News
McKernan: More doctor visits mean fewer Fibromyalgia patient suicide attempts
Oct. 26, 2018—Fibromyalgia patients who regularly visit their physicians are much less likely to attempt suicide than those who do not, according to a new Vanderbilt University Medical Center study published in Arthritis Care & Research. Patients who did not attempt suicide were at the doctor an average of 50 hours per year versus less than one...
Quinones’ poster takes top honors at TPHA
Oct. 26, 2018—Nicole Quinones, a student in the Vanderbilt Master of Public Health (MPH) Program, received top honors at the Tennessee Public Health Association (TPHA) Annual Meeting on Thursday, September 13 in Franklin, Tennessee. Out of 48 posters from seasoned public health researchers to students of all levels, Quinones’ work, “Disparities in Health & Access to Care...
Buntin and How Nashville Changed Healthcare
Oct. 25, 2018—It’s not that for-profit hospital chains like HCA, Community Health Systems and LifePoint Health — all Nashville-based giants — are totally to blame for rising costs. Some argue that for-profit hospitals, particularly HCA, have brought more accountability into the market for not-for-profit hospitals and government-run institutions, changing the industry for better in terms of care.
Politico: Buntin explores decline in Medicare per-person expenses
Oct. 25, 2018—In Politico, Melinda Buntin, Ph.D., Professor and Mike Curb Chair of the Department of Health Policy, is researching why Medicare per-person expenses have been going down.
Health policy speaker urges looking beyond data
Oct. 25, 2018—Katherine Swartz, PhD, a nationally known leader in health policy research, encouraged others conducting investigations in the field to move beyond the data and into local communities to gather the stories behind the data during last week’s Research into Policy and Practice Lecture hosted by Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Health Policy.
MPH’s Fill: Expecting mothers’ opioid use may stunt kids’ learning
Oct. 25, 2018—New study says children whose mothers used opioids while pregnant commonly face learning disabilities and other special education needs. The study involved about 7,200 children aged 3 to 8 enrolled in Tennessee’s Medicaid program. Nearly 2,000 of them were born with what’s called newborn abstinence syndrome. It’s a collection of symptoms caused by withdrawal from...
NYT: Buntin and Nikpay discuss surprising 340B program outcomes
Oct. 25, 2018—A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that the early participating hospitals were more likely to be located in poor communities with higher levels of uninsured people, to spend more of their budget on uncompensated care, and to offer more low-profit services than hospitals that started participating later.
Schaffner and what you need to know about vaccines
Aug. 24, 2018—For something that saves countless lives every day, vaccines face a lot of criticism. William Schaffner, MD, the medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, and others explain 40 things that the medical community wishes the public knew about vaccines.
Keohane research explores how dual-eligible beneficiaries spend
Aug. 17, 2018—While there has been much effort to control spending for individuals eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare in the United States, for the first time a team of Vanderbilt health policy researchers have analyzed spending trends for this population over a multiyear period in order to gain a much clearer understanding of exactly how much...
Dusetzina to explore how rising medication costs impact elderly
Aug. 9, 2018—As both drug prices and out-of-pocket expense for prescription medications continue to climb, a team of Health Policy experts at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) have received a grant to determine if these factors are causing older Americans enrolled in Medicare Part D for medication coverage to delay or never fill their prescriptions. Stacie...
Roumie and Grijalva land grant to boost patient-centered outcomes research
Aug. 3, 2018—Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been awarded a five-year federal grant to train investigators in Learning Healthcare Systems research, aimed at improving patient outcomes and the community’s overall health. The T32 postdoctoral training grant from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will support establishment of the Vanderbilt Patient, pRactice Outcomes and Research in...
Schaffner sheds light on hand, foot, and mouth disease for CNN
Jul. 25, 2018—Hand, foot and mouth disease is an illness commonly seen in children younger than 5. It spreads through contact and attacks exposed adults with fever, sores and skin rash. Hand, foot and mouth is "due to a virus that lives in the intestines, and it is very contagious," said William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist...
Gonzales’ Study Shows Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Increased Care Access
Jul. 20, 2018—Vanderbilt researchers have documented evidence that legalizing same-sex marriage has improved access to health care for gay men in a study released as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper this week. This is one of the first studies to examine the effect legal marriage has on the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and...
MPH Alumna Wilson Receives Award to Bolster Bipolar Disorders Research
Jul. 19, 2018—Two Vanderbilt University researchers have been awarded Blake A. Jenkins Discovery Awards in support of basic and/or translational research into bipolar disorder and related conditions with an emphasis on early detection, intervention and utilizing brain imaging. The $50,000 grants, awarded to Jo Ellen Wilson, MD, MPH, assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Brandee...
Patrick Comments on Prescribed Opioid Usage in Children Study
Jul. 19, 2018—More than one in three Americans are prescribed opioids, National Survey on Drug Use and Health data shows. A new study indicates that the trend extended to children, who legally use the drug at as young as 2 years old, to treat pain following minor dental procedures or outpatient surgeries. One in 10 children enrolled in...