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

More money, better health?

New study finds that Medicare beneficiaries with higher medical spending have better health outcomes

2011-05-29
(Press-News.org) A new study from George Mason University and the Urban Institute reveals that greater spending on medical services means better overall health for Medicare participants. Health Administration and Policy Professor Jack Hadley and his co-authors, Urban Institute researchers Timothy Waidmann, Stephen Zuckerman, and Robert Berenson, analyzed data from more than 17,000 Medicare beneficiaries to draw this conclusion.

Previous reports showed that Medicare spending varies greatly by geographic area, but with little to show for it-the health outcomes for people who live in expensive geographic areas are not necessarily better than those who live in less expensive geographic areas. As a result, policymakers have considered limiting Medicare payments in high-cost areas.

But, as described in their recent study, "Medical Spending and the Health of the Elderly," the research team found that spending more on Medicare medical expenses actually resulted in greater survival and a better overall health score, using an index that measures perceived health and activity limitations.

"The motivation for the study was a large body of research that's been done over the past ten years that typically has found that there is little or no relationship between how much Medicare spends and the health outcomes of elderly people," Hadley says.

But these studies looked at large swathes of populations, typically by geographic location, and used averages to draw their conclusions. "The implication was that higher spending was not contributing to better health," Hadley says.

He explains, "While that finding is very persuasive, it doesn't look at individuals and the amount of medical care that they each receive." So in this study, the research team used data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, which collects extensive information from Medicare participants over a three-year span, to determine whether a relationship existed between medical spending and better health.

"The surveys provide much richer information about the person's health condition than one can typically get from insurance claims data," Hadley says.

The full results of the study will appear in an upcoming edition of the journal Health Services Research, which is published by the Health Research and Educational Trust and is an official journal of AcademyHealth.

"Over this three-year period-controlling for people's health when they first come into the survey and new diagnoses they may have had over the course of the three years-what was their health like at the end of the observation period? And did that vary with how much medical care they received as individuals?" Hadley asks.

The statistical analysis indicates that the individuals' health did vary with their medical care spending. Over a three-year span, for a 10 percent increase in medical spending, there was 1.9 percent increase in the patient's health score, called the Health and Activity Limitations Index and a 1.5 percent greater survival probability.

The researchers classify this finding as a "modest effect" but stress that "the key thing is that we did find a positive relationship as opposed to other studies which have suggested that there's no relationship between how much care a person receives and what their health outcomes are."

"This suggests that policymakers need to understand that across-the-board reductions in Medicare spending in a geographic area or on a national level could have harmful effects on beneficiaries' health," The Urban Institute's Timothy Waidmann explains. "To look for inefficiencies, you need to look more closely at specific conditions and diseases and how those are treated. Analysis from 40,000 feet just doesn't do that for you."

###

The study was supported from a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's program on Health Care Financing and Organization.

The abstract can be viewed online here and are full findings are available upon request.

About George Mason University

George Mason University is an innovative, entrepreneurial institution with global distinction in a range of academic fields. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., Mason provides students access to diverse cultural experiences and the most sought-after internships and employers in the country. Mason offers strong undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering and information technology, organizational psychology, health care and visual and performing arts. With Mason professors conducting groundbreaking research in areas such as climate change, public policy and the biosciences, George Mason University is a leading example of the modern, public university. George Mason University-Where Innovation Is Tradition.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

A Strong Summer Collection Results in Great Fashion Press for Peacocks

2011-05-29
With the summer fashion trends now in full swing, Peacocks end another week of great press with a number of hits in the style pages of leading newspapers and magazines. A green floral By Design dress from the company is featured in The Sun, while Chat features a Missoni inspired dress and some must-have summer accessories are recommended in Love it, Bliss and on Daybreak online. In an article entitled Copycat Walks, The Sun picks out catwalk inspired fashion for a fraction of the price and includes a green floral By Design dress as a great high street look-a-like of ...

Changes in brain circuitry play role in moral sensitivity as people grow up

2011-05-29
Both preschool children and adults distinguish between damage done either intentionally or accidently when assessing whether a perpetrator had done something wrong. Nonetheless, adults are much less likely than children to think someone should be punished for damaging an object, especially if the action was accidental, said study author Jean Decety, the Irving B. Harris Professor in Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Chicago and a leading scholar on affective and social neuroscience. The different responses correlate with the various stages of development, ...

NASA infrared satellite sees severe weather in northwest Georgia

NASA infrared satellite sees severe weather in northwest Georgia
2011-05-29
Northwestern Georgia felt the effects of severe weather season yesterday, May 27, as severe thunderstorms brought heavy rainfall, gusty winds and reports of a tornado. NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at that storm system that revealed very strong thunderstorms with icy cold cloud tops. Infrared imagery basically shows temperature signatures. That means that scientists can determine how hot or cold something is by looking at something using infrared light. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared ...

LMR Intl. Releases New Powerful Free Contact Management Software

2011-05-29
LMR International has just released an all new and powerful contact manager and itâEUR s free for life. No games, no trials, no BS. The only provision is some of the advanced features are only available on the pro version upgrade. Anyone with a Windows based system can download this new Free contact management software at http://www.a20.us/bd/. "Two things set this Relationship management program apart from the competition. First it's, very powerful and second it' s free," says Brian DesLauriers owner of 121Connect.com. "I have used many programs designed ...

Romare Bearden Artist as Storyteller This Week at LiveAuctionTalk.com

2011-05-29
Life's lessons sometimes come from the most unexpected places. For 20th century artist Romare Bearden it was chance meeting with a prostitute on the street in Harlem. Standing there shaking her keys and shouting out prices Romare knew immediately what her profession was. She was the homeliest woman he had ever seen. But he couldn't stop thinking about her. He went to his mother for help asking her to find the woman a new occupation. She did. As a thank you the woman cleaned Romare's studio for him every Saturday. One Saturday as she was cleaning the woman noticed ...

NASA sees a 14-mile-wide eye and powerful Super Typhoon Songda

NASA sees a 14-mile-wide eye and powerful Super Typhoon Songda
2011-05-29
Typhoon Songda became a Super Typhoon in the evening on May 26, 2011 (Eastern Daylight Time) was it reached a Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. NASA satellite data shows that the monster storm with a 14 mile-wide eye has weakened due to adverse wind conditions today and is still a powerful Category 4 typhoon. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Super Typhoon Songda on May 27, 2011 at 5:05 UTC (1:05 a.m. EDT). At that time Songda was a Category 4 storm. The infrared image showed a large ...

Cell Phone Accessory Company SW-Box Supports World Environment Day by Offering Discounts

2011-05-29
The online shop SW-Box.com which engages their business in iPhone, iPod, iPad, BlackBerry accessories and repair parts decides to offer 6.5% discounts to all customers from June 1 to June 6 in order to express their support in world environment protection. Customers can log on SW-Box¡¯s FaceBook page, click ¡°Like¡± and get their coupon code. ¡°We want to stimulate the awareness of environment protection. It¡¯s a long time job. Here I want to quote Mother Teresa¡¯s saying 'We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.¡¯ SW-Box is doing small ...

NASA's Swift finds most distant gamma-ray burst yet

NASAs Swift finds most distant gamma-ray burst yet
2011-05-29
On April 29, 2009, a five-second-long burst of gamma rays from the constellation Canes Venatici triggered the Burst Alert Telescope on NASA's Swift satellite. As with most gamma-ray bursts, this one -- now designated GRB 090429B -- heralded the death of a star some 30 times the sun's mass and the likely birth of a new black hole. "What's important about this event isn't so much the 'what' but the 'where,'" said Neil Gehrels, lead scientist for Swift at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "GRB 090429B exploded at the cosmic frontier, among some of the ...

Fantazzle Fantasy Sports Games Unveils Free Fantasy Basketball Games for the NBA Finals and the 2011 NBA Draft!

2011-05-29
Fantazzle Fantasy Sports Games is proud to announce the launch of two new fantasy basketball formats, the Fantasy Basketball Finals Pick'em Game and Fantasy Basketball Draft Pick-Em Game. Both games will cap off another successful fantasy basketball season at Fantazzle, thanks to all members who participated this season! Just like with all of Fantazzle's fantasy sports games, Fantazzle will offer free fantasy basketball games to enhance the excitement of the 2011 NBA playoffs, as well as pay-to-play games for each format. With a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals set, Dirk ...

Assessing the influence of Alaska glaciers is slippery work

2011-05-29
Fairbanks, Alaska—With an estimated 34,000 square miles of ice, an area about the size of Maine, Alaska's multitude of glaciers have a global impact. Anthony Arendt, an assistant research professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, has outlined the complexity and influence of Alaska glaciers in this week's issue of the journal Science. In his article, Arendt explains the importance of integrating field observations and more precise glacier simulation models. "We have used satellites to measure the mass changes of all of Alaska's glaciers, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power

Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health

Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world

Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

[Press-News.org] More money, better health?
New study finds that Medicare beneficiaries with higher medical spending have better health outcomes