http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/ For the informed consumer of health care en Copyright 2008 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:01:13 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss For years, the medical community has assumed that the early detection of prostate cancer by PSA testing improved health outcomes of all men tested. Now, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against routine cancer screening for men over 75. PSA tests do dectect the disease, but more harm than good can be done with treatment, starting with prostate biopsy and perhaps surgery and or radiation and chemotherapy. The recommendation is based on the fact that the average 75 year old American male will live less than 10 additional years and probably die of causes other than prostate cancer, So why risk the emotional and physical trauma of current treatment methods. Of course the decision to test or not is an individual one. For example, a 75 year old male in excellent health should live considerably longer than the average and will probably want to continue with PSA testing. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/08/prostate_screening_no_longer_r.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/08/prostate_screening_no_longer_r.html Primary Care prostate cancer PSA test Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:01:13 -0800 Databases with the prescription drug histories of 200 million Americans are now being used by many health insurance companies to evaluate applications for individual health insurance. The data work like a credit report for health. The data originate with pharmacy benefit managers and contain details like the prescribing doctor, dates, drugs, dosages, etc.. The benefit companies then give their client insurance companies access for a fee. Insurance companies can better evaluate the expected risk for a particular applicant so this is a great value for them. It works a lot faster that their alternative which is to request medical records from the applicant's physicians. Privacy and consumer advocates complain that there are more and more companies holding vast amounts of patients' health information, mostly unknown to the average consumer. The database companies say they provide information to insurers only after having been released by consumers. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/08/risk_evaluation_tool_based_on.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/08/risk_evaluation_tool_based_on.html Health Insurance health insurance risk evaluation Prescription drug databases Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:04:53 -0800 online. ]]> http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/06/necessary_medical_care_increas.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/06/necessary_medical_care_increas.html Health Insurance health insurance medical care Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:54:16 -0800 Retail walk-in medical clinics in pharmacies are proving more difficult to establish than initially thought. The clinics are more complicated and expensive to operate. It seems, operators and investors were overly optimistic in their return on investment estimates. The clinics are experiencing an 18 to 24 month break-even rather than the initial projections of a six month break-even. Much of the added cost is in marketing to make the public aware the service exists in each market and to gain acceptance. While the pubilc likes the convenience of the walk-ins, it takes a lot of users to make it pay. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/05/retail_medical_clinic_operator.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/05/retail_medical_clinic_operator.html Primary Care health clinic retail health clinic walk-in health clinic Wed, 14 May 2008 10:32:27 -0800 The state of Florida has passed health insurance legislation that will allow insurance carriers to offer bare-bones coverage for as little as $150 per month. Aimed at Florida’s 3.8 million uninsured residents, the plans would be exempt from existing state-mandated coverage requirements. For instance the plans would not be required to offer coverage for long-term hospitalizations or treatment from specialists, but would cover preventive care and office visits. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/05/florida_health_reform_legislat.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/05/florida_health_reform_legislat.html Health Care Policy Florida health care reform Florida heath insurance Thu, 08 May 2008 13:45:29 -0800 Consumers with a pressing need to validate the paternity of a child can now buy a DNA Collection Kit offered by a Utah-based genetics company called Identigene. Available over the counter at Rite-Aid stores in 30 states. You pay $22.99 for the kit and another $119 processing fee for the results. The kit has swabs to collect cell samples from the inner cheek of the child and the "alleged" father and consent forms. You get the results in the mail in 3 to 5 business days. Ethical concerns are plenty. Will samples be collected without consent while the alleged father sleeps? What if the samples are used to determine genetic conditions or diseases? What if mistakes are made? According to Identigene the test is 99.9% accurate, but is not legally binding because there is no verification that the samples are from the people listed on the forms sent to the lab. Identigene offers a legally valid test that costs $350 where consumers go to a collection site that oversees sample collection and identity verification. Where's the market? 60% of kit purchases were made by women. Most people purchasing the kits were in their 20s. No surprises there. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/04/paternity_kits_available_over.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/04/paternity_kits_available_over.html Children's Health child support paternit Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:08:57 -0800 The US doesn’t have enough Geratricians. Currently, there about 7,000 Geriatricians practicing in the US. And the shortage is getting worse, because our medical schools and teaching hospitals are training one or two geriatricians for every nine specialists in higher paying specialties like cardiology or orthopedic surgery, Geriatricians make less money because their patients are on Medicare and their services are reimbursed a lower rate than private insurance patients. Additionally, the treatment of the elderly is less attractive to young doctors selecting a specialty. Public relations programs to convince the public of the value of Geriatricians has not had much of an impact on the shortage. So medical schools are adding more courses on the treatment of the elderly for all doctors and some foundations are providing grants to fund those courses. Because there are too few Geriatricians, primary care doctors also need to receive extra training in the treatment of elderly patients and perhaps even be required to be certified in elderly treatment. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/03/shortage_of_geriatric_physicia.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/03/shortage_of_geriatric_physicia.html Aging Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:08:38 -0800 Sadly, the California Senate Health Committee defeated a ground-breaking proposal to reform the state's health insurance system and extend coverage to millions of uninsured residents. In the end, it was the economic downturn that killed the well-intentioned plan. The state already has a $14.5 billion deficit, so the pprobability that the ambitious proposal would not be self-sustaining was just too risky to bear at this time. The nation was watching California on this one and the proposal's failure doesn't bode well for health insurance reform at the national level, regardless who gets elected. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/01/proposed_california_health_pla.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/01/proposed_california_health_pla.html Health Care Policy health insurance in california Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:31:00 -0800 If you have a child, you know all too well how often they have upper-respiratory tract and sinus infections. According to recently published studies, commercially available sinus and cold medications are ineffective at best and in some cases even dangerous for use by children. For treatment of cold symptoms, try using a nasal wash solution made from processed seawater. It can also prevent respiratory infection from coming back. During the study, 390 children were tested over a period of 6 weeks. The noses of the children in the nasal saline solution group were less stuffy and runny. During the prevention phase, the children in the saline solution group had substantially fewer sore throats, nasal obstructions/secretions, and coughs compared to the children in the standard treatment group who did not receive the saline solution. The researchers also found that during the prevention phase fewer of the saline group children were using fever-reducing drugs (9% vs. 33%), nasal decongestants (5% vs. 47%), mucus-dissolving medications (10% vs. 37%) or antibiotics (6% vs. 21%). Those in the saline group also experienced fewer days of illness and complications during the same period. Available nasal wash products include Ocean Premium Saline Nasal Spray and SinuCleanse. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/01/simple_home_remedy_outperforms.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/01/simple_home_remedy_outperforms.html Children's Health cold cough cold medicine cold nose cold remedies Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:38:33 -0800 A Harvard Medical School study (published recently in JAMA) found that older individuals got sicker than insured people in a comparable age group. Additionally, the differences in health were quickly reduced when the uninsured individuals became eligible for Medicare at age 65. The study also found that previously insured participants experienced no significant change in their health as they transitioned to Medicare, while participants who previously had little or no prior coverage experienced a significant slowing of the decline of their health once on Medicare. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/01/people_are_sicker_without_heal.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/01/people_are_sicker_without_heal.html Health Insurance health insurance Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:07:38 -0800 Group health insurance is too expensive for many small businesses and it’s not surprising that almost 70% of the working uninsured are employed by businesses with fewer than 100 employees. A majority of small business owners (57%) say they will support an individual health insurance mandate - where individuals are required to insure themselves. It stands to reason that small businesses would jump at the chance to get their employees covered by individual plans especially if they wouldn’t be required to contribute very much to offset the lack of group coverage. Presidential candidates Clinton and Edwards, both Democrats, have proposed universal health insurance with individual mandates. Interestingly, small business owners, typically Republican, find at least one of their business interests aligned with the opposition. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/01/small_business_supports_indivi_1.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2008/01/small_business_supports_indivi_1.html Health Care Policy individual health insurance small group health insurance Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:16:17 -0800 The status quo of American health care is unacceptable. What makes it a political nightmare to fix is that what one side really wants is a single payor government system like Medicare and what the other side really wants is to minimize government involvement and let a free market bring about changes naturally. How's that working for us so far? Pragmatists, including most presidential candidates, occupy the middle ground seeking workable solutions at the risk of loosing their political constituancies. Such is the case in California, where Repubilcan Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger made a deal with Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez to compromise on a health care bill similar to the recently enacted Massachusettes plan. The California bill has passed the House and will face a Senate vote in January 2008. Both men are risking a lot of their political capital to make this happen. We could use more politicians like them. On the plus side, insurers would no longer be able to reject applicants for pre-existing health conditions. Health insurance in California would be mandatory in 2010 and low income residents would be subsidized. Coverage will be extended to 4 million previously uninsured California residents. California would get up to $4 billion in federal funds that the state has not previously been able to get its hands on, but there are some significant funding hurdles to overcome. In an effort to end-run a two thirds vote for the establishment of any new taxes, the bill's backers plan to introduce an initiative on the November 2008 ballot asking voters to authorize funding. The nation is watching to see if California can pull this off. I sure hope we do. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2007/12/the_status_quo_of_american.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2007/12/the_status_quo_of_american.html Health Insurance california health insurance california health insurance plan health insurance in california Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:43:25 -0800 cost of unnecessary tests ]]> http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2007/12/incompetent_doctors_seldom_rep.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2007/12/incompetent_doctors_seldom_rep.html Primary Care code of medical ethics incompetent doctors medical ethics Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:16:49 -0800 Walgreens is no longer going to fill prescriptions for these four CVS Caremark plans: ArcelorMittal, Johnson Controls, Progressive Casualty Insurance, and the Wisconsin Education Association Trust managed plans. These plans are available in Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Wallgreens says they can't make money on these four plans, saying "The reimbursement rates are unreasonably low and below-market". Wallgreens is trying to preserve profits while CVS Caremark is trying to lower the cost of health care for its members. In this case, it looks like CVS Caremark stonewalled too long. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2007/12/walgreens_drops_some_cvs_carem.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2007/12/walgreens_drops_some_cvs_carem.html Health Insurance prescription drug plan prescription drug prices prescription drugs Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:42:56 -0800 Hospitals routinely pad their bills. For that matter, so do other health care providers. If you have health insurance and you've been hospitalized or had an outpatient procedure recently, you've probably been astounded at the difference between what the health care provider charged versus what the insurance company or Medicare paid them. Hospitals and providers claim that bill padding is their defense against the aggressive fee cutting efforts of insurers and government programs. But the end result is that the only patients who are stuck with those outrageously inflated bills are the uninsured (without giant insurance companies to negotiate lower rates for them). Because few actually pay their bills, many escaping through bankruptcy, the hospital further increases its fees. http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2007/11/hospital_bill_padding_bankrupt.html http://www.healthcareshopper.com/blog/2007/11/hospital_bill_padding_bankrupt.html Health Insurance medical bills Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:45:03 -0800