Health and Disability

Thanks and a hat tip to Marty:

http://www.bubblews.com/news/914218-turmeric-and-alzheimers-disease

People in this study were given turmeric capsules and had no side-effects. To be able to recognize one’s family and to not have further exacerbation of behavioral and psychological symptoms (since people with Alzheimers Disease seem to go steadily downhill) is remarkable to me. In later stages of ALZ hallucination and delusions affect one’s quality of life and the quality of life of all the caregivers. 

http://goo.gl/uJsn4G

With more than 3,017 physicians and 994 groups participating in Michigan, Share has slowly seen physicians move from skepticism, to acceptance and advocacy, to patient care improvements, and now to real cost savings.

During the first three years of the program, Blue Cross has documented $155 million in savings by avoiding hospital admissions and readmissions, emergency department visits, and through increased generic drug use and less reliance on expensive radiologic studies, according to a study in the July 5 Health Services Research Journal.

Duh...

http://goo.gl/0hlyDg

Consumer satisfaction surveys of nursing home residents and their families track closely with other quality of care measures. These results, which were published in the journal Health Affairs, indicate that the surveys could be a valuable tool to both inform consumer choice and reward homes for quality of care.

Don Berwick was a great CMS director forced out by the politics of our day. This advice truly is universal, even though it is directed at Britain's NHS.

http://goo.gl/OGw9XY

1. The NHS should continually and forever reduce patient harm by embracing wholeheartedly an ethic of learning.

Important Info:

http://goo.gl/zGI2SN

"We found a 60 percent increased risk of dementia with anemia. After controlling for other factors such as other medical illness, demographics, etcetera, the risk remained elevated 40 to 50 percent," said lead study author Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco.

One more participatory medicine post because of the resources listed:

http://goo.gl/IfumFj

“Participatory Medicine is a movement in which networked patients shift from being mere passengers to responsible drivers of their health, and in which providers encourage and value them as full partners.”

Language shows the degree of oppression that people with Moebius Syndrome experience, but the concepts are great.

http://goo.gl/xAQW9

These two forces are coming together to drive forward this trend of peer-to-peer health care. On the one hand we have the availability of social tools and on the other hand we have the motivation, especially among people living with chronic conditions, to connect with each other.

Pew Internet research shows that one in five internet users have gone online to find others who might have health concerns similar to theirs.

That percentage is even higher – 1 in 4 – among those living with chronic disease and caregivers.

The tools are in place. The culture is shifting to expect that people have access to information and each other. There is mounting evidence that connecting patients with each other and with their data can have a positive effect on health outcomes.

But we are still at the early adoption stages in the general population.

http://goo.gl/ZRlr17

At the Pew Research Center we call it “peer-to-peer health care” and measure it with national survey data:

• 24% of U.S. adults got information or support from others who have the same health condition the last time they had a significant health issue.

Caregivers and those living with chronic conditions are more likely than other adults to seek peer advice and support.

It can happen online or offline, via email, phone, or on a message board. It can feel very basic, even ancient.

I bet you’ve seen it in the wild, if not in your own life:

• A reddit thread turns into an insulin pump tip swap (search for “diabetes”)
• Two moms chatting on Facebook prevent a hospitalization.
• People hack everyday objects to create assistive devices, then share their hacks with others.

http://goo.gl/gXpjnK

Coleman focused on a legislative remedy that developed in Oklahoma to prohibit such quality of life judgments, the Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act passed in May of this year, which states: “A health care provider shall not deny to a patient a life-preserving health care service the provider provides to other patients, and the provision of which is directed by the patient or [surrogate] . . . on the basis of a view that treats extending the life of an elderly, disabled, or terminally ill individual as of lower value than extending the life of an individual who is younger, nondisabled, or not terminally ill.”

http://goo.gl/ytMSZj

The researchers say that what makes these results even more interesting is that these results were achieved using the levels of exercise that are in line with physical activity recommendations for older adults.

The guidelines encourage moderate intensity exercise over most days, totaling 150 minutes each week, the researchers add.

The study authors say that this research suggests that exercise could limit the need for over-activation in the brain in order to recall memory. They add that this is encouraging for those who want to preserve brain function.