MedPage Today (1/18, Fiore) reported that the guidelines say physicians should not prescribe “antibiotics for colds, sore throats, bronchitis, and sinus infections that aren’t complicated.”
The AP (1/18, Neergaard) reports that the CDC and the American College of Physicians have issued guidelinesintended to help physicians avoid overuse of antibiotics for respiratory problems. The guidelines were published in Annals of Internal Medicine. The guidelines “lay out how doctors begin deciding if antibiotics are warranted for” certain “respiratory complaints, explain that decision to patients and offer guidance on symptom relief.”
MedPage Today (1/18, Fiore) reported that the guidelines say physicians should not prescribe “antibiotics for colds, sore throats, bronchitis, and sinus infections that aren’t complicated.”
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CMS chief: Meaningful use will end in 2016, "CMS has lost the hearts and minds of physicians"1/13/2016 Exercise may help people with depression reduce their risk for heart disease, study suggests1/12/2016 HealthDay (1/12, Reinberg) reports that research published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests that “exercise may reduce the chances of developing heart disease for people with depression.” For the study, nearly 1,000 individuals “completed questionnaires on depression and physical activity.” Investigators “also checked for several early indicators of heart disease.”
MedPage Today (1/12, Phend) reports that the researchers found that “higher Beck Depression Inventory-II scores correlated with more inflammation as indicated by C-reactive protein levels (P<0.001), more oxidative stress assessed by lower antioxidant glutathione (P<0.001), and poorer vascular function measured by both the augmentation index and subendocardial viability ratio.” The NPR (1/12, Bichell) “Shots” blog reports that a studypublished in JAMA Internal Medicine analyzed 21 studies of treatment methods for lower back pain, “involving over 30,000 people in total.” The findings show that “back belts and show insoles didn’t seem to offer a benefit,” and that any kind of exercise “reduced the risk of repeated lower-back pain in the year following an episode between 25 and 40 percent.” In a corresponding editorial, Dr. Tim Carey at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill writes that healthcare providers don’t prescribe exercise enough, pointing out that “fewer than half of patients participate in an exercise program, even if they have long-term back pain.” Carey discovered that passive treatments, like ultrasound or orthotic insoles, were far more common. The discrepancy may be because of the health industry’s focus on “sellable products, and exercise isn’t one.”
TIME (1/12, Sifferlin) adds that about 80 percent of people will experience lower back pain at some point in their life. While exercise was found to be effective, “the researchers say it’s unclear whether these effects would last beyond a year.” The study authors write, “This finding raises the important issue that, for exercise to remain protective against future [lower back pain], it is likely that ongoing exercise is required.” The AP (1/12, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday “announced 121 new” accountable care organizations. The announcement means 8.9 million Medicare beneficiaries, or about one-fourth of those on “traditional Medicare,” will be getting care from one of 477 ACOs. Twenty-one new ACOs will be able to recruit patients directly.
In a 3,400-word article, the New York Times (1/10, BU1, Scheiber, Subscription Publication) discussed how the “emotional debate in medicine, in which the imperative to increase efficiency in a high-cost health care system is often at odds with the deference traditionally accorded to” physicians, prompted hospitalists at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield, Oregon to form “a union, one of the first of its kind in the country.” The Times explains the hospital’s administration responded by “agree[ing] to junk its outsourcing plan.” Still, this retreat resulted in “a long, grinding negotiation...over the proper role of the hospital” physician, “which continues to this day.”
Kaiser Health News (1/9, Andrews) reported that a recent study published in Health Affairs found that “promising workers lower health insurance premiums for losing weight did nothing to help them take off the pounds.” The study found that “obese workers had lost less than 1.5 pounds on average, statistically no different than the minute average gain of a tenth of a pound for workers who weren’t offered a financial incentive to lose weight.” The incentive was valued at $550.
The “Well” blog in the New York Times (1/9, Bakalar) reported that a study of 14,000 Americans ranging from adolescence to old age revealed that “having friends is good for your physical health, and the benefits appear to start early in life.” Kathleen Mullan Harris, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, stated loneliness and poor health are linked in older people, but this is the first time it has been studied in younger people.
HealthDay (1/9, Preidt) reported that the study, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that “the more social ties people had at a young age, the better their health early and late in life.” Harris said, “The relationship between health and the degree to which people are integrated in large social networks is strongest at the beginning and at the end of life, and not so important in middle adulthood, when the quality, not the quantity, of social relationships matters.” The Wall Street Journal (1/10, Loftus, Subscription Publication) reported that pharmaceutical companies have raised prices on dozens of branded drugs in the US since late December of last year. According to equity analysts, many of the price increases have been between 9% and 10%, although pharmaceutical companies argue these increases are to the drug’s list price and do not include the manufacturer’s discounts or rebates. Reuters (1/9, Beasley) reported that Pfizer alone increased the US prices of over 100 of its drugs since January 1, with some price hikes as high as 20%. Please click on the link below for the newest article.
https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/printing-press-nanoparticles-257609 |
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