The Monkey Business Illusion – A Great New Take On A Classic Psychology Study
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Over a 10-year period, spending for Medicaid-enrolled patients with depression increased substantially but only minimal improvements in quality of care were observed, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The study was carried out by Catherine A. Fullerton, M.D., M.P.H., of Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, Boston, and colleagues.
As you know, the APA Practice Organization has been hard at work on Capitol Hill to avert steep cuts to Medicare reimbursement for psychologists. The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which faces a November 23 deadline to identify at least $1.2 trillion in debt savings, has clearly indicated that the future of Medicare is on the table.
About half of Medicaid-covered children and adolescents in Ohio who are in treatment for depression complete their first three months of prescribed antidepressants, and only one-fifth complete the recommended minimum six-month course of drugs to treat depression, new research suggests. Among those at the highest risk for not completing treatment are adolescents – as opposed to younger children – and minority youths, particularly African Americans, according to the analysis of Medicaid prescription data over a three-year period.
States spend up to $15 billion a year in medical expenses related to obesity, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International, Duke University, and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The study, published online in Obesity, updates 2004 state-by-state estimates of obesity-attributable medical expenditures. The report also provides rough estimates of the share of obesity expenditures in each state that are funded by taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid.
As we reported last week, the politics and process affecting Medicare reimbursement have changed significantly with the recent enactment of the Budget Control Act. House and Senate leaders have finished appointing twelve members to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which is tasked with identifying at least $1.2 trillion in savings over the next ten years. If the Joint Committee fails to reach an agreement that can pass in both chambers, automatic cuts to Medicare and other programs would result, slashing provider reimbursement by up to an additional 2%.
Forty years ago, Americans could expect to live slightly longer than Europeans. This has since reversed: in spite of similar levels of economic development, Americans now live about a year-and-a-half less, on average, than their Western European counterparts, and also less than people in most other developed nations. How did Americans fall behind?
Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and Providence Health & Services have found that expanding low income adults’ access to Medicaid substantially increases health care use, reduces financial strain on covered individuals, and improves their self-reported health and well-being. This is the first study to evaluate the impact of insuring the uninsured in the United States using a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard in medical and scientific studies.
Roughly 1 of every 6 Americans age 18 to 64 reported using more than 10 percent of their total family income to pay for health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical expenses in 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Check the end of this report to download the “2010 National Healthcare Disparities Report” and “2010 National Healthcare Quality Report” for a complete summary of the findings.
Sixty-six percent of publicly-insured children were unable to get a doctor’s appointment for medical conditions requiring outpatient specialty care including diabetes and seizures, while children with identical symptoms and private insurance were turned away only 11 percent of the time, according to an audit study of 273 specialty physician practices in Cook County, Ill. conducted by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings are published in the June 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
A reformed Medicaid program must put coordinated primary care at the forefront of its efforts, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said in a new position paper released today at Internal Medicine 2011, ACP’s annual scientific meeting. Medicaid and Health Care Reform highlights how primary care physicians will assume a major role in providing care to Medicaid beneficiaries. Included in this report is a link to download the original ACP position paper.
