For two years in a row, the United States has experienced a decrease in life expectancy, which researchers have largely attributed to the opioid epidemic. Life expectancy for the United States population was 78.6 years in 2016, a decrease of 0.1 year from 2015 [PDF]. Age-specific death rates between 2015 and 2016 increased for younger… Read More »
This year, we’ve seen more than 2,000 children separated from their parents, who were legally seeking asylum in the US. Most were from Central American countries in which crime and unrest place many at risk for violence. These children were taken from their families by US government employees between April 19 and May 31, 2018,… Read More »
In many situations, randomized controlled trials are infeasible and one must draw conclusions from observational data. Certain quasi-experimental designs – for example, interrupted time series analyses – strengthen the conclusions that can be drawn from observational data. However, particularly when the intervention evaluated is important, either clinically or from a health policy perspective, implied or… Read More »
Growing up we were encouraged to learn how to manage our time. Many of us were told that time management was the key to successful careers, personal lives, and finding the balance between the two. A cursory search online of time management brings you to a world of articles, blog posts, and books on time… Read More »
Opioid use is a serious concern that the executive branch of the United States government recently declared a public health emergency. Based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2016, 2.1 million people misused prescription opioids for the first time, and 42,249 people died from overdosing on opioids. Also in 2016, 170,000… Read More »
[Editors’ note: This post was originally published on Feb. 7, 2018.] Now more than ever, we need a sensible, unified, national response to the opioid epidemic; a response that recognizes the gravity of the situation and the reality that opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic – and treatable – condition. While there are many… Read More »
Prisoners have a fundamental right to receive health care while incarcerated, a right that is mandated by the US Supreme Court. However, negligent care in prisons persists and is often an issue of limited access due to cost mitigating policies. Since the 1990’s, prison systems have integrated managed care strategies, like co-payments, to mitigate increasing… Read More »
What role does mental health play in preventable hospitalizations? In a new article in the January 2018 issue of Medical Care, Dr. Laura Medford-Davis and colleagues report that in Texas, mental illnesses were associated with higher odds of preventable hospitalizations. Using an administrative database of all Texas hospital admissions from 2005-2008, the authors found that 13% of… Read More »
Each year, millions of people around the world are victims of human trafficking. In the US, the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which maintains one of the most extensive data sets, received 13,897 calls in 2017, with 4,460 human trafficking cases reported. Of the 4,460 cases reported, 3,186 cases were of sex trafficking and 689 cases were… Read More »
Enrollment in Medicaid has been shown to enhance access to health care for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Yet despite these benefits, a substantial number of beneficiaries lose coverage at the time of renewal. An article by Xu Ji and colleagues, published in this month’s issue of Medical Care, demonstrates how critical maintaining continuous Medicaid coverage… Read More »
Opiate overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, killing more than 50,000 people in 2015. About 20,000 of those deaths were attributed to the use of prescription opiate medications. As a physician, I want to alleviate my patients’ pain, but I have also taken an oath to do my… Read More »
Violence against women and girls is an international concern that cuts across all sectors of society. The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary… Read More »
This post is the third in our series focusing on presentations that were delivered at a special panel session at APHA16 on the childhood roots of health inequity [part 1, part 2]. Our third presenter, Kerith Conron, ScD, MPH, is currently the Blachford-Cooper Distinguished Scholar and Research Director at The Williams Institute of UCLA’s School… Read More »
In my medical practice, lacking the tools to communicate meaningfully with other providers who are caring for my patients is a daily frustration. This is only magnified when it comes to caring for my most vulnerable patients who have difficulty communicating for themselves, such as those suffering from substance use disorders (SUDs), so I was… Read More »
Expanding health insurance coverage may improve health care access [PDF] and reduce financial stress [PDF]. Ideally, having health insurance and the resultant access to care should improve health outcomes and well-being, although the evidence is complicated and mixed. One thing is sure: expanded insurance coverage typically leads to more utilization – a concern for policymakers and administrators because… Read More »
Paying for value, rewarding high-value care, pay-for-performance—all are examples of terminology used to describe aligning financial incentives with clinical goals and processes. Essentially, these policies and programs seek to link quality to payment and their influence is growing, extending even to Medicare. While these concepts have been discussed repeatedly by many in healthcare, including the… Read More »