Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare this past month found that telehealth can be an effective modality of care for patients over 60, particularly when deployed in the confines of their existing primary care provider.
When researchers, including a team from the West Health Institute, which focuses on addressing the care needs of seniors, analyzed 313,516 telehealth visits across three healthcare organizations, they found that virtual encounters successfully resolved urgent and non-emergent needs in the vast majority of cases. While the median rate of visit resolution for telehealth visits was lower than clinically comparable in-person visits, telehealth was effective in resolving urgent, non-emergent conditions a high percentage of the time, read the study.
Sleep Apnea Raises Odds for Severe COVID-19
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, May 18, 2021 (HealthDay News) People suffering from severe obstructive sleep apnea are at a greater risk of catching COVID-19, a new study finds.
But researchers at Kaiser Permanente Southern California also found that the longer patients used a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask while sleeping, the more their COVID-19 risk dropped.
For the study, a team led by pulmonologist Dr. Dennis Hwang collected data on nearly 82,000 U.S. patients who were evaluated for sleep disorders between 2015 and 2020.
Of those, nearly 1,500 would test positive for a COVID-19 infection. In all, 224 were hospitalized, and 61 were in the intensive care unit and/or died.
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PASADENA, Calif. Among cancer patients with health coverage in Southern California, those who were diagnosed and treated at Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health care organization, had better survival rates, especially Black and Latino patients, according to Kaiser Permanente research published in
The American Journal of Managed Care. Kaiser Permanente is committed to finding and addressing health care inequities, said the study s senior author, Reina Haque, PhD, a cancer epidemiologist in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation. We investigated survival among insured patients with cancer to help pinpoint factors associated with mortality. We found that although Kaiser Permanente Southern California had a higher proportion of minority patients and those from lower socioeconomic status groups, the overall mortality rate among Kaiser Permanente members was still lower than in the group with other health coverage.
Insured cancer patients treated at Kaiser Permanente have better survival rates
Among cancer patients with health coverage in Southern California, those who were diagnosed and treated at Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health care organization, had better survival rates, especially Black and Latino patients, according to Kaiser Permanente research published in
The American Journal of Managed Care. Kaiser Permanente is committed to finding and addressing health care inequities, said the study s senior author, Reina Haque, PhD, a cancer epidemiologist in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation. We investigated survival among insured patients with cancer to help pinpoint factors associated with mortality. We found that although Kaiser Permanente Southern California had a higher proportion of minority patients and those from lower socioeconomic status groups, the overall mortality rate among Kaiser Permanente members was still lower than in t
Neighborhood quality may affect a person s longevity after heart attack
Black patients from disadvantaged neighborhoods were significantly more likely to die within five years of surviving a heart attack compared with Black heart attack patients from wealthier neighborhoods and white patients of any socioeconomic means who survive a heart attack, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology s 70th Annual Scientific Session.
The researchers analyzed data from nearly 32,000 patients with health insurance treated for a heart attack within the Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospital system between 2006-2016. The researchers assigned each patient a neighborhood disadvantage score based on their home address using the Area Deprivation Index, a validated index for assessing neighborhood disadvantage based on 17 variables reflecting education, income, employment and household characteristics.