Primary Care News and Research

Latest Primary Care News and Research

Geographic adjustments not optimal tools to tackle larger national policy goals

Changing the way that Medicare payments are adjusted to account for regional variations in the cost of providing care as recommended by a previous report from the Institute of Medicine would result in payment increases for some hospitals and practitioners and decreases for others, concludes the Phase II report from the IOM study.

19 Jul 2012

New UC M program to test comprehensive care physician model

Patients who are frequently hospitalized account for a disproportionate amount of health care spending in the United States. Working with a $6.1 million grant, a new University of Chicago Medicine program will test whether an updated version of the traditional general practitioner can reduce spending while also improving care for these patients.

19 Jul 2012

People with schizophrenia more likely to develop cancer

People with serious mental illness —schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and disabling depression — are 2.6 times more likely to develop cancer than the general population, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

19 Jul 2012

Cancer more likely in people with serious mental illnesses

18 Jul 2012

Cigna, PAMF launch collaborative accountable care initiative

Cigna and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), a not-for-profit health care organization that is a pioneer in the multispecialty group practice of medicine, have launched a collaborative accountable care initiative to expand patient access to health care, improve care coordination, and achieve the "triple aim" of improved health outcomes (quality), lower total medical costs and increased patient satisfaction.

18 Jul 2012

Preventable hospital deaths: An interview with Dr Helen Hogan

In 2007/8 when we were thinking about the study, there wasn’t a clear picture of the number of preventable deaths in English hospitals. There had been an important report by the chief medical officer of the NHS in 2000 (An Organisation with a Memory) and he talked of the possibility of between 60,000 and 250,000 cases of severe disability or death arising in hospitals.

18 Jul 2012

Viewpoints: 'Tug of War' over Medicaid expansion; Bill Keller debunks 5 'Obamacare' myths

The new health care law's individual mandate - the provision pushing people to buy insurance, and upheld last month by the Supreme Court - has garnered huge attention. But about half the planned expansion of insurance coverage under the new law comes from another source entirely: growth of the Medicaid program. Yet Medicaid has never been especially popular, and when its expanded role becomes more widely understood, it is likely to become less popular still.

17 Jul 2012

Rheumatoid arthritis patients take-up cancer screening

Insurance records for rheumatoid arthritis patients in the USA indicate that patients are receiving their recommended cervical, breast, and colon cancer screening tests.

16 Jul 2012

Uninsured U.S. women more likely to struggle with medical bills and go without needed care

Twenty percent of U.S. women (18.7 million) ages 19-64 were uninsured in 2010, up from 15 percent (12.8 million) in 2000, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report on women's health care. An additional 16.7 million women were underinsured in 2010, compared with 10.3 million in 2003.

16 Jul 2012

Reducing non-urgent ER visits will yield little to no savings for health care system

Reducing non-urgent visits to emergency departments – a growing focus of both private and public insurance plans – will yield little to no savings for the health care system, according to a paper published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine.

16 Jul 2012

UCLA pediatrician receives 2012 Nemours Child Health Services Research Award

Dr. Tumaini Rucker Coker, assistant professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA was honored with the 2012 Nemours Child Health Services Research Award at the Academy Health annual research meeting in Orlando on June 23.

14 Jul 2012

Study: Online medical records -- accessible by patients -- may aid preventive care

Medical records that patients can access online may encourage more people to get recommended screening tests and immunizations, a new study suggests.

14 Jul 2012

Research roundup: Medication adherence, performance at community health centers

For people diagnosed with depression, it's important that they adhere to their medication regimen so that they avoid recurrent episodes. But because of Medicare's Part D coverage gap, financially burdened seniors might not take their prescriptions as recommended. This study looked at Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with depression in 2007.

14 Jul 2012

Call for more restricted opioid use

US experts call for more selective and cautious opioid prescribing for chronic noncancer pain in primary care, because of concerns over misuse of the drugs and continued uncertainty over when and for how long they should be prescribed.

13 Jul 2012

Study: Despite popular theory, Medicaid patients visit ER mostly for emergencies

Medicaid patients may not overuse the emergency room for routine care, despite popular notion, a new study has found.

13 Jul 2012

Opioids for chronic noncancer pain discouraged

US experts have called for more selective and cautious opioid prescribing for chronic noncancer pain, because of concerns over misuse of the drugs and continued uncertainty over when and for how long they should be prescribed.

12 Jul 2012

IOM report: Nation lacks health workers trained to meet seniors' mental health needs

The Institute of Medicine report, released Tuesday, found the continued lack of health care providers will make it difficult to meet the growing demand for mental health services from the nation's growing senior population.

12 Jul 2012

Roundup: Iowa union files complaint over Gov. order on insurance; Fla. denies it covered up TB outbreak

Iowa's largest public employees' union filed a complaint today with the state alleging Gov. Terry Branstad broke the law when he signed an executive order that allows state workers to voluntarily pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums. The prohibitive practice complaint filed with the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board alleges state law bans Branstad from making unilateral changes to health insurance plans because they are collectively bargained, said Danny Homan, president Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

12 Jul 2012

Physicians need to know how chemical intolerance affects people: Study

Chemical intolerance contributes to the illnesses of 1 in 5 patients but the condition seldom figures in their diagnosis, according to clinical research directed by a UT Medicine San Antonio physician.

11 Jul 2012

First Edition: July 11, 2012

Today's headlines include reports about the scheduled House vote on repealing the health law as well as how stakeholders -- whether it be certain governors or wall street investors -- are responding to the Supreme Court's decision on the Medicaid expansion.

11 Jul 2012