A February 24, 2016 Article from The New England Journal of Medicine — Readmissions, Observation, and the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program talks about the decrease in hospital readmissions for targeted conditions (CHF, pneumonia, and acute myocardial infarction.) The article states that data shows that readmission rates dropped significantly at US Hospitals between 2007 and 2015.… Read More
A February 22, 2016 article in California Healthline talks about the importance of coordinating medical and mental health care. Excerpts include People with severe mental illnesses are more likely to die prematurely than those without, and it’s often from treatable chronic diseases — in part because many, …..don’t receive regular medical care. They may be uninsured… Read More
Sitting around watching TV or playing internet games also called “Screen time,” as defined by time spent watching television or using electronic devices for leisure activities such as video games. A study, published in the August 25, 2011, issue of BMC Public Health,evaluated the amount of time among Belgian adults spent in front of the… Read More
This February 18, 2016 NEJM article is part of a $50 Million US Government research project to look at the safety and efficacy of testosterone. The study concluded that testosterone gel significantly increased sexual desire and erectile function, decreased depression and improved mood. Also those who did not have mobility problems improved their 6 minute… Read More
The February 8, 2016 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine had an opinion article that reviewed telemonitoring as one potential approach to decrease readmissions. The article gives background that we are no three years into the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and CMS still reports that the CHF readmission rate is still near 22%. The authors commented on a… Read More
Telemedicine is expanding rapidly and there and every year there are additional proposals to further expand its use. Many of the opponents question whether the quality of care will suffer via telemedicine. Telemedicine has been shown to be of value in remotely assessing psychiatric patients, radiological studies, and dermatological conditions. Previously many opponents also… Read More
I always enjoy speaking to and reading Dr. William Sullivan’s work and opinions in the field of medical legal issues. I think that he is truly a thought leader in emergency medicine. His February 2016 article in Emergency Physicians Monthly is very thought provoking. In this article, he explores the use of the phrase “standard… Read More
A February 6, 2016 Mayo Clinic Proceedings article concludes that having a normal body-mass index (BMI) and a high waist circumference (WC) or high waist/hip ratio (WHR), representing “normal-weight central obesity,” can increase risk of mortality in patients with coronary artery disease. This study analyzed more than 7000 CAD patients from five cohort studies (US,… Read More
An article written by myself, Dr. Paul Kivela back in 2010. Like many of you, I grew up with football. I would cheer and applaud the big hits. In high school, college and especially the pros, people worried about broken bones and joint injuries. With helmets, we rarely worried about head injuries, but now, things have… Read More
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