Resilient health systems key for managing disease outbreaks
Health systems can better handle future infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola by being more resilient and better prepared to respond to severe global health crises, according to a May 7, 2015 Lancet article co-authored by Margaret E.…
Emergency room doctors busy, despite ACA
Doctors responding to an American College of Emergency Physicians poll released May 4, 2015 report more patients are seeking emergency room treatment since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect in 2014. One of the ACA selling…
Electronic health records failed to improve care for stroke patients
Whether or not a hospital has electronic health records (EHRs) does not mean that stroke patients will have better clinical outcomes or higher quality of care, according to a study led by a Harvard T.H. Chan School of…
New issue of Harvard Public Health Review focuses on global health
For many years, experts seeking to quantify the “global burden of disease”—delineating what ails people, when, and where—failed to account for how lack of access to surgery fits into the picture. But in the April 2015 issue of…
Health in communities may not suffer after hospital closings
When a hospital closes, local residents may worry about who will care for them when they are sick or that more people will die, but a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study published May 4, 2015…
‘Overkill’ in medical care
Overtesting, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment in medical care in the U.S. is widespread, with one recent study suggesting that 30% of care—amounting to roughly $750 billion a year—is wasteful. But there are signs that the Affordable Care Act, which provides…
A call for more access to surgery worldwide
Two-thirds of the world’s population—about five billion people—have no access to safe and affordable surgery, according to The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. In an April 26, 2015 Lancet article, Atul Gawande of Harvard T.H. Chan School of…
‘Wacky’ Medicare physician payment policy should bite the dust
The U.S. Senate’s likely approval this week of bipartisan legislation to repeal a long-standing feature of Medicare physician payment policy called the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) does not mean a new era of bipartisan Congressional cooperation on health…
China considering tobacco tax to reduce smoking deaths
Adding a 50% excise tax onto tobacco products in China – which has the highest number of tobacco users in the world – could significantly reduce smoking-related deaths while generating substantial financial risk protection and poverty alleviation benefits…
Obama plan could boost health care for immigrants
Millions of undocumented immigrants could get a reprieve from the threat of deportation and a chance for legal employment in the U.S. under a recent proposed executive action from President Obama. Although the plan is currently under court…