MHA Press Room

Referrals, word of mouth drive provider choice

Most Americans rely on word of mouth and physician referrals, more so than health care price and quality information, when choosing a health care provider, according to a new national study from the Center for Studying Health System Change. Funded by the California HealthCare Foundation, the study’s findings came from the Center for Health System Change’s 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey, a nationally representative survey containing information on 13,500 adults with a 43% response rate.

When choosing new primary-care physicians, half of all consumers relied on word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and relatives, while 38% used physicians recommendations and about 35% relied on health plan information, the study said.

Also, use of online provider information was low, ranging from 2.5% for consumers undergoing procedures to about 7% for consumers choosing new specialists and 11% for consumers seeking new primary-care physicians.

New NPR/Kaiser/Harvard Poll Examines Views On Children's Health Coverage

A new survey conducted jointly by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health examines the public’s views and opinions of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the pending legislation surrounding its reauthorization. The survey assesses the public’s familiarity with the SCHIP debate, whether or not they support the renewal and expansion of the program, and who they believe should be eligible for health coverage through SCHIP. NPR is reporting findings from the poll in its coverage of the SCHIP reauthorization on its newsmagazines Morning Edition, The Bryant Park Project and All Things Considered.

The survey, "Public Views on SCHIP Reauthorization," is part of a series of projects about health-related issues by NPR, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Representatives of the three organizations worked together to develop the survey questionnaire and to analyze the results, with NPR maintaining editorial control over its broadcasts on the surveys.

The poll was conducted after President Bush vetoed legislation to reauthorize and expand SCHIP. A nationally representative sample of 1,527 adults were interviewed from Oct. 8 to Oct. 13. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Full results are available online here.

More turn to Internet for health information

Roughly six in 10 U.S. adults turned to the Internet for health information in 2005, up from 5 in 10 in 2003, according to the latest report on health information trends from the National Cancer Institute. More people also used the Internet in 2005 to email or make appointments with their health care provider (10% versus 7% in 2003) and to buy medicine or vitamins online (13% versus 4% in 2003). Use of the Internet for cancer information was relatively unchanged from 2003-2005, with about half of Americans seeking cancer information for themselves online.

CDC reports rise in breastfeeding

Nearly three-quarters of new mothers breastfed their infants in the hospital in 2004, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 70.9% in 2000, based on the CDC’s National Immunization Survey.

Roughly four in 10 mothers reported breastfeeding their babies at six months and about two in 10 at one year, up from 34% and 16% in 2000, respectively. Breastfeeding is associated with decreased risk for many early-life diseases and conditions, as well health benefits for women.

While more women are initiating breastfeeding and breastfeeding longer, CDC would like to see more mothers exclusively breastfeed their infants through age 3-6 months, as called for this year by the Healthy People 2010 initiative.

Brain injury admissions up 38% since 2001, AHRQ reports

Hospital admissions for serious brain injuries increased nearly 38% from 2001-2004 after declining for a decade, according to a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Hospital stays for these type 1 traumatic brain injuries totaled 144,700 in 2004, with falls (40%) and motor vehicle crashes (26%) the leading reasons for the injuries. About 36% of the patients were 65 or older.

Black-white life expectancy gap narrows, but remains substantial

The difference in U.S. life expectancy between African Americans and whites declined by one year for women and 2.1 years for men from 1993-2003, according to a study in the March 21 Journal of the American Medical Association. Still, life expectancy for African Americans remains an average 6.3 years lower for men and 4.5 years lower for women than it is for whites.

The authors say further narrowing of the gap will require concerted efforts to address the major causes of higher mortality among blacks, including homicide, HIV, perinatal death and kidney disease.

[ via AHA News Now ]

Women's Health Insurance Coverage Fact Sheets

As the cost of health insurance continues to rise, women in particular may face difficult challenges affording coverage because they are disproportionately low-income and can have more limited access to employer-based insurance. To document the health coverage status of women, the Kaiser Family Foundation is releasing new fact sheets providing state and national data on women's health insurance.

Highlights include:

• Nationally, one in five (19%) non-elderly women ages 18 to 64 are uninsured. Among the states, Minnesota has the smallest share of uninsured women (9%) and Texas, the highest (29%).
• One third (34%) of women 18 to 64 in the U.S. have incomes less than 200% of poverty ($31,154 for a family of three) and 37% of low-income women are uninsured.
• Approximately two-thirds of women and men have job-based coverage, however, women are less likely than men to be insured through their own job (38% vs. 50%, respectively) and more likely to have dependent coverage (24% vs. 13%).
• Medicaid, the health program for the poor, covers 10% of non-elderly women in the U.S. In Maine, 20% of women are covered by Medicaid, compared to just 3% in neighboring New Hampshire.

The fact sheets are available at http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/1613.cfm and http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/6000.cfm.

CDC's annual health report released

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released Health, United States, an annual report on trends in health statistics. The report consists of two main sections: a chartbook containing text and figures that illustrates major trends in the health of Americans and a trend tables section that contains 147 detailed data tables. The two main components are supplemented by an executive summary, a highlights section, an extensive appendix and reference section, and an index.

Life expectancy at birth reached a record 77.9 years in 2004, up from 77.5 in 2003 and 75.4 in 1990, according to the report. Infant mortality fell to 6.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, down from 6.9 per 1,000 in 2003. Deaths from heart disease fell 16% between 2000 and 2004, and deaths from cancer dropped 8%.

CDC also reported on the prevalence of pain among Americans, noting that one in four adults suffered a daylong bout of pain in the past month and four in 10 had pain that lasted a year or more. The most common complaints include lower back pain, migraine or severe headache, and pain or stiffness in the joints, especially the knee.

Prenatal care and breastfeeding rates on rise

The Health Resources and Services Administration has released Child Health USA 2005, its 16th annual report on the health status and service needs of America’s children. According to the report, the rate of first-trimester prenatal care has been increasing steadily since the early 1990s, with more than 84% of pregnant women receiving early prenatal care in 2003.

White women had the highest rate of prenatal care at 89%, while the proportion of African-American, Hispanic and American Indian women receiving early prenatal care has increased by 20% or more since 1990. Breastfeeding, which enhances the health of mothers and infants, also has been steadily on the rise since the beginning of the 1990s, the report indicates.

Updated reports about outpatient services

The National Center for Health Statistics has recently released new reports from its annual National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. This ongoing survey provides a wealth of data on visits to physician offices, hospital outpatient facilities, and hospital emergency departments.

National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Summary.
National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Outpatient Department Summary.
National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Emergency Department Summary.
Ambulatory Care Visits to Physician Offices, Hospital Outpatient Departments, and Emergency Departments: United States, 2001-2002.

Thanks to the AHA Resource Center for providing this information.