findings

A new report confirms similar findings that Americans enrolled in high deductible or consumer-driven health plans are less satisfied than those with traditional HMO or PPO coverage. The Commonwealth Fund and the Employee Benefit Research Council found that 63 percent of those with comprehensive coverage described themselves as "satisfied," while fewer than half with varying types of high-deductible plans were happy. They were also more likely to put off obtaining healthcare and had higher …

Americans like the idea of electronic health records. They are worried, however, about the privacy implications of the technology, especially when it comes to employers and insurance companies. Those are two conclusions highlighted by a recent study funded by the Markle Foundation and conducted by polling group Public Opinion Strategies, which found that more than 60 percent favored personal health records. The group says emphasis must be placed on ensuring consumer confidence in privacy …

Findings published in the journals Science and Nature yesterday by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conclude that a variant of avian flu was responsible for the great pandemic of 1918, which is estimated to have killed 50 million people worldwide. In a series of a controversial experiments, researchers were able to resurrect the 1918 virus in a lab and study its characteristics. Their conclusion: the virus circulating in poultry populations …

The respected Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) released its 2004 report on hospital quality in the state. Key findings: the overall mortality rate at hospitals in the state has fallen from 4.4 percent two years ago to 4.2 percent; Readmission rates are up, rising from 18.1 percent to 18.8 percent; and complications or infections led to 14,000 readmissions and more than $600 million in additional healthcare costs.

- read the report from PHC4

A landmark NIH study of schizophrenia drugs is out this week, with some surprising findings on several medicines commonly used to treat mental illness. The government-backed research found that the older generic anti-psychotic perphenazine performs as well as newer (and far more expensive) brand name drugs like Johnson & Johnson's Risperdal, AstraZeneca PLC's Seroquel and Pfizer Inc.'s Geodon. Eli Lilly and Co.'s Zyprexa did better than other new drugs, but fears about the medicine's …

Acetaminophen, better known as Tylenol, has been shown to lead to hypertension in women in a study of 5,000 patients conducted by researchers at Harvard. The findings are a surprise for many doctors who had believed the drug was one of the safest painkillers on the market. Researchers found that women participating in the study who took extra-strength Tylenol routinely were about twice as likely to develop high blood pressure. The study detected a similar effect for several popular …

In what appears to be the first major setback for the drug maker in its Texas wrongful death trial, Merck found itself on the defensive (literally) as new evidence appeared to suggest the company intentionally misled doctors about the risks involved with Vioxx. Yesterday, plaintiff attorney W. Mark Lanier produced a copy of a letter sent to thousands of physicians around the country in 2001 which states that the company determined that the risk of "cardiovascular events was 0.4 percent …

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles a county audit has found that the consulting company hired to turn around troubled King/Drew Medical Center after years of mismanagement is in trouble of its own. Auditors concluded that Navigant Consulting may have billed the hospital for hours its employees were off-site and for time in which several took vacations. Navigant was awarded a $13.4 million contract to turn King/Drew around last year. News of the audit's findings provoked a sharp response. One …

An innovative use of web technology is underway from neurology decision support company SimConsult, which has set up a "weblog style" cases blog that links news articles about neurological syndromes directly to the company's software. CEO Michael Segal said, "The style is the same as used in regular blogs ("web logs") that comment on general news. Our blog extends this model by hyperlinking findings in the discussion so people can click into the SimulConsult Neurological Syndromes …