Women Less Aware Of Heart Attack Symptoms
Compared to men, women have low awareness of heart attack and angina symptoms and are less likely to receive life-saving treatment once they reach the emergency room. This underscores the need for more aggressive provider-based educational campaigns.
The findings come from two studies presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology earlier this month. Both studies, conducted by Dr. John Canto of the University of Alabama and Dr. Sandra Gan of the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, found that women are 13% more likely than men to die in hospital emergency rooms.
Dr. Gan's study of 180,000 U.S. Medicare patients who suffered acute heart attacks within the past 18 months found that many women were not aware of the severity of their symptoms.
Additionally, Dr. Canto's study of 327,040 heart attack patients nationwide found that women were less likely to call an ambulance. Women arrived at the hospital an average of 6.2 hours after symptoms began, compared to men who get to the hospital in about 5.3 hours.
Hospitalized women were also less likely than men to receive the necessary medications that dissolve, reduce or prevent blood clots following a heart attack, the studies indicate. (American College of Cardiology, 301/897-2628)
Workers' Comp Represents Untapped Provider Opportunity
Indicating a vast opportunity for strategic communication and partnerships between healthcare providers and employers, 80% of time lost to workers' compensation claims is unnecessary, according to a recent survey of industrial medicine physicians,
The study of 250 physicians by ManagedComp., a Waltham, Mass.workers's comp consulting firm, found that fewer than 10% of work-related injuries require workers to take more than three days off for medical reasons.
The findings suggest that non-medical reasons are the usual cause for the delay in returning to work. Providers should take stronger initiative to understand employers' operations and provide better advise to employers about the workers' compensation process.
More than two-thirds of the physicians surveyed highlighted these non-medical related scenarios that commonly occur:
- Employer cannot temporarily modify a job.
- Doctor is not equipped to determine the right restrictions and limitations.
- Doctor feels caught in the middle between the employer's and employee's version of the worker's compensation claim.
Managed Comp. provides workers' compensation services and insurance programs to 3,000 employers in 44 states. (ManagedComp., 800/832-1600)
Healthcare Costs Surge In Maryland
The Maryland Hospital Association (MHA) is at odds with an industry finding that for the fifth straight year, the state's surging hospital costs have outpaced the nation.
Although the state's hospital cost per admission was.16% lower than the rest of the nation, those costs surged nearly 3.4% in 1997, compared to the national average increase of.88%, according to the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission (MHSCRC).
State hospital officials are disputing the relevancy of this data which has significant market implications on funding funding. MHSCRC's analysis barely reflects the impact of tough regulatory measures put in effect last summer to contain costs, officials say.
According to MHA, a series of stop-gap initiatives known as the "system correction factor" implemented last June contributed to:
- The average profit margin of the state's acute care hospitals dipped 2.2% during the last six months, from 4.2% in 1996 to 2% in 1997.
- 19 hospitals lost money.
- In the fourth quarter, hospital operating profits dropped $33.8 million or 55.2%. (MHA, 410/321-6200; MHSCRC, 410/767-6860)