Population Health
Amid a raging opioid epidemic, many doctors and families in the U.S. have been pleading for better treatment alternatives. One option now under consideration by the Food and Drug Administration is a system of implanted rods that offer controlled release of buprenorphine -- a drug already used in other forms to treat opioid addiction.
The best way to engage with patients is to knock on a hospital room door, walk in, wash your hands and then sit down and speak with the person in that bed.
A new study from the Center for Sustainable Health Spending claims that mental healthcare eats up significantly more healthcare spending than any other industry sector, to the tune of $201 billion annually.
The problems were traced to the compounding pharmacy lab at Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, California, where inspectors found "dust, stains and foreign material" in a supposedly sterile environment in which thousands of intravenous medications were prepared over eight months -- from Jan. 1 to Aug. 18.
Employer wellness programs can gather medical information from employees and spouses -- so long as financial incentives or penalties don't exceed 30 percent of the annual cost for an individual in the company's group health plan, according to final rules issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Monday.
Despite an overall drop in doctor's visits, emergency visits and hospital care, children's healthcare spending rose in 2014, according to a new report by the Health Care Cost Institute that claims rising prices bridged the gap in utilization.
The nation in the next few years faces many important decisions about health care -- most of which have little to do with the controversial federal health law. Here are five issues candidates should be discussing, but largely are not.
The South Side of Chicago now has a second Healthcare Center and Remote Consultation Pharmacy for HIV/AIDS patients. The new Hyde Park facility was officially unveiled this week, and will help extend services to the underserved community, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said.
During 2014, the first full year of the law's implementation, 91 percent of children who were eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program were enrolled, according to the study by researchers at the Urban Institute. In 2013, that figure was 88.7 percent and only 81.7 percent in 2008.
Citing "well-intended" but "flawed" public policy that led doctors to treat pain more aggressively, Stack advised physicians to avoid prescribing opioids to patients with non-cancer pain, except in cases where the benefits are expected to outweigh the risks.