Summary
The Department of Health and Human Services has released its annual report on health care, and New York has received mixed reviews. While scoring well on managing pain and dementia in home health care and in nursing homes, the state did not do very well in kidney dialysis and counseling Medicare heart patients to quit smoking.
Overall, no state did well in all areas of the study. In fact, New York scored above average marks in 22 categories, average in 35 categories, and below average in 25 categories. The state did not receive a mark in 24 categories due to a simple lack of data.
Original source:
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hsstat05q4204520apr05,0,4954258.story?coll=ny-health-headlines
Details
Overall health care quality in New York is decidedly mixed, according to the second annual report released yesterday by an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.
The report, which judged all 50 states and the District of Columbia on a range of measures, ranked New York among the worst in effectiveness of kidney dialysis and in counseling Medicare heart attack patients to quit smoking.
But the state scored among the most effective in lessening a patient's pain and confusion, both in nursing homes and in home health care settings.
For New York, the agency evaluated 106 measures, from cancer, diabetes, heart disease and respiratory illnesses to nursing home and home health care, maternal and child health, and mental health.
Patient advocates said the document is likely more useful for policy makers at the state level than for individuals seeking the best care.
The Congress-mandated report compiles data gleaned from hospitals, health plans, nursing homes and home health agencies, among other sources.
This year's report showed an across-the-board improvement of about 3 percent over last year, said Clancy, who indicated she is encouraged by the uptick but believes there is ample room for improvement.
Multi-ethnic and heavily populated New York, for example, had one of the highest AIDS-related death rates and among the highest numbers of asthma-related hospital admissions for children, adults and seniors.
New York scored very well on its low rate of suicides, however, and on the effectiveness of nursing homes in managing the delirium of residents who underwent a major medical procedure.
The state also scored high on the effectiveness of home
health care in lessening patients' pain associated with physical activity and in lessening their confusion, an effectiveness also seen among nursing home residents.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he has published numerous courses on preparedness and survival, including financial preparedness, emergency food supplies, urban survival and tactical self-defense. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a successful software entrepreneur, having founded a well known email marketing software company whose technology currently powers the NaturalNews email newsletters. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
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