Tag Archives: Health

New Study on Physician Online Behaviors Shows Health Care Professional Sites Reach 4 out of 5 Physicians, While Electronic Medical Records Show Highest Engagement

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2012Technologyallscripts, baby boomers, Comscore, comscore health, correlation, data, digital, electronic medical records, generation x, hcp, Health, health social media, john mangano, medscape, mobile phones, online behavior, physician mobile survey, physicians, sermo, site, us physicians, work habits

More Than Half of Physicians Show Interest in Using Mobile Devices and Tablets at Work

RESTON, VA, December 3, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released new findings from a study based on data generated by the comScore/Symphony Health Care Professional (HCP) Measurement Solutions offering, which provides insight into the actual online behavior of physicians with regard to health-related categories, and the Physician Mobile Survey, a survey of physicians’ attitudes toward mobile devices and tablets in the workplace. Based on a longitudinal study of a permission-based panel of 1,000 U.S. physicians, the study showed that HCP Content websites such as Medscape.com, which provide content or services catering specifically to physicians, reached the highest percentage of physicians (81 percent) in comparison to other types of health sites. However, Electronic Medical Records sites such as Allscripts.com showed higher engagement as physicians have begun to use these sites to replace paper record-keeping. The study also revealed that although computers are still the most often used device to go online at work by physicians, more than half of physicians expressed interest in using mobile phones and tablets in the workplace. (more…)

A Creative Approach to Health

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2012Healthcreative approach, Health, healthcore, new haven community, refugee children, young refugees

“What are we painting today?”

The question followed me as I walked down the hallway. Some 15 minutes before we were scheduled to start, there were already a dozen children crammed into the activity room to begin our weekly art session. More were coming. (more…)

Microsoft and APHSA Survey Reveals Status of Health and Human Services IT Modernization Efforts and a Promising Future for Transformation

By Guest PostNovember 14, 2012Technologyaphsa, bipartisan, child welfare, factor, florida, Health, hhs transformation, human services, it system modernization, laura caliguiri, Microsoft, microsoft dynamics crm, survey, Technology, tracy wareing

States in need of best practices and flexible IT solutions that improve access, quality and efficiency in the financing and delivery of health and human services programs.

REDMOND, Wash., and WASHINGTON — Nov. 13, 2012 — The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), in coordination with Microsoft Corp., today released the results of a new survey of health and human services departments and agencies nationwide. The report, “A Promising Future for HHS Transformation — The Real Impact of IT System Modernization,” includes survey findings that identify the expectations, strategies and practices that health and human services (HHS) agencies use for the planning, acquisition and implementation of their information technology (IT) systems.

APHSA and Microsoft surveyed 67 agency program leaders from 35 states at various stages of modernizing their HHS IT systems, from those who have implemented solutions for eligibility determination and benefit issuance, case management, and online self-service to those who had not yet modernized. The survey focuses on capturing the agencies’ experience with organizational transformation planning efforts, the agencies’ system life-cycle challenges, and the impact and benefits the agencies experienced from IT modernization. The results revealed that with dynamic executive leadership, due diligence and solid program management practices, departments are seeing incremental benefits expected of IT modernization, but a number of challenges remain. With those challenges, a bright path exists to achieve the desired business benefits for transformation through the promise of today’s technology. (more…)

Transforming America by Redirecting Wasted Health Care Dollars

By Guest PostOctober 30, 2012Generalalternative, ambitious plans, americans, childhood education, congressional, county department, economic sector, Environment, fraud, frederick zimmerman, Health, health care, health industry, jeffrey mccullough, jonathan fielding, los angeles, myriad, public health, quality, social value, spending, steven teutsch, super committee, system, Washington, waste, wasteful, well being

Eliminating excessive spending could mean windfall for U.S., study suggests

The respected national Institute of Medicine estimates that $750 billion is lost each year to wasteful or excessive health care spending. This sum includes excess administrative costs, inflated prices, unnecessary services and fraud — dollars that add no value to health and well-being.

If those wasteful costs could be corralled without sacrificing health care quality, how might that money be better spent? (more…)

In Blown-Down Forests, a Story of Survival

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2012Environment, Naturebiodiversity, black bears, black birch, broken trees, damaged trees, david foster, dead wood, deserts, device, ecological processes, ecosystem, environmental decision, financial, fires, floods, forest, forests blown, grasslands, harvard forest, harvard university, Health, hurricanes, ice storm, intense wind, logging, lter, massachusetts, matt kane, national, native plant, natural events, polar regions, recovery, red maple, salamanders, science foundation, snapped limbs, southbridge, tornadoes, uprooted trunks, wildlife, woodland, woodland landscape

To preserve forest health, the best management decision may be to do nothing

In newscasts after intense wind and ice storms, damaged trees stand out: snapped limbs, uprooted trunks, entire forests blown nearly flat.

In a storm’s wake, landowners, municipalities and state agencies are faced with important financial and environmental decisions.

A study by Harvard University researchers, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and published in the journal Ecology, yields a surprising result: when it comes to the health of forests, native plants and wildlife, the best management decision may be to do nothing. (more…)

Spirituality Correlates to Better Mental Health Regardless of Religion, Say MU Researchers

By Guest PostAugust 23, 2012Culture, Healthbelief, buddhists, cancer, catholics, christian monk, correlation, dan cohen, dong yoon, forgiveness, guy mccormack, Health, jesus christ, jews, laura schopp, mental health, muslims, Nirvana, personality trait, phenomena, positive, protestants, religion, spinal cord injury, spiritual belief, spiritual inclination, spirituality, stress, stroke, traumatic brain injury, university of missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Despite differences in rituals and beliefs among the world’s major religions, spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person’s faith, according to University of Missouri researchers. The MU researchers believe that health care providers could take advantage of this correlation between health – particularly mental health – and spirituality by tailoring treatments and rehabilitation programs to accommodate an individual’s spiritual inclinations.

“In many ways, the results of our study support the idea that spirituality functions as a personality trait,” said Dan Cohen, assistant teaching professor of religious studies at MU and one of the co-authors of the study. “With increased spirituality people reduce their sense of self and feel a greater sense of oneness and connectedness with the rest of the universe. What was interesting was that frequency of participation in religious activities or the perceived degree of congregational support was not found to be significant in the relationships between personality, spirituality, religion and health.” (more…)

More Than Matters of the Heart

By Guest PostJuly 18, 2012Health, Sciencecause of death, chronic disease, complicated grief scale, death, genetic code, genetic variation, Germany, hannover medical school, Health, inflammation, journal brain, los angeles, mary frances oconnor, pro inflammatory, spouse, stress, symptoms of loss, university of arizona, university of california, university of ulm, widowhood effect

A team of researchers, including Mary-Frances O’Connor at the UA, has found a genetic variability linked to stress and inflammation that may impact the health of some widows and widowers.

The death of a spouse can be one of life’s most distressing events, and for many years bereavement researchers have noted increased mortality risk in some widows and widowers. This has been called the “widowhood effect.”

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Hannover Medical School in Germany, the University of Ulm in Germany and the University of Arizona have found a genetic variability linked to stress and inflammation that may impact the health of some widows and widowers. (more…)

Cycling May Negatively Affect Male Reproductive Health, UCLA Study Finds

By Guest PostMay 26, 2012Health, Sportsanti microbial preservative, bacterial infection, body fat, breast tissue, cardiovascular, chamois cream, concentration, cortisol, elevated estrogen, estradiol, female athlete, gynecomastia, Health, hormonal imbalance, hormone, interleukin 6, james s kesner, kaiser foundation, leah fitzgerald, male cyclists, metabolic function, neuroendocrine system, perineum area, plasma estradiol, pubic hair, reduce, reproductive health, reproductive hormone, total testosterone, wendie a robbins

A study by researchers at the UCLA School of Nursing has found that serious male cyclists may experience hormonal imbalances that could affect their reproductive health.

The study, “Reproductive Hormones and Interleukin-6 in Serious Leisure Male Athletes,” was recently published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

To date, an extensive amount of research has been done documenting the positive effects of long-term exercise on health. Yet while moderate exercise can lead to enhanced cardiovascular and metabolic function and reduced body fat, studies have shown that ultra-endurance levels of exercise can also adversely affect the neuroendocrine system and reproductive health. (more…)