Archive for July, 2015

In a health insurance environment that is in a state of flux with health coverage becoming tougher to get, particularly coverage of hearing care and hearing aids, the American Medical Association raised some important points around the issue of changes that are being driven by insurance mergers.

According to AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD, the association believes patients are better served in a health care system that promotes competition and choice. “We have long cautioned about the negative consequences of large health insurers pursuing merger strategies to assume dominant positions in local markets,” says Stack. “Recently proposed mergers threaten to increase health insurer concentration, reduce competition, and decrease choice. The AMA’s own study shows that there has been a serious decline in competition among health insurers, with nearly 3 out of 4 metropolitan areas rated as ‘highly concentrated’ according to federal guidelines used to assess market competition.”

“The lack of a competitive health insurance market allows the few remaining companies to exploit their market power, dictate premium increases and pursue corporate policies that are contrary to patient interests,” said Stack. “Health insurers have been unable to demonstrate that mergers create efficiency and lower health insurance premiums. An AMA study of the 2008 merger involving UnitedHealth Group and Sierra Health Services found that premiums increased after the merger by almost 14% relative to a control group.”

“Given the troubling trends in the health insurance market, the AMA believes federal and state regulators must take a hard look at proposed health insurer mergers. Antitrust laws that prohibit harmful mergers must be enforced…,” read a statement from the AMA.

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In the largest US clinical trial of its kind funded by the Veterans Affairs (VA) Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, the VA Portland Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) reports that researchers have found that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) significantly improved tinnitus symptoms for more than half of study participants. Their findings were published in the July 16 online edition of the journal JAMA Otolaryngology.

“For some study participants, this was the first time in years that they experienced any relief in symptoms,” said Robert L. Folmer, PhD, research investigator with the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research at the VA Portland Health Care System, and associate professor of Otolarynology in the OHSU School of Medicine. “These promising results bring us closer to developing a long-sought treatment for this condition that affects an enormous number of Americans…”

According to the announcement from OHSU, tinnitus (ringing, buzzing, or hissing in the ears) affects nearly 45 million Americans and the distraction can impair people’s ability to sleep or concentrate. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that nearly 15% of Americans experience some degree of tinnitus. Currently, there are no proven treatments available, so patients with the condition often develop coping strategies to manage their reaction to tinnitus. Military veterans are at greater risk of developing the condition, and tinnitus is the most prevalent service connected disability in the VA health system. Dr Folmer hopes to conduct a larger clinical trial to refine protocols for the eventual clinical use of TMS for tinnitus.

For the full article please click here: Magnetic Pulses

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