People might want to think twice before relying on federal quality ratings to help choose a nursing home for an elderly or frail relative, a new study warns. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established the Nursing Home Compare website in the 1990s to publicly report patient safety indicators for every nursing… read on > read on >
Are you one of those folks who thinks they have somehow miraculously managed to avoid COVID-19 infection more than two years into the pandemic? You might be mistaken, claims new research that discovered most people hit by the highly contagious Omicron variant had symptoms so mild they didn’t know they were infected. A full 56%… read on > read on >
The Biden Administration plans to stop buying COVID tests, vaccines and treatments as early as the fall, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said Tuesday. Under that plan, those products would be provided through the regular health care system, Jha said at an event sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, CNN… read on > read on >
President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, making it the most significant health care legislation enacted in more than a decade. How will it affect health care? Millions of Americans covered by Medicare will see big reductions in costs for both health care and prescription drugs. And those covered by… read on > read on >
A smartphone video could detect a blocked blood vessel in your neck that could cause a stroke, a new study suggests. The American Heart Association says videos may provide a non-invasive way to screen people who are at risk of stroke. Nearly 87% of strokes are the ischemic type, which happens when fatty deposits build… read on > read on >
It’s well known that exposure to lead can harm young children’s brain development. Now a new study suggests that racial segregation may be compounding the detrimental effects of lead on Black children. The study, of close to 26,000 schoolchildren, found that Black children with elevated blood lead levels had worse scores on standardized reading tests.… read on > read on >
A new study of U.S. military veterans reveals they are more comfortable getting help for physical ills than for mental health issues. “The majority of participants indicated they would be willing to seek treatment for both physical and mental health problems. However, they reported significantly greater willingness to seek treatment for physical than mental health… read on > read on >
By combining technology with interactive art activities, older people at home can have museums come to them — and this can support their physical, mental and social well-being, a new study reports. “This participatory art-based activity could become a model that could be offered in museums and arts institutions worldwide to promote active and healthy… read on > read on >
Need information about hay fever? Steer clear of YouTube, a new study advises. Researchers found misinformation about allergic rhinitis, the medical name for the disorder, in a large numbers of posts on the popular video-sharing site. That’s significant, because 7 in 10 patients with a chronic disease are influenced by information they get online and… read on > read on >
Adding yet another wrinkle to the monkeypox outbreak, a new case study suggests that people can pass the virus on to their pet dogs. Therefore, people who are infected with the virus should avoid close contact with their pets, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control now advises in an updated guidance. The change reflects the… read on > read on >
