"Health & Medical News"

The pace of health care quality improvement appears to be slowing, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s fifth annual report compiling federal and state data on more than 200 quality metrics.

A composite measure of health care quality improved at a 2.3% average annualized rate between 1994 and 2005, with the rate falling to 1.5% from 2000 to 2005. And in a first stab at examining the cost efficiency of the American health care system, AHRQ noted that costs, as estimated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, jumped 6.7% from 1994 to 2005.

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Washington — About 5% of the 9 million new cases of tuberculosis diagnosed each year worldwide are now resistant to multiple drugs, the highest rate ever recorded, according to a World Health Organization report.

The report, released on Feb. 26, also found that extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, a virtually untreatable form of the disease, infects people in 45 countries. Although the United States has had relatively few cases of resistant strains of the disease — 47 cases of XDR-TB were found in a retrospective analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1993 to 2006 — the potential for its spread is great.

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From:
Treatment Research Institute
600 Public Ledger Building, 150 S. Independence Mall West
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: (215) 399-0980
http://www.tresearch.org

Paying substance abuse treatment providers for results, not services, may lead to improved quality of care, according to the first published study of a novel performance-based contracting system implemented by the State of Delaware in 2002.

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From:
Treatment Research Institute
600 Public Ledger Building, 150 S. Independence Mall West
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: (215) 399-0980
http://www.tresearch.org

Paying substance abuse treatment providers for results, not services, may lead to improved quality of care, according to the first published study of a novel performance-based contracting system implemented by the State of Delaware in 2002.

Popularity: unranked [?]

From:
Treatment Research Institute
600 Public Ledger Building, 150 S. Independence Mall West
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: (215) 399-0980
http://www.tresearch.org

Paying substance abuse treatment providers for results, not services, may lead to improved quality of care, according to the first published study of a novel performance-based contracting system implemented by the State of Delaware in 2002.

Popularity: unranked [?]

One health plan has come to a conclusion that many physicians already have reached: The financial benefits of office-based electronic medical records systems are not worth the cost to doctors.

Relying on information from past studies, including an American Medical Association estimate that doctors see only 11 cents of every dollar saved through the use of information technology, BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts recently announced that it has decided not to require physicians to install an EMR to participate in its bonus program.

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By Bob Curley

With federal research showing that its anti-drug media campaign isn’t working with kids, and Congress calling for major cuts in the program, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has unveiled a more modest effort that focuses on an emerging threat — prescription-drug abuse — and appeals to parents rather than youth.

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Absinthe, a long-banned liquor that recently became legal for sale in the U.S., is attracting new fans with its legendary reputation and air of exclusivity, the Chicago Tribune reported Dec. 22.

The green, 120-proof liquor distilled from wormwood and tasting of anise costs $75 and up and is only sold in a handful of stores. Experts say that the high price and rarity is part of absinthe’s appeal, along with a reputation for hallucinogenic effects and a long list of artists and authors who have sung absinthe’s praises over the centuries.

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The government of British Columbia, Canada is distributing free crack-pipe mouthpieces in an attempt to prevent transmission of hepatitis C among drug users who pass around the pipes, The Province reported Jan. 3.

“People who smoke crack often burn their lips and have sores on their lips, and that sore can have blood in it,” explained Perry Kendall, chief medical health officer for the province. “A well-run [mouthpiece] program offers a lot of promise to reduce blood-borne diseases and to introduce people to health care and addiction treatment services as well.”

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A local law making marijuana offenses the lowest law-enforcement priority in Seattle has resulted in fewer drug arrests, but black residents are still being arrested in disproportionate numbers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Jan. 8.

Far more whites than blacks live in Seattle, but more black residents were arrested and charged with marijuana offenses in 2006 than whites, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Review Panel, which is responsible for monitoring implementation of the law.

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