Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

In evaluating the new Senate bill, I’m defining “get the job done” not through how well it does on creating the tools for serious cost control (Ezra Klein is your man for that), nor am I defining success as winning the enmity of health insurance companies, although Wall Street clearly hates this bill — in and ... Full story

*Sorry, it’s not the Senate bill as far as I know. All that was known when this post was scheduled was: $849 billion to cover 94% of Americans, saving $127 billion over 10 years. That isn’t very informative in and of itself! Hidden among the 1990 pages of HR 3962, there are some provisions to tinker around the edges of ... Full story

A health information technology project “may revolutionize how health care is managed” by using medical records to coordinate patients’ records. The Kansas City Star reports: “A pilot program is helping 13 area doctors’ offices convert to doing that for their patients. The two-year program, backed by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and Leawood-based TransforMED, involves 13 primary care, family practice and ... Full story

CLINICAL UPDATE – Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis is a condition of the bone itself, where the bone mass is reduced. The bones become weaker and more prone to fracture. Good evidence supports the treatment of patients with osteoporosis to prevent further bone loss. There have been great developments in this sphere. “If there is an imbalance in activity in the bone between osteoblast cells which build up ... Full story

MONTREAL–The Quebec College of Physicians has taken the controversial step of formally endorsing euthanasia in certain “exceptional” situations. The college says euthanasia should be considered a part of the care given to certain terminally ill patients for whom death is “imminent” and “inevitable,” and that Canada’s legislative framework ought to reflect it. “It has to be considered within the context of appropriate care for those exceptional ... Full story

As H1N1 hysteria grows, some people are trying everything from onions to homeopathy to fend off the vicious bug. “I’m hearing a lot of people talking about H1N1 and there’s a lot of fear out there, that’s for sure,” says Heather Boon, a professor at the University of Toronto who studies natural health products. A host of H1N1 prevention techniques and products are circulating on Internet websites ... Full story

British scientists at Brighton-based drug development company Destiny Pharma have received further confirmation from peers that their leading compound marks a new class of antibacterial that may not be susceptible to antibiotic resistance pathways. This breakthrough is detailed in the latest edition of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (JAC) in the peer-reviewed paper, entitled ‘XF-73, a novel anti-staphylococcal membrane-active agent with rapid bactericidal activity’. It shows ... Full story

OTTAWA–Anyone thinking of riding out the swine flu pandemic without getting a shot will have a long time to wait for the outbreak to pass, says the head of the federal public health agency. “(The pandemic’s) not slowing down 
 It’s continuing to rise, so nobody should be complacent about this and nobody should think that it’s too late to get the vaccine or somehow this ... Full story

CLINICAL UPDATE – Osteoporosis: DXA scans (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) measure bone density in patients suspected of suffering from osteoporosis. They are the ‘gold standard’ test to recognise whether or not someone has osteoporosis. The DXA scan is fast, simple and accurate. It measures bone density in the most likely areas to be affected by osteoporosis — the spine, hip and wrist. It also follows ... Full story

The relationship between GPs and the Health Service Executive (HSE) in the Dublin North East region has broken down ‘irretrievably’ with only 16 primary care teams (PCTs) functioning in the area. Clones-based GP Dr Seamus Clarke, who resigned from the GP Unit with two colleagues earlier this year, reckoned the number of teams was low because the ‘trust had vanished’ between GPs and the HSE. ... Full story