Could your kitchen at home pass a restaurant inspection?
New research suggests that at least one in seven home kitchens would flunk the kind of health inspection commonly administered to restaurants.
The small study from California’s Los Angeles County found that only 61 percent of home kitchens would get an A or B if put through the rigors of a restaurant inspection. At least 14 percent would fail – not even getting a C.
Read more here:
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) likely will result in a large increase in employer-offered insurance, according to a Perspective article published in the Sept. 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
In the article, researchers from the RAND Corporation used a simulation model to predict how the healthcare market will change because of healthcare reform. The researchers took a number of factors into consideration to predict the decisions workers are likely to make regarding health insurance.
The number of Americans who have used at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 43.5% to 48.3% within the past 10 years, a CDC survey found. In the survey period of 2007 and 2008, one of five children and nine of 10 adults were found to have used at least one prescription drug in the previous month. Use of prescription drugs increased with age, and men were less likely than women to take such treatments, the survey revealed. WebMD (9/2)
Editor’s note: Moving to a fixed reimbursement is the first step for employers to begin to move their employees to the National Exchanges as they come on line in 2014. As you read the story, it talks about premiums paid and a little about deductibles. It doesn’t really talk about the true cost to the employee which includes the payroll deduction, the deductible and the coinsurance amount (or copay) that these plans require.
What you don’t see in any of these articles is how we are going to keep the actual cost of health care from rising at rates significantly higher than general inflation.
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As health care costs continue their relentless climb, companies are increasingly passing on higher premium costs to workers.
The shift is occurring, policy analysts and others say, as employers feel more pressure from the weak economy and the threat of even more expensive coverage under the new health care law.
In contrast to past practices of absorbing higher prices, some companies chose this year to keep their costs the same by passing the entire increase in premiums for family coverage onto their workers, according to a new survey released on Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research group.
Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/business/03insure.html?hp
Source: “Deloitte Survey: One in Five Americans Skip Medical Care When Sick or Injured; Cost is a Major Factor,” Deloitte Center for Health Solutions Press Release, August 4, 2010, http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/press/Press-Releases/a1780ec409d3a210VgnVCM200000bb42f00aRCRD.htm
Hospital stays with infections due to medical care were 19.2 days longer than stays without infections
According to data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) on infections due to medical care during medical and surgical hospital stays in 2007:
Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Statistical Brief #94. “Adult Hospital Stays with Infections Due to Medical Care, 2007.” August 2010. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb94.pdf
People’s confidence in their ability to access and pay for health care services has declined by about 5% since December 2009, according to a recent poll.
Source: AMERICANS’ CONFIDENCE IN THEIR ABILITY TO ACCESS AND PAY FOR HEALTHCARE HITS NEW LOW FOR THE YEAR, ACCORDING TO THOMSON REUTERS INDEX, ” Thomson Reuters Press Release, August 23, 2010, http://thomsonreuters.com/content/press_room/tsh/americans_confidence_ability_access_pay_healthcare
According to a new Managed Care Digest Series report, the number of medical group practices that belonged to an integrated system grew slightly in 2009, to 3,241 from 3,159 in 2008. Since 2003 (2,647), the number of groups belonging to systems has increased a substantial 22.4%.
| Number of Medical Group Practices in Integrated Systems | |
| 2003 | 2,647 |
| 2004 | 2,741 |
| 2005 | 2,809 |
| 2006 | 3,072 |
| 2007 | 3,091 |
| 2008 | 3,159 |
| 2009 | 3,241 |
Data Source: Data Source: SDI © 2010
Publication: Managed Care Digest Series Special Report: Medical Group Affiliation with Integrated Systems. http://www.managedcaredigest.com/SpecialReport3.aspx
The DASH diet, or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, developed to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, also cut heart attack risk by nearly 20% overall, a study found. Blacks on the DASH diet had their heart risk decline by 22% compared with those on a typical diet, and whites saw an 8% decline, the study showed. HealthDay News (8/31)
Yonhap News Agency reports that South Koreans are likely to pay more for health insurance in 2020 as the country’s health insurance expenditures are expected to double due to rising usage of medical services and rapid population aging, a report showed Monday. The country’s spending on health insurance is expected to reach 80.4 trillion won (US$68 billion) by 2020, up 46.8 trillion won from 2010, said a report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
Yonhap News Agency, August 23, 2010
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2010/08/23/0200000000AEN20100823002200320.HTML