Report Finds Racial Disparities In Prescription Drug Access, Use, Regimen Adherence

“Origins and Strategies for Addressing Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Pharmaceutical Therapy: The Health-Care System, the Provider, and the Patient,” National Minority Quality Forum: The report — by Richard Levy, a health care consultant and former vice president of the National Pharmaceutical Council; Robert Like, professor and director of the Center for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity of the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and Harry Shabsin, a private-practice psychologist — looks at how appropriate medications for a variety of diseases often are under-prescribed, over-prescribed, or mis-prescribed among minorities. The report looks at disparities in treatment of minority patients with cardiovascular disease, asthma, psychiatric illness, pain and other conditions and finds disparities in access to medications through insurance programs, in the prescribing of medications and in adherence to medication regimens. The report offers ways to improve prescribing and use of medications among diverse communities (National Minority Quality Forum release, 5/12).

Healthcare Commission Report A Damning Indictment Of Emergency Care In Mid Staffordshire – The King’s Fund, UK

Commenting in response to the Healthcare Commission’s investigation into emergency care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, The King’s Fund’s Chief Executive Niall Dickson said: ‘This is a damning indictment of the quality of emergency care provided to patients in Mid Staffordshire and raises fundamental questions about how the hospital has been managed and why the right numbers of skilled doctors and nurses were not in place. This is not to say that care in other parts of the hospital was poor, but it does reveal there has been a fundamental breakdown in the systems and standards patients have a right to expect.

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Health Issues In State Of The State Addresses

The following highlights health issues mentioned in governors’ recent state of the state addresses.
Kentucky: In his Feb. 4 speech, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) said his proposal to fill the state’s $456 million budget shortfall “clearly articulates priorities for investment” in “basic health care for our most vulnerable populations,” among other things. He said that providing health care “is not only a moral obligation but one that carries economic return.” He added, “But to protect our priorities we need the targeted application of new revenue, which I propose we obtain by significantly increasing our tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.” According to Beshear, Kentucky has “a cigarette tax which is the fourth-lowest in the entire nation,” but “the health toll of smoking is devastating.” He said, “We spend $1.5 billion a year on health problems related to smoking, including $487 million in Medicaid costs alone — a cost, ironically, that more than matches our current shortfall.” Beshear said, “The people of this state overwhelmingly support a significant increase in tobacco taxes” (Beshear speech text, 2/4).

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Health Issues In State Of The State Addresses

The following highlights health issues mentioned in governors’ recent state of the state addresses.
Kentucky: In his Feb. 4 speech, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) said his proposal to fill the state’s $456 million budget shortfall “clearly articulates priorities for investment” in “basic health care for our most vulnerable populations,” among other things. He said that providing health care “is not only a moral obligation but one that carries economic return.” He added, “But to protect our priorities we need the targeted application of new revenue, which I propose we obtain by significantly increasing our tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.” According to Beshear, Kentucky has “a cigarette tax which is the fourth-lowest in the entire nation,” but “the health toll of smoking is devastating.” He said, “We spend $1.5 billion a year on health problems related to smoking, including $487 million in Medicaid costs alone — a cost, ironically, that more than matches our current shortfall.” Beshear said, “The people of this state overwhelmingly support a significant increase in tobacco taxes” (Beshear speech text, 2/4).

KDE 4.2 RC1 Released

The KDE project has released the first release candidate for KDE 4.2. “The KDE Community today announced the immediate availability of “Cilense”, (a.k.a. KDE 4.2 Release Candidate), the only planned release candidate for the KDE 4.2 desktop. Cilense is aimed at testers and reviewers. It should provide a solid ground to report last-minute bugs that need to be tackled before KDE 4.2.0 is released. Reviewers can use this release candidate to get a first look at the upcoming KDE 4.2 desktop which provides significant improvements all over the desktop and applications. It is not recommended for everyday use, however.”

Report Looks At Racial, Ethnic Differences In Certain Birth Defects

“Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Birth Prevalence of Spina Bifida — United States, 1995-2005,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: The report updates previously reported data on the prevalence of neural tube defects such as spina bifida and assesses racial/ethnic differences. The findings are based on U.S. birth certificate data for four periods from 1995 to 2005 and birth defect data from the National Vital Statistics System. Researchers compared the number of cases of spina bifida per 10,000 live births during the four periods — relative to a January 1998 mandate that folic acid be added to all enriched cereal grain products to prevent neural tube defects. The analysis indicates that from the early post-mandate period, 1999 to 2000, to the most recent surveillance period, 2003 to 2005, the prevalence of spina bifida decreased by 6.9%. The analysis also showed significant decreases in prevalence among infants with non-Hispanic black mothers, but not among infants with non-Hispanic white mothers or Hispanic mothers. “Additional public health efforts targeting women with known risk factors,” such as obesity and certain genetic factors, “likely are needed to further reduce the prevalence of spina bifida in the United States,” according to the report (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1/9).

KDE 4.2 RC1 Released

The KDE project has released the first release candidate for KDE 4.2. “The KDE Community today announced the immediate availability of “Cilense”, (a.k.a. KDE 4.2 Release Candidate), the only planned release candidate for the KDE 4.2 desktop. Cilense is aimed at testers and reviewers. It should provide a solid ground to report last-minute bugs that need to be tackled before KDE 4.2.0 is released. Reviewers can use this release candidate to get a first look at the upcoming KDE 4.2 desktop which provides significant improvements all over the desktop and applications. It is not recommended for everyday use, however.”

Researchers Report First Successful Transplant Of Complete Ovary To Restore Fertility

Physicians for the first time have successfully transplanted an intact ovary into a previously infertile patient, resulting in a live birth last month, doctors from the Infertility Center of St. Louisreported on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Reuters reports. The researchers said the new technique potentially could be used to preserve fertility for cancer patients who may lose ovarian function or for women who wish to have children later in life, when they are less fertile. Sherman Silber of the infertility center and colleagues transplanted a woman’s entire ovary into her 38-year-old identical twin sister, who had experienced premature menopause at age 15. The ovary restored full fertility in the sister, they reported.

Report Released By Group Alleges Discriminatory Practices At CVS Pharmacies Across U.S.

A coalition of public interest groups on Thursday are expected to gather outside of several CVS pharmacies in New York City and four other cities to protest what they say are unequal services provided to minority communities across the country, the New York Daily News reports. CVS has more than 6,000 pharmacies nationwide. The coalition is expected to release a report that alleges “questionable product quality, overcharging and consumer safety issues” by the pharmacy chain in minority neighborhoods (Moritz, New York Daily News, 12/4).

Prepared Patient: Can Hospital Report Cards Help You?

Consumers are awash in information they can use to find the best deals on everything from dishwashers to car insurance. But is it possible to comparison shop for a hospital?

Hospital report cards which can include information on everything from how clean the hallways are to how many patients die after a certain operation have been touted as a valuable source of information for savvy hospital shoppers. But these report cards may not be as useful to you as a Consumer Reports guide. The information in them can be out of date, hard to interpret, and aimed more at the hospitals themselves than at patients. And for many patients, “choosing” a hospital just isn’t an option no matter what the report card says.