Aug 9 2013
In addition, a new study finds that there's hope for black people who are hospitalized with heart failure.
The Wall Street Journal: Rx To Avoid Health-Law Fines
Facing rising penalties under the health-care law for high readmission rates, some hospitals are turning to tech entrepreneurs like Chris Corio of San Francisco for help. Mr. Corio's four-year-old startup sells technology that assists patients in completing the recovery process after getting discharged. Health-care experts say one of the leading causes for readmissions is failure by patients to follow doctor's orders once they leave a hospital (Needleman, 8/7).
Related KHN story: Armed With Bigger Fines, Medicare To Punish 2,225 Hospitals For Excess Readmissions (Rau, 8/2).
Reuters: Blacks Hospitalized For Heart Failure More Often
Black patients with heart failure were more likely to be hospitalized for complications of the disease than whites with heart failure, in a new study. They also tended to be younger and heavier, were less in shape and were more likely to have other significant health problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure. ... The new analysis, published in the American Heart Journal, showed both blacks and whites improved their fitness with the supervised program (DeBenedette, 8/7).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
|