Babies born to women who opt to give birth outside of hospitals are 2.4 times more likely to die during the birth process or in the first month after birth than babies born in the hospital, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Editorial Advisory Board Member Richard Gabriel Stefanacci, DO, talks about the different points of view among him and his 85-year-old physician father, Richard George Stefanacci, and his 20-year-old daughter, Morgan Stefanacci, who’s contemplating a career in health care. Is there a doctor in the house?
Anthem’s American Resident Project provides an opportunity for a select few up-and-coming doctors (the program calls them fellows) to write one blog post a month on a subject of their choice. In turn, this can lead to a host of networking and educational opportunities.
They bring a different mindset. They’re willing to work in teams and focus on the sort of evidence-based medicine that can guide health care’s transformation into a system based on value. One question: How well will this new generation of data-driven MDs deal with patients?
Poor health literacy adds more than $73 billion to the national health care tab each year, but only 1 in 4 patients sent home from hospitals have reading skills that would allow them to follow discharge instructions, according to a study in the American Journal of Surgery.
The ReWalk exoskeleton allows the user with paralysis to perform a variety of maneuvers such as standing, sitting, and, walking. Will health plans follow the VA’s lead and cover the devices? Miracles don’t come cheap. They are priced at anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000.
Long-term care is expensive for all concerned—those getting it, their family, caregivers, and taxpayers. And the situation is only expected to get worse as the American population ages.
Nearly 15% of the population cares for a loved one. They spend an average of 24 hours a week on caregiving, and nearly 60% have to tackle complex medical tasks, such as giving injections. They need training, and many argue that they also deserve financial reimbursement. Some health plans agree.
In the randomized clinical trials that established the effectiveness of the defibrillators years ago, only about 10% to 30% of the people who were enrolled were women, which may be why they aren’t given the devices as much. A study in Circulation: Heart Failure says that the devices help women as much as they do men.
