Colon Cancer Screening More Effective Earlier In Day, Study Finds Nov 11, 2009
The study was funded by a Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development grant and a Career Development Transition Award. Other study others included Michael Y. Chan, of the division of digestive diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Hartley Cohen, of the department of gastroenterology at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. (Science Daily)
With Hormone Therapy, Tender Breasts May Signal Cancer Risk Oct 14, 2009
"It's too soon to tell women to quit their hormone therapy, but it is something for women to think about in balancing the risks versus the benefits," said the study's lead author, Dr. Carolyn J. Crandall, a clinical professor of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles ... SOURCES: Carolyn Crandall, M.D., clinical professor, general internal medicine and health services research, David Geffen School... (MEDLINEplus)
Specialty Hospitals Cherry-pick Patients, Exaggerate Success, Experts Say Oct 9, 2009
2, 2008) A new study in Health Services Research compared the costs of physician-owned specialty hospitals with those of full-service hospitals. Results show that specialty hospitals are not more. (Science Daily)
Small Increase In Hospital Mortality Rates In First Week Of August, Research Shows Sep 24, 2009
23, 2009) People admitted to English hospitals in an emergency on the first Wednesday in August have, on average, a six percent higher mortality rate than people admitted on the previous Wednesday, according to research published in PLoS ONE.. Newly qualified junior doctors start their new positions in NHS hospitals in England on the first Wednesday in August. (Science Daily)
Majority Of Unintended Incidents In The Emergency Room Are Caused By Human Error, Study Finds Sep 21, 2009
Little is known about the causes of unintended events and, thus, these results from Marleen Smits and colleagues from Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research and EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, may help to target research and interventions to increase patient safety. The Dutch team studied emergency departments at 10 hospitals in the Netherlands for 8-14 weeks, during which staff were asked to report unintended events, defined as all unintended incidents that could have... (Science Daily)
A Change of Heart Sep 3, 2009
From the Denver Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Colorado both in Denver (T.T.T.); the Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence, Ann Arbor VA Medical Center (B.K.N., S.S.); and the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan (B.K.N., S.S., E.R.B.) both in Ann Arbor; and the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN (A.P.).... (New England Journal of Medicine)
Excessive Radiological Imaging Explained Sep 2, 2009
Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Health Services Research polled 374 radiologists about their perspective on the causes of increasing and unnecessary use of radiological investigations ... BMC Health Services Research, 2009. (Science Daily)
Obesity costs Santa Clara County $2.1B Jul 10, 2009
The study updates California Department of Health Services research in 2000 that attempted to find the economic cost of obesity. The study, and the update, both by of North Carolina, found that overweight and obesity cost $21 billion annually and physical inactivity cost $20. (San Jose Business Journal, CA)
GSK: RECORD trial results do not change Avandias CV risk stigma, bone fracture risk, physicians say Jun 19, 2009
Dr L. Keoki Williams, a physician at the Center for Health Services Research at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, said physicians should be concerned with the CV risk as the increased risk of congestive heart failure appears clear both in clinical trials and oberservational studies. The potential increased risk for heart attacks was not conclusively addressed in RECORD, and the weight of evidence from meta-analyses and observational studies suggest that there is an association, he noted. (FT.com -- Markets)
AMP urges inclusion of molecular diagnostic tests in comparative effectiveness research Jun 17, 2009
Dr. Nowak continued to say that in order for CER to be a success, it will be essential to train experts in diagnostics (including molecular diagnostics) in current health services research methods as well as to train health services researchers in the technical areas they will assess. This cross training will be essential to ensure that the research methods are technology appropriate. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
Data Overload May Complicate Insurance Choices Jun 16, 2009
The findings appear online in the journal Health Services Research ... SOURCE: Health Services Research, news release, May 28, 2009. (MEDLINEplus)
Pay-for-Performance Doesn't Shortchange Patients Jun 5, 2009
Among the 141,609 people treated for high blood pressure at eight Veterans Administration centers, the researchers found that those whose cases were complicated by other medical conditions were more likely to receive better care than those who only had high blood pressure, said Petersen, who is director of the VA Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence and an associate professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston ... SOURCES: Laura A. Petersen, M.D.,... (MEDLINEplus)
Cost Implications of Reduced Work Hours and Workloads for Resident Physicians May 21, 2009
From the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles (T.K.N., J.J.E.); RAND, Santa Monica, CA (T.K.N., J.J.E.); Stanford University, Stanford, CA (J.B.); and the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Washington, DC (D.M.W., C.U.). Address reprint requests to Dr. Nuckols at 911 Broxton Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1736, or at tnuckols{at}mednet. (New England Journal of Medicine)
The Neglected Purpose of Comparative-Effectiveness Research May 7, 2009
Dr. Naik is an investigator at and Dr. Petersen the director of the Houston Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston. Dr. Naik is a member and Dr. Petersen the leader of the Clinical Services and Health Policy Core of the John M. Eisenberg Center for Clinical Decisions and Communications Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, where Dr. Naik is also an assistant professor and Dr. Petersen chief of... (New England Journal of Medicine)
Research shows sharp rise in hospital admissions for children's dental care Apr 10, 2009
David Moles, Professor of Oral Health Services Research at Peninsula Dental School, commented: "The findings of our study are very worrying one poor child was admitted to hospital for extractions on seven separate occasions in the nine-year period of the statistics. If rates of caries and other dental infection are steady, why is there such a marked increase in the number of children being admitted to hospital for dental treatment? And why is it that more and more children are being electively... (EurekAlert!)
Federal Coordinating Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research to Hold Public Listening Session in Washington, DC Apr 8, 2009
The 15-member council, created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will assist the agencies of the federal government, including HHS and the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, as well as others, to coordinate comparative effectiveness and related health services research. The Recovery Act appropriated $300 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, $400 million for the National Institutes of Health, and $400 million for allocation at the discretion... (PR Newswire)
Waking Up During Surgery: Low-cost Prevention? Apr 7, 2009
Research published in the open access journal BMC Health Services Research reveals. . (Science Daily)
Immigrate, learn the language Mar 24, 2009
The Coalition for a Moral Budget has documented numerous national health services research studies demonstrating that co-pays force our neediest citizens to make a choice between paying for health care and other necessities. Medicaid co-pays would result in individuals with significant disabilities and those living in poverty foregoing necessary care, exacerbating their illnesses, and costing the state more in hospitalization and emergency room visits. (NJ.com -- Times)
Study quantifies racial disparities in cancer mortality rates between blacks and whites Mar 22, 2009
This is the first time that researchers have quantified the role that disparities in cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis and survival after cancer plays in African Americans' shorter life expectancy, according to lead author Dr. Mitchell D. Wong, associate professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. ... The General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research Division in the department of... (EurekAlert!)
Landmark study stokes PSA testing debate Mar 20, 2009
Michael Barry, director of the health services research program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, summed up the research as follows: "Serial PSA screening has at best a modest effect on prostate cancer mortality during the first decade of follow-up. This benefit comes at the cost of substantial over-diagnosis and over-treatment. It is important to remember that the key question is not whether PSA screening is effective, but whether it does more harm than good.". And that question, Dr.... (Globe and Mail)
HCC plans new nursing program Mar 19, 2009
This support was welcomed news since, according to A Study of Associate Degree Nursing Program Success, compiled by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in October 2008, on-time graduates from the state s community college ADN programs have a high retention rate (90 percent) in the RN workforce. This means that the returns in increasing graduation rates are nearly twice those of increasing program size. (Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald, NC)
Green, Black Tea Can Reduce Stroke Risk, Research Suggests Mar 5, 2009
They found nine studies describing 4,378 strokes among nearly 195,000 individuals, according to lead author Lenore Arab, a professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.. "What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude," said Arab, who is also a professor of biological chemistry. (Science Daily)
Kidney disease increases the risk of stroke in patients Mar 5, 2009
The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes, and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and the society at large ... Currently, DOR's 400-plus staff is working on more than 250 epidemiological and health services research projects. (EurekAlert!)
Patients with GI bleeding admitted on the weekend have higher death rate Mar 1, 2009
In fact, a growing body of health services research has demonstrated an association between admission to hospitals on the weekend and increased mortality. This "weekend effect" has been attributed to reduced hospital staffing and access to specific intensive treatments and procedures. (EurekAlert!)
Chronic Low-back Pain On The Rise: Study Finds 'Alarming Increase' In Prevalence Feb 19, 2009
In the study, published in the Feb. 9, 2009, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers from the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the prevalence of chronic, impairing low back pain in the state increased from 3. 9 percent in 1992 to 10. (Science Daily)
More report aching backs Feb 10, 2009
"That's surprising. We were expecting that it would go up somewhat, but not this much," said Dr. Timothy Carey, director of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is co-author of a study published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. (News & Observer)
Variability of adenoidectomy/tonsillectomy rates among children of the Veneto Region, Italy Feb 7, 2009
BMC Health Services Research 2009, 9:25doi:10. 1186/1472-6963-9-25. (BioMed Central)
