Latest California Healthline Stories
In Later Years, Disabilities End Blacks’ Active Lives Sooner Than Whites’
Elderly black women suffer most from shorter active life expectancy free of disabilities, showing no improvement since the early 1980s, Health Affairs study finds.
Teaching In-Home Caregivers Seems To Pay Off
Intensive training for such aides helps reduce repeated ER visits and hospitalizations of elderly disabled people, a pilot project suggests.
Medical Marijuana Linked To Modest Budget Benefits For Medicare Part D, Study Finds
A Health Affairs study determines that Part D spending went down slightly on prescription drugs for which medical marijuana is viewed as a possible alternative.
California Suicide Hotlines Get Good Grades But Could Improve, Study Says
State-funded hotlines are helping callers, but little research exists to show that they actually prevent suicides.
Inaccurate Provider Lists A Major Barrier To Care, Study Finds
Research published in Health Affairs shows that new patients were able to get an appointment with a primary care doctor less than 30 percent of the time.
American ‘Stem Cell Tourists’ Don’t Have To Travel Abroad, Study Says
Treatments marketed as everything from anti-aging applications to therapies for degenerative diseases are increasingly available at commercial clinics in the U.S., but their growing numbers raise ethical and regulatory concerns in the scientific community.
By Sharing Painkillers, Friends And Family Members Can Fuel Opioid Epidemic: Study
New research also highlights the public’s lack of knowledge regarding the proper ways to store and dispose of these highly addictive prescriptions.
As Hospital Chains Grow, So Do Their Prices For Care
The average patient stay costs $4,000 more at Sutter and Dignity hospitals than at other California medical centers, study shows.
Study Suggests Federal Standard May Be Thwarting Some Transplant Patients
Researchers report that performance standards set by federal health officials may have led to many patients being dropped from transplant lists without improving survival rates.
People With HIV Are Less Likely To Get Cancer Treatment
New research finds that patients infected with the virus that causes AIDS are less likely to get treatment for nine common cancers than are people who don’t have HIV.