health – Page 3

Research Suggests – Here’s Why It’s A Public Health Problem That Nearly 60 Million Americans Don’t Drink Their Tap Water

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Research Suggests – Here’s Why It’s A Public Health Problem That Nearly 60 Million Americans Don’t Drink Their Tap Water

Imagine seeing a news report about lead contamination in drinking water in a community that looks like yours. It might make you think twice about whether to drink your tap water or serve it to your kids – especially if you also have experienced tap water problems in the past. In a new study, my colleagues Anisha Patel, Francesca Weaks and I estimate that approximately 61.4 million people in the U.S. did not drink their tap water as of 2017-2018. Our research, which was released in preprint format on April 8, 2021, and has not yet been peer reviewed, found that this number has grown sharply in the past several years. Other research has shown that about 2 million Americans don’t have access to clean water. Taking that into account, our findings suggest that about 59 million people have tap...

Here’s How To Promote Algorithmic Fairness – Biased AI Can Be Bad For Your Health

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

AI, TECHNOLOGY

Here’s How To Promote Algorithmic Fairness – Biased AI Can Be Bad For Your Health

Artificial intelligence holds great promise for improving human health by helping doctors make accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions. It can also lead to discrimination that can harm minorities, women and economically disadvantaged people. The question is, when health care algorithms discriminate, what recourse do people have? A prominent example of this kind of discrimination is an algorithm used to refer chronically ill patients to programs that care for high-risk patients. A study in 2019 found that the algorithm favored whites over sicker African Americans in selecting patients for these beneficial services. This is because it used past medical expenditures as a proxy for medical needs. Poverty and difficulty accessing health care often prevent African Americans from spending a...

How Sick The US Health Care Delivery System Really Is

3Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

How Sick The US Health Care Delivery System Really Is

If you got the COVID-19 shot, you likely received a little paper card that shows you’ve been vaccinated. Make sure you keep that card in a safe place. There is no coordinated way to share information about who has been vaccinated and who has not. That is just one of the glaring flaws that COVID-19 has revealed about the U.S. health care system: It does not share health information well. Coordination between public health agencies and medical providers is lacking. Technical and regulatory restrictions impede use of digital technologies. To put it bluntly, our health care delivery system is failing patients. Prolonged disputes about the Affordable Care Act and rising health care costs have done little to help; the problems go beyond insurance and access. I have spent most of my career with...

We Asked Five Health Experts – Would You Eat Indoors At A Restaurant?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, IN OTHER NEWS

We Asked Five Health Experts – Would You Eat Indoors At A Restaurant?

Earlier this fall, many of the nation’s restaurants opened their doors to patrons to eat inside, especially as the weather turned cold in places. Now, as COVID-19 cases surge across the country, some cities and towns have banned indoor dining while others have permitted it with restrictions. Still other geographies have no bans at all. The restaurant and hospitality industry has reacted strongly, filing lawsuits challenging indoor dining bans and, in New York state, pointing to data that showed restaurants and bars accounted for only 1.4% of cases there – far lower compared with private gatherings. We asked five health professionals if they would dine indoors at a restaurant. Four said no – and one had a surprising answer. The Conversation, CC BY Not an option Dr. Laurie Archbald-Pannon...

COVID-19 Racial Health Gap 4 Ways To Close It

9Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

COVID-19 Racial Health Gap 4 Ways To Close It

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the reality that health in the U.S. has glaring racial inequities. Since March, people of color have been more likely to get sick and more likely to die from COVID-19 infection because they have been living and working in social conditions that worsen their physical health and mental health. These conditions are rooted in structural inequalities that are also responsible for the severity and progression of COVID-19. While the issues are complex, research has suggested some ways to repair the broken system. Now, at the dawn of a new administration, more effective strategies that look at the realities of these affected communities can be implemented. As research psychologists who study the social influences of health and mental health among marginalized gr...

China Beat The Coronavirus, Not Just With Authoritarianism But With Science And Strong Public Health Measures

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

China Beat The Coronavirus, Not Just With Authoritarianism But With Science And Strong Public Health Measures

I live in a democracy. But as Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself longing for the type of freedom I am seeing in China. One of the Wuhan train stations in fall 2020. The city reopened in April 2020 after a total shutdown. Liu Yan, CC BY-SA People in China are able to move around freely right now. Many Americans may believe that the Chinese are able to enjoy this freedom because of China’s authoritarian regime. As a scholar of public health in China, I think the answers go beyond that. My research suggests that the control of the virus in China is not the result of authoritarian policy, but of a national prioritization of health. China learned a tough lesson with SARS, the first coronavirus pandemic of the 21st century. How China flattened its curve Barely less than a year ago, a nove...

Even Though Telehealth Demand Is Way Up Due To COVID-19 Health Insurers Are Starting To Roll Back Coverage

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Even Though Telehealth Demand Is Way Up Due To COVID-19 Health Insurers Are Starting To Roll Back Coverage

In less than a year, telehealth has gone from a niche rarity to a common practice. Its ability to ensure physical distance, preserve personal protective equipment and prevent the spread of infection among health care workers and patients has been invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic. As health care specialists and researchers, we have long seen the potential of telehealth, providing health care remotely with technology, which has been around for several decades. Despite evidence it could safely treat and manage a range of health conditions in a cost-effective manner, widespread adoption of the practice had been limited by issues including insurance coverage, restrictions on prescribing and technology access. On March 27, 2020, The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or ...

Rural Health Cooperatives Are Innovating But Are Challenged By Connectivity And Social Distancing

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

Rural Health Cooperatives Are Innovating But Are Challenged By Connectivity And Social Distancing

Rural areas are seeing some of the fastest spread of the COVID-19 in the U.S., taxing already stressed rural health care systems. Researchers Tanisa Adimu and Amanda Phillips Martinez head the Community Health Systems Development team of the Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University, providing and evaluating technical assistance to rural health care providers and organizations around the country. Over the past months, they surveyed around 120 rural health care providers about the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they are adapting to meet those challenges. Tanisa Adimu and Amanda Philips Martinez talk about the challenges rural health providers are facing. New ways to get health data There has been a drop in the number of patients making in-person vi...

Socialized Health Care For Trump. What About the Rest of Us?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Socialized Health Care For Trump. What About the Rest of Us?

We don’t know what course COVID-19 will take with Donald Trump. The White House insists he is well, even as the barrage of aggressive and even experimental treatments he’s received suggests his case is more severe than they let on. But we do know that if anyone with the virus—not to mention someone with Trump’s increased risk factors—has a good chance of pulling through, it’s him. Trump is tested regularly, so he knew at the earliest possible moment that he was infected (even if he didn’t wear a mask or cancel public events afterward). He has doctors at his side, with their sole focus on him and his wife. He has access to all available treatments and even to treatments that aren’t yet available to the public. Unlike millions of Americans, Trump didn’t have to wait for symptoms to qualif...

How a new way of parsing COVID-19 data began to show the breadth of health gaps between Blacks and whites

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

How a new way of parsing COVID-19 data began to show the breadth of health gaps between Blacks and whites

Physicians and public health experts know that older adults are more susceptible to the flu than those in other age groups. We also know the health of Black Americans is worse than that of almost all other groups for not only flu, but for chronic conditions and cancer. These are two examples of health disparities, or health gaps – when demographic groups show differences in disease severity. As we analyze the latest data from the COVID-19 pandemic, a more complete picture on infections, hospitalizations and death rates has emerged, along with new conversations about health disparities. The COVID data underscore what social scientists, epidemiologists and other public health researchers have long said: It is not enough to look at a lump sum of data about any health issue, including COVID-1...