News

Three US companies announce plans to create a new company to provide healthcare

Three of corporate America's biggest companies announced plans to create a company to provide employees with high-quality, affordable healthcare. R.Adams Dudley, director of the UCSF Center for Healthcare Value,  comments on the proposed plan in USAToday

Rise in billing for high-intensity ED visits accompanied by decline in admissions.

There has been concern that an increase in billing for high-intensity emergency care is due to changes in coding practices facilitated by electronic health records. This study sought to characterise the trends in billing for high-intensity emergency care among Medicare beneficiaries and to examine...

Reducing health disparities in unintended pregnancies among Hispanic adolescents

Authors: Kathleen P. Tebb, Felicia Rodriguez, Lance M. Pollack, Sang Leng Trieu, Loris Hwang, Maryjane Puffer, Sally Adams, Elizabeth M. Ozer, Claire D. Brindis Teen pregnancy rates in the USA remain higher than any other industrialised nation, and pregnancies among Hispanic adolescents are...

Do cigarette graphic warnings encourage smokers to attend a smoking cessation program?

This study assessed whether exposure to cigarette graphic warning labels (GWLs) increased attendance to a smoking cessation program. This study is one of the first to document a change in a directly observed behavioral outcome as a function of month-long exposure to cigarette pack GWLs. Authors: ...

Raising up the voices of the closest observers of care 

Are online sources of consumer-generated content more influential than scientifically validated measures of quality published studies? Naomi S. Bardach, MD, professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies looks at how consumers rate medical...