Healthcare Trends

Eager to capture better-paying short-term patients, nursing homes have begun aggressively renovating and adding features to make themselves a palatable alternative to hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. They're adding bright colors, Internet cafés, beauty parlors and massage therapists, libraries and more to compete against more traditional short-term rehab players. Most of these patients come in to recuperate and get rehab therapy after knee- and hip-joint procedures, though …

Despite state laws requiring disclosure of pharma firm payments to doctors, pharmaceutical companies don't seem to be operating much differently in Vermont and Minnesota than they do elsewhere. The study, which appears today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was co-authored by Peter Lurie, deputy director of consumer advocacy firm Public Citizen's Health Research Group and Health Research Group director Dr. Sidney Wolfe.

The researchers concluded that …

Angel investments in healthcare hit $25.6 billion in 2006, up 10.8 percent from the previous year, according to a new study conducted by a venture research group. Angel investors--private individuals who use their own money to fund startups--are showing a growing level of interest in healthcare services and medical device companies, according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. Healthcare services and medical devices captured a substantial 21 percent of …

According to public health experts, hepatitis C-positive convicts leaving prison could pose a huge threat to the general population over the next several years, making it one of the biggest upcoming health threats the system will face. Right now, only 2 percent of the general population is estimated to carry hep C, but roughly 40 percent of the 2.2 million U.S. prison population is project to be infected. This happens, largely, because disease is spread by high-risk behavior common in …

A new study by three St. Paul hospitals has found that the area's facilities could treat 2,733 more psych patients per year if mental health patients had adequate outpatient treatment options. The study, backed by United Hospital, Regions Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital, tracked psych bed usage at 10 Twin Cities hospitals during fall 2006. The study found that roughly 40 to 50 patients …

Street drugs have always been a factor in a subset of ED visits. But of late, it's becoming increasingly common for prescription and over-the-counter drugs to prompt ED visits as well. According to a new study released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, ED visits due to abuse or misuse of drugs shot up a remarkable 21 percent from 2004 to 2005. Emergency departments saw 613,053 cocaine and heroin overdoses, compared with 598,542 visits for pharma drug …

According to a new study, hospitals in the Midwest are performing particularly well compared with their counterparts elsewhere in the country. The study, which was performed by Solucient, identifies 100 benchmark hospitals based on their overall performance each year. Criteria for screening the hospitals covered nine key factors, including risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, patient safety, core measures average, growth in patient volume and severity-adjusted average …

Minorities continue to seek aggressive end-of-life treatment options and turn away alternatives like hospice care, research increasingly suggests. Only 7.5 percent of hospice patients are African-American, and only 4.8 percent are Hispanic--less than half of their percentage of the general population. An ongoing Harvard study funded by the National Cancer Institute involving about 800 terminally ill cancer patients is already finding that African Americans are two to three times as likely …

Here's a straightforward approach to attracting and keeping primary care doctors in your community. Bank of America has agreed to donate $5 million to boost the supply of Massachusetts-based primary care doctors, largely by paying off loans for medical students, residents and a handful of doctors already practicing in health centers. The idea is that if they serve in one of 23 community health centers or Boston Health Care for the Homeless, they'll be eligible to have $25,000 of their …

A growing list of New York city nonprofits--including a long list of hospitals--are cashing in on the region's booming real estate market. Many own property in neighborhoods that have gone from questionable to trendy, pumping up the value of their holdings dramatically. These locations are particularly desirable to residential developers, who are fighting tooth and nail for these properties as they come onto the market.

Some hospitals divesting themselves of long-held properties. …