High Level Of Waste In Health Spending, Says Medicare And Medicaid Boss
Dr. Donald M. Berwick, head of Medicare and Medicaid until last Thursday, stated that up to 30% of spending on health is wasted with absolutely no benefit to beneficiaries (patients). He added that his agency's cumbersome and archaic regulations are partly to blame. He claims too many resources and too much time is dedicated to things that do not help patients one bit; something doctors are fully aware of too. In an interview last Thursday, Dr. Berwick said: "Much is done that does not help patients at all, and many physicians know it.
Many Women Not Receiving Recommended Breast Cancer Adjuvant Treatment
A first-of-its kind study led by Xiao-Cheng Wu, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Public Health at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, reports that a significant number of women are not receiving guideline-recommended treatment for breast cancer and what factors contribute. The research is published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The research team, which also included Vivien Chen, PhD, Professor and Director of the Louisiana Tumor Registry at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Public Health, explored how race/ethnicity, insurance status, poverty, education, and hospital type were associated with the delivery of guideline-recommended adjuvant systemic therapy for breast cancers.
Younger Americans' Health Disparity Gets Worse
There is a growing disparity between healthy and sick Americans born after 1980, caused by various factors, including a widening income gap, obesity which tends to hit certain income and ethnic groups more, access to health care services, and some other factors, researchers from Ohio State University wrote in American Sociological Review. The authors added that the difference in the health of people gets wider as they approach and reach middle age, before closing during old age. This being the case, the researchers predict that over the next couple of decades, as younger generations get older and replace existing ones, differences will widen.