"Health & Medical News"

Washington — The push to prevent impending Medicare physician pay cuts is being advanced by a new bill that would block such reductions for 18 months.

The legislation, called the Save Medicare Act of 2008, would continue a 0.5% physician pay update for the last six months of 2008 and would institute a 1.8% update for 2009. Physicians are slated to receive a 10.6% cut starting July 1 and an additional cut of about 5% in 2009.

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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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In the fall I rotated through the geriatrics ward. One of the attending physicians was an irritating woman whose idea of the Socratic method was pimping you with really vague questions, then acting like she had already thought of whatever answers you gave and that you were only telling her what she already knew. The other attending was a throwback to “the days of the giants,” when pneumococcal pneumonia was diagnosed by injecting sputum into mice and antibiotics for urinary tract infections were tested on agar plates. One morning, one of my interns presented a case to him of an elderly man who had been hospitalized with fever and a cough producing green sputum. “He has pneumonia,” she proclaimed confidently. “Take a look at this chest X-ray.” She pulled up a digital image on a computer screen showing a distinct pneumonic streak. The senior physician waved it off. “First tell me about your lung exam,” he said.

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Rates of post-storm addiction and mental-health problems among Hurricane Katrina and Rita survivors can be directly correlated to how long they were displaced from their homes, according to new research from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The study found that while most survivors displayed great resiliency after the storms, the rate of addiction and mental-health programs was much higher among those who had been forced from their homes for two weeks or more.

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Nearly half of physicians use placebos in clinical care, and only 4% tell their patients the truth about it, according to a survey of Chicago academic physicians that was published this month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Only 8% of the 231 physicians surveyed used placebos more than 10 times during the last year, but experts were alarmed by doctors’ self-reported, less-than-straightforward conversations with patients about placebos.

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Holmes Warm Mist Humidifier HM5601 can be sure you’re getting the best air can irritate sinuses and allergies, as well as dry out expensive furnishings. This humidifier

Desert Spring Humidifier dubbed “Best Long Term Value” on the Market
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… causes of food allergies as well as how to tell a food allergy from a food intolerance. … Sulfites are another common cause of food intolerance. …

AllRefer Health - Food Allergy (Allergy to Food)
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The California Supreme Court will decide whether an employer had the right to fire an employee for a positive drug test even if he was a registered medical-marijuana user, the Fresno Bee reported Nov. 5.

Gary Ross was fired from Ragingwire Inc., after testing positive for marijuana, even though he showed his employer a doctor’s recommendation that he use the drug to ease his back pain. California law allows medical use of marijuana, while federal law does not.

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