Timing of Medicare loss may affect long-term success of kidney transplantation

Kidney transplant recipients under 65 years of age qualify for Medicare coverage following transplantation, but coverage ends after three years. A new American Journal of Transplantation study found that failure of the transplanted kidney was 990 percent to 1630 percent higher for recipients who lost Medicare coverage before this three-year time point compared with recipients…

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Social anxiety disorder may increase risk of alcoholism

New research published in Depression and Anxiety indicates that, unlike other anxiety disorders, social anxiety disorder may have a direct effect on alcoholism. For the study, researchers assessed alcoholism, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and specific phobias through interviews with 2,801 adult Norwegian twins. Social anxiety disorder had the strongest association…

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Study reveals disparities in osteoporosis treatment by sex and race/ethnicity

New research indicates that elderly men are significantly undertreated for osteoporosis compared with elderly women, and blacks have the lowest treatment rates among racial/ethnic groups. The findings are published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research. In the study of 8,465 male and 90,956 female Medicare beneficiaries with osteoporosis, the prevalence of osteoporosis medication…

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Surprise billing debate continues to transfix state and federal policy makers

NEW YORK, NY–March 6, 2019–FAIR Health today released a brief intended to increase clarity about the implications of various legislative choices related to surprise billing–a subject of intense debate on the state and federal level. Entitled Teasing Apart the Threads to the Surprise Billing Debate: Understanding Policy Choices through the Lens of Independent Data, the…

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