The American journal of hospice & palliative care
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Am J Hosp Palliat Care · Sep 2013
Prospectively surveying health-related quality of life and symptom relief in a lot-based sample of medical cannabis-using patients in urban Washington State reveals managed chronic illness and debility.
To characterize health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in medical cannabis patients. ⋯ The HRQoL results in this sample of medical cannabis-using patients are comparable with published norms in other chronically ill populations. Data presented provide insight into medical cannabis-using patients' self-rated health, HRQoL, disease incidences, and cannabis-related symptom relief.
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The stylized fact is that while private insurance has tended to innovate on the benefit design side of the insurance contract, Medicare has lead innovation on the payment side. Traditional or Fee-For-Service Medicare has produced many innovations in the payment for health care services, such as Prospective Payment for hospitals, Diagnostic-Related Groups to categorize care, and the Resource-Based Relative Value System used by the program to pay physicians, while private insurance has produced a series of benefit design innovations. This story misses one important example of Medicare benefit innovation: the creation of the Medicare hospice benefit. A key question is whether Medicare can again lead a system-wide benefit design effort to improve upon current hospice and palliative care policy.
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Am J Hosp Palliat Care · Sep 2013
Case ReportsConsidering symptomatic spinal epidural lipomatosis in the differential diagnosis.
Spinal epidural lipomatosis (SEL) is the abnormal accumulation of normal fat within the spinal canal. It is more frequent in those patients receiving chronic glucocorticoid therapy or in cases of endogenous hypercortisolism states. ⋯ Operative findings were consistent with epidural lipomatosis. Spinal epidural lipomatosis is a rare condition that needs to be included in the differential diagnosis of patients with risk factors, presenting with symptomatic cord compression.
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Am J Hosp Palliat Care · Sep 2013
Specialized palliative care services in Japan: a nationwide survey of resources and utilization by patients with cancer.
The aim of this study was to investigate the availability and utilization of specialized palliative care services among patients with cancer in Japan. ⋯ Usage of specialized palliative care services in Japan have increased explosively in the past decade.
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The first and only palliative care (PC) unit in Qatar was established in 2008 to serve adult patients with cancer. As PC was only recently introduced to oncology practice in Qatar and the region, raising awareness among physicians is crucial. This survey study is designed to outline the level of awareness and knowledge of oncologists in Qatar toward PC. ⋯ There is relatively good awareness and knowledge among health care providers specialized in cancer treatment in our hospital, despite the lack of formal training. Further training and informative sessions are required to raise awareness among oncologists and encourage utilization of PC services and thus optimize patient accessibility to PC.