Healthcare Trends

In an attempt to keep patients taking their drugs, UnitedHealthcare has cut the co-payment for a group of asthma inhalers. This is not a new strategy for the health plan, which previously moved branded test strips and insulin products for diabetes into its lowest co-payment tier. This time the insurer's pharmacy benefit manager, UnitedHealth Pharmaceutical Solutions, has slashed the co-payment chlorofluorocarbon-free asthma drugs like Xopenex to its lowest tier, leaving patients to bear …

Lawmakers in nine states are considering measures which would allow physicians to apologize for mistakes without fearing that their apology would be used against them in a malpractice suit. According to American Medical Association research, at least 27 other states have already passed such laws in recent times. The laws are designed to encourage doctors to explain what happened when something goes wrong, inform patients of their options and apologize. Right now, many doctors are warned …

New proposals being developed by the Bush administration would cut Medicaid money that currently pays treatment of patients by residents. Teaching hospitals use the money, which comes in as a match for state Medicaid funds, to fund residency programs. However, Bush officials argue that Medicaid funding shouldn't be used to train residents, and say the cuts would save about $1.7 billion which could be used for other purposes. In a move that would give teaching hospitals a chance to …

New research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists suggests that the majority of U.S. diabetics--a full three out of five--experience at least one major, costly complication, including heart disease, stroke, eye damage, chronic kidney disease or foot amputation. The research, which analyzed data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics between 1999 and 2004, also found that one in 10 diabetics has two complications, one in …

New research suggests that physicians' unpredictable schedules are the primary cause of professional burnout. Researchers at the University of Michigan, who sent a questionnaire to randomly selected physicians across the U.S., found that both male and female doctors had increased frustration levels and diminished job satisfaction when they didn't have control over their schedules or number of hours worked. At the same time, though, the physicians said that they were otherwise happy with …

A new study by the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has concluded that one in four adults admitted to hospitals has a mental health or substance-abuse problem. Only 2 million of the 32 million hospital stays in 2004 were primarily to treat a mental health diagnosis, but another six million were diagnosed with mental health problems while hospitalized for another condition. All told, almost 8 million stays involved depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other mental …

In an effort to stay in the good graces of the state's Attorney General, Minnesota hospitals have agreed to extend existing pricing discounts for uninsured patients for the next five years. The hospitals will also continue to meet debt-collection requirements, including the establishment of payment plans and riding herd on collection agency tactics. Hospitals must also take several steps prior to pursuing patients legally, including verifying their debt and confirming that any relevant …

More than half of U.S. physicians believe that religion and spirituality can have a positive effect on patients' health, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago. The study, which drew on a 2003 survey of 1,100 doctors across all specialties, found physicians' own religious beliefs had a strong influence on their responses. Not surprisingly, religious physicians were more likely to say that religion influences health and has a positive impact. Seventy-six …

When 8 percent of an industry's players close, it's never a good sign. And that's the kind of contraction rural hospitals went through between 1990 and 2000, with 208 facilities being shuttered. While some rural hospitals are getting by through sophisticated use of information technology and aggressive staff recruitment, many others are just running out of money. These hospitals are struggling, in part, because their patients are more likely to live below the federal poverty line than …

A new study has found that immunizing infants with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has had a dramatic impact on U.S. pneumonia admissions for kids under age two. To conduct their analysis, researchers at Vanderbilt University analyzed data on pneumonia hospitalizations for children aged 2 years and younger from 1997 to 1999 and 2001 to 2004, drawn from CDC data. The researchers found that infant immunizations cut under-two pneumonia hospitalizations by 39 percent. Interestingly, the effect …