CLINICAL NEWS
Consolidation Nation
Big hospital and health-care system mergers are on the
rise, and while the involved parties argue that consolidating
saves money for patients, an investigation from The New
York Times debunks that rumor.
The reporters looked at costs of services in 25 metropolitan
areas with the highest rates of consolidation between 2010
and 2013 – a “peak period for mergers.”
The Benefits of More Screen Time
By essentially banishing competition, the
mergers have raised the average prices for
a hospital stay by up to 54% in the areas
reviewed.
People who chose not to undergo recommended cancer screening tests had higher mortality from
other diseases, according to a study examining nonadherence to medical tests and outcomes in
nearly 65,000 patients.
Protocol-recommended tests included chest radiographs and flexible sigmoidoscopy, as well as sex-
specific exams for prostate and ovarian cancers.
g54 %
Adherent Participants
Nonadherent Participants
The mortality risk at 10 years was
46 % HIGHER
for nonadherent vs. completely adherent participants.
Source: Pierre-Victor D, Pinsky PF. Association of nonadherence to cancer screening examinations with mortality from unrelated causes: a
secondary analysis of the PLCO Cancer Screening Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 December 28. [Epub ahead of print]
Prices stayed the same or decreased in just three of the
metropolitan areas.
Source: The New York Times, November 14, 2018.
A Mid-Life Crisis
30%
The researchers looked at cancer risk among 1,136 children who were diagnosed with
HL between 1955 and 1986. 25%
After a median follow-up of 26.6 years, the cumulative incidence of any cancer by
age 50 was 26.4%. 20%
That translated to a 14-fold increased risk of
developing a solid tumor cancer among survivors,
compared with the general population.
Children who survived Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) face another challenge later in life: a
much higher risk of developing a solid tumor cancer, according to a report from the
Late Effects Study Group.
15%
10%
“These findings support the need for continued surveillance of patients with HL,
regardless of the era in which they were treated,” the authors concluded. 5%
Source: Holmqvist AS, Chen Y, Teh JB, et al. Risk of solid subsequent malignant neoplasms after childhood
Hodgkin lymphoma–identification of high-risk populations to guide surveillance: a report from the Late Effects
Study Group. Cancer. 2018 December 17. [Epub ahead of print] 0%
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26.4%
0
10
20 30
Age (years)
40 50
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