Month: June 2015

For the care of some frail, elderly patients, house calls save money. That’s the conclusion Medicare officials have reached after the first year of a pilot program. The program, launched 3 years ago, covered 8,400 patients at 17 primary-care practices across the country. They were all frail or homebound and had multiple chronic (long-term) illnesses. The program provided regular home visits from a doctor or nurse practitioner. If needed, they could do an X-ray or EKG. They could test for infections. They could also check to make sure people were taking their pills and eating healthy foods. This program cost more than regular primary care visits. But it prevented so many hospital trips that it saved Medicare $25 million in the first year, officials said. The average was more than $3,000 for each patient. Nine of the 17 practices recorded savings and met goals for quality of care.

A new human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine appears to produce immunity just as well in girls and boys as it does in young women, a new study finds. The study focused on a new version of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, made by Merck. The new version targets 9 different strains of the virus. The old version targets 4 strains that cause about 70% of cases of cervical cancer. The new version expands this coverage to about 90% and also can help prevent some cancers of the vagina, vulva and anus. Previous research found that the new vaccine is highly effective in preventing disease in young women, ages 16 to 26. The new study included 3,066 people. Besides young women, there were also boys and girls, ages 9 to 15. They were given 3 doses of the new HPV vaccine.  One month later, about 99% of all 3 groups had signs of protection against all 9 strains of the virus.

Taking part in an online community may help people with epilepsy to manage their disease, a small study suggests. The study included 92 people with epilepsy. This disease causes seizures. People filled out questionnaires about their symptoms and how they managed their disease. Then they registered for an online community of people with epilepsy on the website PatientsLikeMe.com. They took part in the community for 6 weeks. They had access to digital tracking tools as well as the support of the group. Then they filled out the questionnaires again. They showed improvements in managing their disease, such as tracking seizures and medicine side effects. They reported taking better care of themselves than they did before they joined the community. They got more sleep and were better able to avoid seizure triggers. They also felt more confident about managing their disease.