Contribution of Alzheimer disease to mortality in the United States
by Bryan D. James, PhD; Sue E. Leurgans, PhD; Liesi E. Hebert, ScD; Paul A. Scherr, PhD, ScD; Kristine Yaffe, MD; and David A. Bennett, MD
The number of Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia-related deaths is greater than five times the number reported in the United States every year, according to research published in the journal Neurology. Researchers, led by Bryan D. James, Ph.D., of Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, examined 2,566 patients aged 65 or older without dementia from two studies that required organ donation. During an eight-year period, 559 participants without dementia at baseline developed AD dementia and 1,090 died, with the median time from dementia diagnoses to death at about 3.8 years. The mortality hazard ratio for patients ages 75 to 84 was 4.3 and 2.77 for patients 85 years and older, while population attributable risk was 37 percent and 35.8 percent, respectively. Researchers estimated AD dementia caused the deaths of 503,400 Americans ages 75 years or older in 2010, more than the 84,000 reported on death certificates. Continue reading...
Daschle, former senators form alliance to lobby for new telehealth rules
A group of former senators (Tom Daschle, Trent Lott, John Breaux) formed the noble-sounding Alliance for Connected Care, which will lobby Congress to protect the interests of its big-company members (Verizon, WellPoint, CVS, and Walgreens) as well as patients who benefit from telehealth services. In addition to seeking friendly governmental consideration, the group wants to lift geographic treatment limitations and build the case for telehealth as an effective care delivery mechanism. Surprisingly, HIMSS isn’t among its lengthy list of advisory board organizations. Continue reading...
Trends in Out-of-Hospital Births in the United States, 1990–2012
by Marian F. MacDorman, Ph.D.; T.J. Mathews, M.S.; and Eugene Declercq, Ph.D.
In 1900, almost all U.S. births occurred outside a hospital; however the proportion of out-of-hospital births fell to 44% by 1940 and to 1% by 1969, where it remained through the 1980s. Although out-of-hospital births are still rare in the United States, they have been increasing recently. If this increase continues, it has the potential to affect patterns of facility usage, clinician training, and resource allocation, as well as health care costs. This report updates previous analyses to examine recent trends and characteristics of out-of-hospital births, including home and birthing center births, in the United States from 1990–2012, and compares selected characteristics with hospital births. Continue reading...
Out-of-Hospital Births Up, but Key Data Missing
by Sarah Wickline
A federal government report on home birthing trends suggested that out-of-hospital births were increasing, but the report omitted key information about attendants at home births and neonatal outcomes, according to one expert. The overall rate of out-of-hospital births increased from 0.87% of all births in 2004 to 1.36% in 2012, Marian F. MacDorman, PhD, of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), in Hyattsville, Md., and colleagues, wrote in a data brief issued Tuesday. Continue reading...
AHRQ Guide Helps Hospitals Engage Patients and Families in Their Health Care
Research shows that when patients are engaged in their health care, safety and quality can improve measurably. To promote stronger engagement, AHRQ developed the Guide to Patient and Family Engagement in Hospital Quality and Safety, a tested, evidence-based resource to help hospitals work as partners with patients and families to improve quality and safety. Among other information, the free guide includes four specific strategies: ¨• Working with Patients and Families as Advisors—shows how hospitals can work with patients and family members as advisors at the organizational level. ¨ • Communicating to Improve Quality—helps improve communication among patients, family members, clinicians, and hospital staff from the point of admission. ¨ • Nurse Bedside Shift Report—supports the safe handoff of care between nurses by involving the patient and family in the change of shift report for nurses. ¨ • IDEAL Discharge Planning—helps reduce preventable readmissions by engaging patients and family members in the transition from hospital to home.
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MedPAC Recommends No ASC Pay Increase for 2015; 3.25-5.25% Increase for HOPDs
by Laura Miller
On Friday, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission approved a final recommendation for Medicare pay rates in 2015, recommending that ambulatory surgery centers get 0 percent pay raise, according to an AHA News report. At the same time, MedPAC recommended increasing hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems by 3.25 percent in the absence of sequestration cuts and 5.25 percent if spending cuts continue. The sequestration that begun last April enacted automatic 2 percent Medicare payment cuts for the next 10 years. However, MedPAC did suggest reducing or eliminating pay differences between hospital outpatient departments and physician offices for some procedures, as currently hospital outpatient departments are paid significantly more. Source
NHA is one of the 20 Most Promising Data Analytics Companies
Companies today recognize that they have opportunities to use data and analytics to raise productivity, improve decision-making, and gain competitive advantage. CIOs understand that analytics will define the difference between the losers and winners going forward. As the market evolves a vast array of data analytics technology and solution vendors are positioning themselves for leadership. A large number of venture-backed startups are battling against established BI and enterprise software providers. While there are plenty to choose from, organizations that succeed with Big Data analytics will be those that understand the possibilities, see through the vendor hype and choose the right deployment model. In the last few months, we have looked at hundreds of data analytics companies and shortlisted the ones that are at the forefront of tackling the real analytics challenges. We present to you CIOReview's 20 Most Promising Data Analytics Companies. A distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs, VCs, industry analysts and the editorial board of CIOReview selected the Final 20. Continue reading...
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