Welcome to the Catasys On Healthcare Blog
Substance dependence drives significant health care costs for payors through a combination of factors that include acute inpatient utilization and unaddressed co-morbidities. The Substance Dependence problem is pervasive, largely untreated and costly. Stay informed on these topics by visiting our blog periodically. You can also sign up for the Catasys On Healthcare Newsletter to receive the latest in health care news. » Sign Up for Newsletter
A focus on quality of life helps medical providers see the big picture—and makes for healthier, happier patients
By Laura Landro A very simple question is changing the delivery of medical care:
How is your health affecting your quality of life?
For decades, numbers drove the treatment of diseases like asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. Public-health officials focused on reducing mortality rates and hitting targets like blood-sugar levels for people with diabetes or cholesterol levels for those with heart disease.
Doctors, of course, are still monitoring such numbers. But now health-care providers are also adding a whole different, more subjective measure—how people feel about their condition and overall well-being. They're pushing for programs where nurses or trained counselors meet with people and ask personal questions like: Is your condition inhibiting your life? Is it making you less happy? Does it make it hard to cope day to day? Then the counselors offer advice about managing those problems and follow up regularly.» More
By Bruce Jancin, Family Practice News Digital Network CHICAGO – Acute myocardial infarction patients who have diabetes are less likely to present with an ST-elevation MI, yet they run a significantly increased risk for in-hospital death, compared with nondiabetic MI patients.
Moreover, MI patients with diabetes are more likely to experience in-hospital stroke, recurrent MI, and heart failure or pulmonary edema, according to Dr. Quang T. Bui of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles.
Dr. Bui presented an analysis of 232,927 patients presenting with acute MI to 823 hospitals participating in the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction (NRMI) 4-5. A history of diabetes was noted in 31%.» More
On a Saturday afternoon in mid-February 2011, Danielle Smoot walked into her 16-year-old son’s bedroom and found him curled under his New England Patriots bedspread.
Cole was a kid who could sleep until dinnertime if he wanted, but with school Monday through Friday, wrestling meets on Saturdays and church on Sundays, he hadn’t had much opportunity for that since winter break.» More
By Bobby Magill For Susan Barnes, having her son slip away from her for eight long years was like watching a slow death.
“I knew it was coming,” she said. “As if it was somebody who had Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, it was coming, and I saw it.”
Susan’s son, Alex Barnes, first showed signs of schizophrenia when he was 16. On March 12, after receiving periodic treatment for years, he parked his bike on the shoulder of Mason Street, knelt down beside a slow-moving freight train and ended his life beneath a box car. He was 24.» More
By Matt Brown U.S. veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a new battle waiting for them when they return home, but family physicians are well-positioned to aid them in the fight.
A recent study (abstract) in JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association, investigated the effect of mental health disorders, such as PTSD, on the risks and adverse clinical outcomes associated with prescription opioid use. The study concluded that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who have such mental health diagnoses, particularly PTSD, are at an "increased risk of receiving opioids for pain, high-risk opioid use and adverse clinical outcomes."» More
Provided by University of Chicago Medical Center Opioid drugs used to relieve pain in postoperative and chronic cancer patients may stimulate the growth and spread of tumors, according to two studies and a commentary in the 2012 annual Journal Symposium issue of Anesthesiology, the academic journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
"Epidemiologic findings suggest that the type of anesthesia we do for cancer surgery influences recurrence rate, and laboratory studies demonstrate that opioids influence tumor progression and metastasis," said Jonathan Moss, MD, PhD, professor of anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Chicago Medicine and co-author of the commentary, a summary of research on the topic. "These studies have caused anesthesiologists to re-evaluate how best to do anesthesia and pain control for cancer patients."» More
