A study conducted earlier this month by two researchers at the non-profit Research Triangle Institute and funded by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists confirmed that “certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) who receive high-level training are able to provide the same level of services as anesthesiologists at potentially lower cost.” The study found no evidence that patients were at an increased surgical risk when they were administered anesthesia by a CRNA unsupervised by an anesthesiologist.
Read more »

Chances are that you are one out of the 21 percent of American adults over the age of eighteen who regularly smokes cigarettes. And chances are, if you’re one of those people, you should quit smoking. Yes, you’ve heard it all before. Smoking is bad for you (fact). Still, no matter how much you enjoy smoking, you should (and can) quit.
Read more »

Researchers have found that coffee may actually have many health benefits. Analysis by scientists found that people who drank four or more cups of coffee every day actually decreased their likelihood of oral cancer. The caffeinated beverage has other health benefits too.
Read more »

People all over the world are living longer. Worldwide, few people reach the age of 100, and those who do are often celebrated for their longevity. Only one out of every six thousand people will blow out the candles on their 100th birthday cake. Even fewer people (one out of every seven million) have lived beyond age 100 into their 110s or 120s. Currently, the United States and Japan are home to the largest numbers of people aged 100 or older world wide.
Read more »

As discussed my previous blog post in July, both Social Security and Medicare are facing serious financial troubles in the near future as a result of Baby Boomers aging into the programs and rising healthcare costs. Medicare has specifically had a bleak outlook for the next few decades as reports in recent years indicated the program will face insolvency if its obligation to provide benefits to a growing pool of enrollees is not balanced by an increase in tax revenues. Trustees of Medicare reported Thursday that cost-cutting measure in The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 have pushed Medicare’s impending insolvency off another 12 years. Because of these provisions in the law, Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund should remain solvent until 2029. Both the 75 year shortfall for the hospital fund and the projected costs of the Medicare Supplementary Insurance program were further brought down. The trustees warned that though these projections are an improvement over last year’s estimates, additional reforms will be necessary for the programs to be financially sustainable.
Read more »

Often, health care providers don’t have enough to time to break down diagnoses for patients. In turn, many patients just don’t ask their physicians to clarify. Although all doctors complete years of extensive education and training, many common folk just do not have that same level of education. Some patients speak limited to no English—even native English speakers can’t even decode what some physicians are saying.When people are confused by medical lingo, they are less likely to follow up with tests and drugs—leading to more severe health problems in the future. For patients with chronic diseases, understanding the diagnosis is critical to managing the disease.
Read more »