In an Ideal World, How Much Would We Spend on Health Care?
BY BEN WHEATLEY
We have heard it said before, and it is no longer shocking to say, that in 2021 the United States spent $4.3 trillion on health care. To put this gaudy number in some perspective, we measure it as a share of our economy and report that health care comprised 18.3% of our gross domestic product. CMS projects that health care will approach 20% of GDP in coming years—one-fifth of everything we buy and sell in this country.
In a recent report, the Health Affairs Council on Health Care Spending and Value said that “it is unclear what percentage of GDP would represent the ideal level to devote to h...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 11, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Ben Wheatley Health care spending medical debt Patent Source Type: blogs
In an Ideal World, How Much Would We Spend on Health Care? – Part 1
BY BEN WHEATLEY
We have heard it said before, and it is no longer shocking to say, that in 2021 the United States spent $4.3 trillion on health care. To put this gaudy number in some perspective, we measure it as a share of our economy and report that health care comprised 18.3% of our gross domestic product. CMS projects that health care will approach 20% of GDP in coming years—one-fifth of everything we buy and sell in this country.
In a recent report, the Health Affairs Council on Health Care Spending and Value said that “it is unclear what percentage of GDP would represent the ideal level to devote to healt...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 11, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Ben Wheatley Health care spending medical debt Patent Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, February 20th 2023
In this study, researchers stimulate the ghrelin receptor using a suitable small molecule for much of the lifespan of mice, and observe the results. The overall extension of life span is a quarter of that produced by calorie restriction, and so we might draw some conclusions from that as to the relative importance of hunger in the benefits resulting from the practice of calorie restriction or fasting. Interestingly, the short term weight gains observed in mice given this ghrelin receptor agonist in the past don't appear in this long term study, in which the controls are the heaver animals. This is possibly because the rese...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 19, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A Shabby Pop-Sci Article on the Minicircle Trial of Follistatin Gene Therapy
Minicircle is working towards the upregulation of follistatin, an inhibitor of myostatin and thus an interesting target for improved muscle growth and treatment of sarcopenia. Follistatin and myostatin are well studied genes in this context, and there are any number of animal studies, as well as human trials of various approaches to myostatin inhibition. As I have long said, follistatin and myostatin are probably the most compelling, least risky genes to start working on if interested in gene therapy development. There is a great deal of animal and human data to support this work.
It is always annoying to see shabbi...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 14, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs
PicnicHealth Raises a $60m Series C to Expand Patient-centered Real-world Data
PicnicHealth, a patient-centered health technology company, today announced the closing of a $60 million Series C financing led by new investor B Capital Group. Existing investors Felicis Ventures and Amplify Partners also joined the round, bringing the total PicnicHealth has raised to more than $100 million. The company also announced plans to build 30 new patient-centered real-world data cohorts, and the addition of Adam Seabrook, Partner at B Capital Group, to the PicnicHealth board of directors.
PicnicHealth takes a patient-centered approach to building deep real-world datasets for life sciences researchers. This compl...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - July 1, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Healthcare IT News Tags: Analytics/Big Data Health IT Company Healthcare IT Adam Seabrook Amplify Partner B Capital Group Felicis Ventures Health IT Funding Health IT Fundings Health IT Investment Noga Leviner PicnicHealth Real-World Data Robert Mittendo Source Type: blogs
Microfluidic Device Mimics Blood Vessels to Test Clotting
Researchers at Texas A&M University have developed a microfluidic device that mimics the complex architecture of vasculature to better study blood clot treatments. The device includes channels with spirals, bends, and curves that are similar to those found in blood vessels, and which can influence blood clotting. Besides being biomimetic, the device is also faster and less expensive than existing blood clot testing technologies, and does not require a skilled technician to operate it.
Blood clots are involved in numerous diseases, from strokes to heart attacks and specific clotting disorders such as hemophilia. Rese...
Source: Medgadget - June 4, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Diagnostics Medicine Source Type: blogs
Part Two: Mastering Wrist Arthrocentesis
We discussed the initial approach to the red, hot swollen wrist joint last month, and this month we focus on arthrocentesis of the joint with a full video of the procedure, including ultrasound and joint aspiration.A swollen, painful wrist that is hot to the touch with scant erythema is concerning for septic arthritis. The patient had multiple Band-Aids on his fingertips from blood glucose testing for diabetes, which increased his chances of having a septic joint with the punctures serving as an entry site for infection. Photo by Martha Roberts.The ProcedureIdentify the swollen joint, review the differential diagnosis, ...
Source: The Procedural Pause - May 1, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Part One: Tapping the Wrist
The wrist is not commonly aspirated in the emergency department, but emergent arthrocentesis may be indicated for extreme or concerning cases, and tapping the wrist to determine the underlying pathology or relieve pain may be of great value. The synovial fluid from the joint space can be analyzed for crystals, infection, and blood. This information may help determine the overall plan and aid in decision-making and consultation. The ultimate treatment plan may include admission, intravenous antibiotics, multiple aspirations, and even surgical washout.A swollen, painful wrist that is hot to the touch is concerning for sep...
Source: The Procedural Pause - April 1, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
ClotChip Receives FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for Real-Time Coagulation Testing
Cleveland-based XaTek Inc. announced receiving FDA Breakthrough Device designation for ClotChip, a handheld device that can measure a patient’s bleeding risk profile from a single drop of blood.
The main advantage of ClotChip is that it produces results in 15 minutes, versus the many hours that traditional lab work currently takes. The dramatic decrease in wait time could be important for trauma patients, hemophiliacs, and millions of people taking new-generation anticoagulants.
ClotChip uses technology that was conceived nearly ten years ago by electrical engineers at Case Western Reserve University. The de...
Source: Medgadget - March 9, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Cici Zhou Tags: Cardiology Medicine Source Type: blogs
Why does Generation Z require so many workplace accommodations?
Recently the Wall Street Journal reported on how many young people are now seeking“accommodations” at work for their anxiety, PTSD, depression, and other mental conditions. The article provoked a lively discussion split largely on age lines. While older people accuse Gen Z members of being“emotional hemophiliacs,” Gen Z members often say they have […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 4, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/martha-rosenberg" rel="tag" > Martha Rosenberg < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
The “Back Story” of the JAMA Wellness Smackdown (Part 1)
This article became the single most influential article in Health Affairs history, with 935 academic citations alone, plus an untold number of start-ups, corporate program implementations, and references in lay publications.
Unfortunately, when you attract that much attention with a finding that is basically fabricated, someone is bound to notice. In this case, the someone was me. (I also encouraged RAND’s ace wellness researcher, Soeren Mattke, to take part in the effort, which he expertly did.) It turns out that most if not all of the studies in this meta-analysis never should have made it to pe...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 29, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Health Policy Al Lewis Wellness Workplace Wellness workplace wellness programs Source Type: blogs
Chromosomally speaking, what do you know about sex? Take a quiz to find out.
Women have two X chromosomes (XX) and men have one X and one Y (XY), right? Not always, as you’ll learn from the quiz below. Men can be XX and women can be XY. And many other combinations of X and Y are possible.
NIGMS Director’sEarly-Career Investigator LectureSex-Biased Genome Evolution
Melissa A. Wilson, Ph.D.Arizona State University
Wednesday, April 10, 201910:00-11:30 a.m. ET
Lecture followed by Q&A sessionInfo on the ECI Lecture webpage
You can learn more by listening to the live stream of a talk, titled “Sex-Biased Genome Evolution,” at 10 a.m. ET on April 10. The speaker, Melissa A. ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 3, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Matt Mills Tags: Being a Scientist Genes Chromosomes Genetics Genome Genomics Source Type: blogs
TXA a Late Bloomer in Bleeding Management
Tranexamic acid (TXA) was invented by a Japanese husband-and-wife research team in the 1960s. Years earlier, this same research team had discovered epsilon-aminocaproic acid, a derivative and an analogue of the amino acid lysine. In their search for a more potent antifibrinolytic agent, they discovered tranexamic acid, a synthetic analog of the amino acid lysine. Tranexamic acid is eight to 10 times more powerful than epsilon-aminocaproic acid.The antifibrinolytic actions of TXA result from the binding of four or five lysine receptor sites on plasminogen. This binding prevents plasmin from binding to and degrading fibri...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - February 1, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
A Tale of 2 FDAs
By ANISH KOKA
Frances Oldham Kelsey by all accounts was not mean to have a consequential life. She was born in Canada in 1914, at a time women were meant to be seen and not heard. Nonetheless, an affinity for science eventually lead to a masters in pharmacology from the prestigious McGill University. Her first real break came after she was accepted for PhD level work in the pharmacology lab of a professor at the University of Chicago. An esteemed professor was starting a pharmacology lab and needed assistants, and the man from Canada seemed to have a perfect resume to fit. That’s right, I said man. France...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 4, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: anish_koka Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Would You Want To Know Whether You ’re At Risk For Alzheimer’s?
Do genetic tests help in preparing for potential future health issues or open Pandora’s box full of concerns, worries and hypochondriac thoughts? Would you want to know your genetic fate? Whether you are at risk for Alzheimer’s or a chronic disease 30 years in advance? Would you want to live with this kind of information? Would you take the BRCA test to find out that you are at risk for breast cancer? What would you do if you were? The Medical Futurist team contemplated situations requiring hard, life-altering decisions. What would you do?
Our genetic heritage carries secrets that are difficult to process
In Season 8 o...
Source: The Medical Futurist - April 28, 2018 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Bioethics Genomics alzheimer disease DNA dna testing doctor-patient doctor-patient relationship DTC future genetics Huntington's patient empowerment personal genomics Source Type: blogs
