chronic diseases
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Are We Ready for Consumer Microbiome Testing?
Some people collect stamps. uBiome has a different area of interest. Since 2012, the San Francisco, California, startup has received and analyzed nearly 100,000 stool samples from customers trying to understand the unique population of microorganisms that call their body ‘home.’ It’s now preparing to scale-up and diversify its testing options, with the help a $15.5 million Series B funding round that was announced in early November. An alum of the Y Combinator, uBiome has grand plans. But is the microbiome science really there?...
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Commentary: Fitting Disease Management Pieces Together
Health reform is changing the landscape of a patient’s care and treatment, and with the increasing prevalence and rising costs of chronic and complex diseases in the United States, key stakeholders — including payers and providers — are now searching for better ways to manage these conditions. Read More »
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GWU Milken Institute School of Public Health releases report on deaths due to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and outlines steps to protect the most vulnerable communities from disasters
In an independent report published today, researchers at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (GW Milken Institute SPH) estimated there were 2,975 excess deaths in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria from September 2017 through the end of February 2018. The researchers also identified gaps in the death certification and public communication processes and went on to make recommendations that will help prepare Puerto Rico for future hurricanes and other natural disasters.
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Health-Enhanced Land Use Planning Software Tool
Toronto Public Health has released a report, A Health and Environment Enhanced Land Use Planning Tool – Highlights, which describes the development and pilot testing of a health-enhanced land use planning tool that was developed under the Healthy Canada by Design CLASP I Initiative with funding provided by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC). Read More »
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Mystery Lung Fungus: Are You At Risk?
Valley fever is hard to diagnose, even harder to treat, and potentially fatal—and the number of cases is rising dramatically. Read More »
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Patients Turn To mHealth Over Prescriptions, Says Survey
It might be a little hard to swallow, but 24% of patients are more willing to accept a prescription for an mHealth app than a pill, according to a recent survey of 2000 patients by Digitas Health. Read More »
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Rep. Peters Introduces Health Savings Through Technology Act
Today, Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) introduced H.R. 3577, the ‘Health Savings Through Technology Act,’ which advocates for a smarter way to deliver health care in the United States – through the increased use of wireless technologies – to help bend the health care cost curve. [...] Read More »
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Rethink Data, Transform Healthcare - Unlocking The Value Of Health Data
We are all consumers of healthcare and therefore have a vested interest in its future. As an observation, being an outsider to this sector, the healthcare global system looks increasingly broken as the rate of change and complexity increases. At the same time, my empathy is with those people working inside the profession that provide high quality, compassionate healthcare, and support. But maybe more help is needed to handle the relentless challenges and changes at the edge. Read More »
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Scenarios for Health Care Reform (Part 2 of 2)
Some health care providers balk at the requirement to share data, but their legal and marketing teams explain that they have been doing it for years already with companies whose motives are less commendable. Increasingly, the providers are won over. The analytics service appeals particularly to small, rural, and safety-net providers. Hammered by payment cuts and growing needs among their populations, they are on the edge of going out of business and grasp the service as their last chance to stay in the black...
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Sugar: Killing Us Sweetly. Staggering Health Consequences Of Sugar On Health of Americans
In September 2013, a bombshell report from Credit Suisse’s Research Institute brought into sharp focus the staggering health consequences of sugar on the health of Americans. The group revealed that approximately “30%–40% of healthcare expenditures in the USA go to help address issues that are closely tied to the excess consumption of sugar.” [...] Read More »
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The Role Of Big Data In Personalizing The Healthcare Experience: Mobile
Cheaper, faster, better technology is enabling nearly one in four people around the world to connect with each other anytime, anywhere, as online social networks have changed the way we live, work and play. In healthcare, the data generated by mobile phones and sensors can give us new information about ourselves, extend the reach of our healers and help to accelerate a societal shift towards greater personal engagement in healthcare. Read More »
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This Is Your Brain On Gluten
The idea that gluten and carbohydrates are at the root of Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, depression, and ADHD has now reached millions of people. It is the basis of a number-one bestseller written by a respected physician. What is it worth? Read More »
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Uncontrolled Health Care Costs Traced to Data and Communication Failures
The previous section of this article provided whatever detail I could find on the costs of poor communications and data exchange among health care providers. But in truth, it’s hard to imagine the toll taken by communications failures beyond certain obvious consequences, such as repeated tests and avoidable medical errors. One has to think about how the field operates and what we would be capable of with proper use of data. As patients move from PCP to specialist, from hospital to rehab facility, and from district to district, their providers need not only discharge summaries but intensive coordination to prevent relapses. Our doctors are great at fixing a diabetic episode or heart-related event...
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US Lags Behind Wealthy Nations On Improving Health Outcomes
Raising questions about whether higher healthcare spending means better health outcomes, a new study shows the United States has high expenditures and mediocre population health at the national level. Read More »
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What Does the Environment Have to Do with Diseases That Affect the Immune System?
In 1932, New York gastroenterologist Burrill Crohn described an unusual disease in 14 adults. The patients had bouts of abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, and lesions and scars on the bowel wall. Doctors in other parts of North America and Europe were seeing it in their patients, too. They called the rare condition Crohn’s disease. After World War II, the number of new people getting inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and a related condition called ulcerative colitis) skyrocketed across the West in countries such as the U.S., Canada and the UK. In the last three decades, IBD has begun to crop up in newly industrialized parts of the world like Hong Kong and China’s big cities...
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