society for General Internal Medicine.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

I'll have what she's having

2015-05-07
Selling used to be so simple: pack up the wagon, harness the horse, and head to the nearest settlement. Today, retailers have to allocate their marketing dollars across a multitude of channels, from stores, catalogs, and traditional media to websites and apps. Recent research about consumer adoption of new sales channels indicates that marketing campaigns focused on social media and socioeconomic groupings are likely to give the greatest boost to disruptive new channels - but help propel new brick-and-mortar venues as well. In "Social Contagion and Customer Adoption ...

Scandinavian trade 'triggered' the Viking Age

2015-05-07
Archaeologists from the University of York have played a key role in Anglo-Danish research which has suggested the dawn of the Viking Age may have been much earlier - and less violent - than previously believed. The study by Dr Steve Ashby, of the Department of Archaeology at York, working with colleagues from York and Aarhus University, identified the first signs of the Viking Age around 70 years before the first raid on England. Previously, the start of the Viking Age has been dated to a June 793 raid by Norwegian Vikings on Lindisfarne. But the new research published ...

Psychologists to help Dr. Google

2015-05-07
Psychologists are to improve online health information on lung cancer after research showed that family members are more likely to search online to encourage loved ones to seek help. This is one of the outcomes from research by PhD student Julia Mueller based in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at The University of Manchester (part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre) who will present her study today, Thursday 7 May 2015, at the Annual Conference of the British Psychology Society being held in Liverpool. Julia Mueller said: "People displaying ...

Researchers sound out scaffolds for eardrum replacement

2015-05-07
An international team of researchers has created tiny, complex scaffolds that mimic the intricate network of collagen fibres that form the human eardrum. It is hoped the scaffolds can be used to replace eardrums when they become severely damaged, reducing the need for patients to have their own tissue used in reconstruction surgery. The scaffolds have been presented today, 7 May, in IOP Publishing's journal Biofabrication. The eardrum, otherwise known as the tympanic membrane (TM), is a thin, flexible and tough membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ...

Photoactive dye could prevent infection during bone-repair surgery

2015-05-07
(PHILADELPHIA) - Despite extensive procedures to sterilize small and large bone fragments used in joint replacement or reconstructive surgeries, the rate of infection remains around 5 percent and can reach 11 percent or even higher in bone repairs for gunshot wounds or reconstruction after tumor removal. Infection after surgery is a serious complication that can require further surgery and can be life threatening. A new study demonstrates for the first time that an antimicrobial dye activated by light avidly adheres to bone to prevent bacteria from growing on bone fragments ...

Myriad to present new clinical data on Prolaris at the AUA 2015 Annual Meeting

2015-05-07
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 7, 2015 - Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) today announced it will present three studies that demonstrate the value of the Prolaris test for physicians and their patients at the 2015 American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting being held May 15 to 19 in New Orleans, La. Key presentations will showcase a new "active surveillance threshold" for men with localized prostate cancer based on the Prolaris test score, and the final results from PROCEDE 1000, which is the largest prospective clinical utility study to measure the impact of ...

When the baby comes, working couples no longer share housework equally

2015-05-07
COLUMBUS, Ohio - When highly educated, dual-career couples have their first child, both spouses think the baby increases their workloads by equal amounts - but a new study suggests that's not true. When asked directly, both men and women thought their own daily workloads had increased by more than four hours after their child was born. Detailed time diaries that the new mothers and fathers kept told a different story. Both spouses overestimated their increased workload - but by widely varying amounts. Compared to the parents' estimated four hours of extra work each ...

Female cystic fibrosis patients need more contraceptive guidance, study finds

2015-05-07
SAN FRANCISCO - Only half of women with cystic fibrosis (CF) report using contraception and frequently apt to become pregnant unintentionally, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results of the study were presented earlier this week at the 2015 American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in San Francisco. As recently as the 1960s, children with cystic fibrosis - an inherited disease that causes thick, sticky mucus to form in the lungs, pancreas, ...

Fresh evidence for how water reached Earth found in asteroid debris

Fresh evidence for how water reached Earth found in asteroid debris
2015-05-07
Quantity of water on Earth not unique Water likely reached Earth via comets and asteroids crashing into Earth's surface Evidence found in the atmosphere of white dwarf star Asteroid found to contain 30-35% Earth's water content Research led by the University of Warwick and published by Royal Astronomical Society Water delivery via asteroids or comets is likely taking place in many other planetary systems, just as it happened on Earth, new research strongly suggests. Published by the Royal Astronomical Society and led by the University of Warwick, the research ...

Using a shopping list may aid food desert residents

2015-05-07
PHILADELPHIA, PA, May 7, 2015 -- For residents of areas with limited access to healthy foods, also known as food deserts, multiple barriers exist that amplify the health risks of living in those areas. Likewise, risks for poor diet and being overweight or obese are also increased. Researchers from the RAND Corporation, however, found that use of a list when shopping among low-income, predominantly African-American participants living in a food desert was associated with a better-quality diet and lower weight. Their results are published in the current issue of the Journal ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Signs identified that precede sudden arrhythmic death syndrome in young people

Discovery of bacteria's defence against viruses becomes a piece of the puzzle against resistance

Pre-eclampsia is associated with earlier onset and higher incidence of cardiovascular risk factors

Warwick astronomers discover doomed pair of spiralling stars on our cosmic doorstep

Soil conditions significantly increase rainfall in world’s megastorm hotspots

NK cells complexed with bispecific antibody yield high response rates in patients with lymphoma

Planetary health diet and mediterranean diet associated with similar survival and sustainability benefits

Singapore launches national standard to validate antimicrobial disinfectant products

Molecular stool test could improve detection of tuberculosis in adults with HIV

Suspected fibrocartilaginous embolus in Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus)

Enhancing heat transfer using the turbulent flow of viscoelastic fluids

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

[Press-News.org] Employers and workers can join forces to keep diabetes under control
Disease-specific employee-based health plan helps people manage their treatment better