New Snapshots Show States Vary Widely in Providing Quality Health Care

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Jun 27,2009

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s annual release of state-by-state quality data continues to give states mixed reviews for the quality of care they provide. As in previous years, AHRQ’s 2008 State Snapshots show that no state does well or poorly on all quality measures.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is also releasing state-by-state reports on the health care status quo. The reports are available at www.HealthReform.gov.

The 2008 State Snapshots provide state-specific health care quality information, including strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. The state-level information used to create the State Snapshots is drawn from the 2008 National Healthcare Quality Report, which was released in May by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and contributes to a national portrait of health care quality.

“The State Snapshots are an invaluable resource for state officials, health care providers and purchasers to help them better understand the extent of health care quality and disparities in their states,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. “With this information, they can take the necessary steps to improve health care quality and address persistent gaps in access to health care.”

The 2008 State Snapshots summarize health care quality in three dimensions: type of care (preventive, acute and chronic care), setting of care (hospitals, ambulatory, nursing homes and home health care) and by clinical areas (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, maternal and child health and respiratory disease). The 2008 State Snapshots allow users to explore whether a state has improved or worsened compared with other states in several areas of health care delivery.

New features in the 2008 State Snapshots provide more ways to analyze the quality of health care for each state compared with all states, as well as states in the same region. Enhanced features include:

  • A new Focus on Asthma section: This section includes state-specific information on the prevalence of adult self-reported asthma rates; potentially preventable hospitalizations for children, adults and the elderly; and potential returns on investment of asthma care quality improvement programs for Medicaid, state employees and privately insured Americans.
  • An expanded Focus on Disparities: This section includes state-specific information on disparities in the quality of care compared with the nation overall by looking at care received by various racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. This section also includes new information on prevalence of diabetes that includes a U.S. map showing the adult self-reported prevalence of diabetes by state.
  • Enhanced Dashboards: The dashboard for each state now contains revised graphics that succinctly display all of the summary measures on health care quality and allow a clear view of the range of each state’s performance.

AHRQ’s annual State Snapshots are based on data drawn from more than 30 sources, including government surveys, health care facilities and health care organizations. To access this year’s State Snapshots tool, go to: http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/snaps08/.

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled LEANWorks!, a Website designed to help businesses address obesity. LEAN stands for Leading Employees to Activity and Nutrition. The new Website was announced at a National Business Group on Health meeting in Washington, D.C.

“CDC LEANWorks! was developed in direct response to organizations asking CDC for help in addressing the obesity epidemic. Specifically they wanted to know what interventions were effective in helping employees maintain a healthy weight,” said William Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., director of CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. “CDC has identified science-based interventions that work to prevent and control obesity. CDC LEANWorks! provides the tools that employers need to take action.”

The free Website was developed particularly for small and mid-size companies, which typically have more limited resources to devote to obesity prevention efforts. However, the tools and resources available on CDC LEANWorks! can benefit companies of any size. CDC LEANWorks! can help employers calculate the cost of obesity for their organizations and develop tailored approaches to help control these costs through interventions such as fitness classes, lunchtime health education sessions, weight management programs, and more.

The Website provides a variety of resources to employers including:

  • An obesity cost-calculator where employers can input employee demographic data to estimate the total costs associated with obesity and determine annual obesity-related medical costs for their companies.
  • Information and resources to help employers plan, build, promote, and assess interventions to combat obesity.
  • Information on how employers can estimate return on investment, a measure of the cost of an intervention compared to the expected financial return of the intervention.

Obesity is a risk factor for high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Obese individuals spend 77 percent more money for necessary medications than non-obese persons.

“Obesity affects more than just health care costs. It also has a significant impact on worker productivity because the more chronic diseases employees have, the more likely they are to be absent from work, or less productive if they come to work sick,” said Janet Collins, Ph.D., director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Because organizations do not usually publish information about their worksite programs in the scientific literature, CDC visited select businesses to identify promising worksite obesity prevention and control practices. The CDC LEANWorks! Website provides case studies from some of those businesses to provide examples of successful worksite obesity prevention programs.

“Workplace obesity prevention programs can be an effective way for employers to reduce obesity and lower their health care costs, lower absenteeism and increase employee productivity,” said Dr. Dietz. Employers may also see other indirect benefits when they implement these programs such as improved employee morale, increased worker retention, and improved recruitment of new employees.”

To learn more about CDC LEANWorks! visit www.cdc.gov/leanworks.

For more information about CDC’s efforts to combat obesity visit www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


In a revolutionary healthcare finding, a peer-reviewed clinical study published in the British Journal of Nutrition (a Cambridge University Journal), clearly shows that Prebiotics reduce cholesterol and triglycerides, control body weight, and increase lifespan by 33%.

The controlled clinical study was conducted on rats and showed that the rats fed prebiotics had an 80% survival rate to 24 months versus a 50% survival rate for the control group rats that were not fed prebiotics. Additionally, the “prebiotic” rats showed material reductions in cholesterol and body weight versus the control group.

Significantly, the prebiotic used in the study was oligofructose enriched inulin, a blend of two prebiotics which has repeatedly shown synergistic health benefits versus the more common single-prebiotic fibers such as plain inulin.

“This study, clearly demonstrating life-lengthening impact of prebiotics, has truly profound implications,” says Jackson GI Medical CEO Kristian Chronister. “It certainly reinforces our commitment to powering our Prebiotin prebiotic supplements with oligofructose enriched inulin despite the dramatically lower cost of plain inulin,” he says.

Oligofructose enriched inulin is a 100% natural, plant-derived ‘compound’ prebiotic fiber which has extensive clinical research demonstrating strong health benefits. Plain inulin is a far cheaper prebiotic which is used in most prebiotic supplements and enhanced foods.

“The implications of this study are somewhat staggering,” says Jackson GI Chairman and Founder Frank W. Jackson, M.D. “While the research doesn’t quite yet justify a claim that Prebiotin lengthens human life, the study is nevertheless dramatic in that it clearly demonstrates the colon is a health- and life-giving organ we must nourish and cherish, not just a waste disposal system.”

Prebiotics are a special class of fibers which deliver health benefits by nourishing beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract while not providing sustenance to undesirable bacteria.

“We have long known from clinical research that oligofructose enriched inulin, the prebiotic in our Prebiotin family of products, enhances immunity, increases calcium absorption, decreases heart-unfriendly triglycerides and promotes digestive health,” says Chronister. “This latest study strongly suggests that a very potent overall health benefit is the net result of adding prebiotics to the diet.”

A precis of the research is presented at http://www.prebiotin.com/, as well as a link to the full clinical study.

Source: Jackson GI Medical


Trivalent Virus-Like Particle Vaccine Elicits Protective Immune Responses against a Variety of Seasonal Influenza Strains in Mice and Ferrets

Novavax, Inc. announced publication of the preclinical study results that supported the clinical development of the company’s investigational VLP vaccine against the H3N2, H1N1 and B influenza strains. The study, which was conducted by scientists from the University of Pittsburgh, Center for Vaccine Research and Novavax, was published in the June 24, 2009 online issue of PLoS ONE. The vaccine contains three VLPs mixed together in a single formulation; each made up of the hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA) and matrix 1 (M1) proteins from the representative strains. These proteins are important for broad protection against influenza, which is responsible for nearly 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. The vaccine is currently in Phase 2 clinical testing.

In this study, mice and ferrets received intramuscular injections of VLP vaccine which induced HAI antibodies against all three influenza strains represented in the vaccine and against a variety of drifted strains. All of the ferrets who received a vaccine dose of 15 mcg/strain, the dose used for currently licensed vaccines, developed HAI titers greater than or equal to 1:40. This level of antibody has been shown to be important for protection against flu in human studies of influenza vaccines. In addition, approximately 50% of ferrets developed HAI titers greater than or equal to 1:40 against drifted H3N2 strains from the 1999, 2002, and 2005 influenza seasons. The vaccine was also protective, reducing the amount of influenza virus in the nose of ferrets that were challenged with the H3N2 strain from the 2005-6 season.

In addition to antibody response, the study also examined cell-mediated immunity. T cell responses in mice vaccinated with the seasonal VLP vaccine were compared with T cell responses in mice vaccinated with a commercial influenza vaccine. Of note, mice vaccinated with the VLP vaccine had higher levels of HA flu-specific CD8+ T cells than mice vaccinated with the commercial vaccine. CD8+ T cells play a role in clearing virus from the respiratory tract, which may be an important factor in preventing influenza-associated pneumonia, a leading cause of flu-related hospitalizations in adults older than 65 years of age.

“This study demonstrates the breadth of the immune response induced by the VLP vaccine,” said Ted Ross, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh. “Not only did the vaccine induce robust HAI responses, it also induced HA-specific CD8+ T cell responses that were superior to those of a split vaccine. This finding may be reflective of the integrity of the structure of the HA protein presented in the VLP.”

“We are pleased with the results of this study, which supported the human clinical trials of our seasonal influenza VLP vaccine,” said Dr. Rahul Singhvi, president and CEO of Novavax. “We also observed robust HAI responses among subjects in the clinical trial of our seasonal flu vaccine, which we announced last December, including responses against drifted strains. We look forward to future studies to evaluate the breadth of the immune response induced by our VLP-based influenza vaccines.”

Source: Novavax, Inc.


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