BioMedEcon: More Than Two-Thirds of Newly Diagnosed OCD Patients Receive Inadequate Therapy.
HEALTH AND BEAUTY CLOSE-UP-18 June 2008-BioMedEcon: More Than Two-Thirds of Newly Diagnosed OCD Patients Receive Inadequate Therapy(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com The majority of newly diagnosed patients who are prescribed medications for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) receive inadequate dose and/or duration of drug treatment, according to a study...

Dementia and Medicare at life's end.
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) affect 3-11 percent of the United States elderly (Leon, Cheng, and Neumann 1998; Hill et al. 2002), and prevalence increases dramatically with age such that more than 47 percent of persons aged 85+ years are estimated to have ADRD (U.S. General Accounting Office...

Barriers to the practice of APRN.
ANA supports the removal of barriers and discriminatory practices that interfere with full participation by advanced practice registered nurses in the health care delivery system. Background The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33) expanded reimbursement opportunities for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) by removing...

ASASH Debuts NueLife Journal and Website.
HEALTH AND BEAUTY CLOSE-UP-8 June 2008-ASASH Debuts NueLife Journal and Website(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com The American System for Advancing Senior Health (ASASH ), a health information and consumer services company dedicated solely to improving the health and well-being of consumers over the age of 55, announced...

Pain care: challenge for managed care.
PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. -- A clear majority of administrators from managed care organizations believe pain-management programs could save money for their organizations, but only a third have such programs in place, Dennis C. Turk, Ph.D., reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. ...

Revisiting the relationship between managed care and hospital consolidation.
During the 1990s, managed care displaced indemnity insurance to become the dominant form of health insurance in the private sector (Glied 2000). Over the same period, a wave of hospital mergers, acquisitions, and hospital system expansions occurred. In 1990, the mean, population weighted, hospital concentration, measured with the Herfindahl-Hirschman...

Effect of Medicaid Managed Care on racial disparities in health care access.
There is substantial evidence of racial disparities in health care access and utilization. Hispanics and African Americans are less likely than whites to have a regular primary care provider, and more likely to report emergency room (ER) use (Collins, Hall, and Neuhaus 1999). African Americans and Hispanics are also...

Clinical practice guideline implementation strategy patterns in Veterans Affairs primary care clinics.
Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been used increasingly to standardize diagnosis and treatment procedures based on the latest clinical evidence, and thereby improve the quality of care. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the largest integrated health care system in the United States, mandated the implementation of CPGs throughout all...

UPMC for You Chosen to Develop Program to Improve Care for Foster Children.
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- UPMC for You has been selected by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) to develop a program designed to improve access to physical and behavioral health care for children in foster care in Allegheny County. UPMC for You, the Medical Assistance...

Health care markets, the safety net, and utilization of care among the uninsured.
Over the past 15 years, roughly one in seven individuals in the U.S. (between 13.6 and 16.3 percent of the population) have been uninsured (U.S. Census Bureau 2004). For many of the uninsured, access to health care is heavily dependent on a "safety net" of providers (Hadley and Holahan...