Latest news with #medicalcare
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Universal Health Services beats quarterly profit estimates on higher medical care demand
July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. hospital operator Universal Health Services (UHS.N), opens new tab beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit on Monday, driven by sustained demand for medical care services. Health insurers have flagged elevated demand and costs in individual Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and Medicaid plans for low-income individuals, which could benefit hospital operators. Last week, larger peer HCA Healthcare (HCA.N), opens new tab beat quarterly profit estimates but saw its shares decline amid concerns over impending changes to Medicaid and Obamacare insurance plans under the Trump administration. Universal Health's same-facility adjusted admissions increased by 2% at acute care hospitals during the quarter, while admissions at behavioral healthcare facilities grew by 0.4%. The company now sees its 2025 revenue to be between $17.10 billion and $17.31 billion, compared to the previously expected range of $17.02 billion to $17.36 billion. Analysts, on average, expect 2025 revenue of $17.14 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG data. For the quarter ended June 30, the King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based company reported an adjusted profit of $5.43 per share, beating estimates of $4.92 per share. Investors are currently focused on how hospital operators will address potential tariffs affecting global supply chains for medical devices and surgical equipments. The sector is also preparing for the expiry of Obamacare subsidies next year, a change expected to impact patient coverage, raise insurance premiums and reduce enrollment numbers, potentially leaving hospitals responsible for increased uncompensated care costs.
The Australian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Australian
How Australians rate chronic health management
By modern measures, Lesley Hoatson just might be a medical unicorn. In the past 40 years, she has been treated by only two general practitioners. Even then, she only switched doctors because one retired. She attributes it to her local clinic's knack for retaining staff. 'I think it's because the practice I go to is a community health centre and to work there you probably have to be pretty committed to that sort of service to the community,' she says. Ms Hoatson, 74, looks the picture of health. She leads an active lifestyle and is preparing to hike through the French Alps. She is also a frequent gym-goer, enjoys pilates and regularly volunteers in her local community. But what might not be as obvious is that, like half of all Australians aged over 65, Hoatson lives with multiple chronic health conditions. She has high blood pressure, high cholesterol and anxiety, all of which she says are managed effectively with the help of medication and a trip to the GP every six months. 'He monitors those medications each time I go, and that's fairly straightforward,' she says. Ms Hoatson feels her GP includes her in all conversations about her health and talks through her treatment options, and lets her decide the course of action. He supports whatever decision she makes. She says it is a relationship built around trust and respect, and that has filled her with confidence in the health system. 'Without him sort of breathing down my neck, I feel comfortable about having made decisions and managing what I'm doing with my own health,' she says. 'I've never known any different. Maybe it's a little bit of luck. I think if you were swapping to a different doctor every time, it would be a much more basic exchange of what's happening and that's it. 'Whereas this is actually about you, the person, and you should feel like (the doctor) is actually interested in you. Even though my doctor has a short amount of time to see me, he does it efficiently, and I come away feeling like I have been heard and he has responded to what I needed.' Ms Hoatson has documented her experience as part of the international Patient-Reported Indicator Survey. The survey focuses exclusively on the experiences of patients in primary care and compares how 19 OECD member nations perform. More than 100,000 patients who live with chronic illness took part globally, including 2392 from Australia. Respondents were patients aged 45 and over, had at least one chronic condition, and visited a GP in the six months prior to the survey. They were asked about their experience, outcomes, and how they accessed health information and services. Associate Professor Liz Marles is a spokeswoman for the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, which conducted the study on behalf of the Health Department. She is also a former president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and says Australia held its own, performing better than or close to the OECD average across 10 health measures, and ranking in the top five in quality of care, co-ordination of care, person-centred care and physical health. However, there were three areas to improve, especially in mental health, wellbeing and social functioning – which considers how well someone can perform everyday activities and responsibilities. 'What we're looking at here is how people with chronic conditions, what their experience is in terms of healthcare delivery,' Dr Marles says. 'It's that in-depth perspective that allows us to see how well we're performing and probably gives us much greater insight, really, into what are the strengths in the system and what are the areas that we probably need to focus on.' One key finding was that patients with greater continuity of care had better outcomes than those without, and those who maintained the same GP had a greater level of trust in the system. 'As a GP, I know when I see a person that I'm familiar with, it's just a much easier consult,' Dr Marles says. 'I already know what their preferences are, so whether they're someone who is very anxious about their health and wants to have lots of investigations, or whether they're someone who maybe doesn't pay enough attention to their health, and I need to be a bit more proactive with that person. 'Knowing a person's preferences really helps, and that's what person-centred care is. And we rated really highly on person-centred care; Australia was 94 per cent versus 85 per cent for the OECD average.' The results further highlight the postcode lottery and other health inequalities, with patients in cities and those with higher levels of education and income reporting better experiences, which then led to improved health outcomes. David Fong is a general practitioner at Co Health, a multidisciplinary community health centre in the Melbourne suburb of Kensington. The clinic works closely with allied health professionals and was one of dozens nationally that had patients participate in the survey. A lot of Dr Fong's patients are from non-English-speaking backgrounds and include refugees, concession card holders and pensioners. Not all of them are familiar with how to navigate Australia's health system, which could lead to confusion and distrust if not managed appropriately. He says managing chronic conditions requires careful planning. 'Many patients do recognise the value of seeing the same doctor or the same clinicians, or nurses they're familiar with as well, who have learned this story,' he says. 'But it's also a supply problem … sometimes one particular doctor is not available. For chronic conditions, though, if you plan ahead you can always see your doctor, you just might have to wait.' Australia has a high burden of chronic disease, which is growing as the population ages. It's a trend that adds pressure to the broader health system, care providers and the community. According to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, in 2022, half of Australians had at least one chronic condition, and in that year alone $82bn was spent on treating chronic disease. 'Chronic conditions were recorded as an underlying or associated cause of 90 per cent of all deaths, and were responsible for 91 per cent of the non-fatal burden of disease,' the report states. Further, chronic conditions represent the fastest-growing segment of healthcare users in Australia. The most common chronic condition reported in this country was high blood pressure, followed by arthritis or joint pain, depression or other mood disorder, breathing conditions, and cardiovascular or other heart conditions. The survey found patients with multiple chronic conditions were less confident of managing their own care but also had less trust in the health system and doctors. People living with chronic conditions including liver disease, neurological or mental health conditions reported having the worst experiences of all chronic care patients. The survey also revealed a breakdown in communication between doctors and patients when it came to explaining care, finding that while many doctors were completing personalised GP Management Plans for patients, they were not always informing or involving the actual patient at the centre of the plan. 'In about 50 per cent of cases, people are not even aware that they've had one done,' Dr Marles says. 'We need to create those plans in partnership with our patients so that they actually understand what the tasks are for them in terms of self-management; what are the goals that we're hoping to achieve? Who are the other people involved in their care? It's a really important plan and I think it's an area that we need to focus on a bit more.' Dr Fong suspects that will change following amendments introduced on July 1 that replace the existing GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangements with a single GP Chronic Conditions Management Plan. As part of the change, GPs may have access to additional Medicare billing benefits if they develop a plan for a patient with chronic conditions. 'As of July 1, there's much more emphasis on reviewing the plan periodically, approximately only three, four to six months,' Dr Fong says. The report also found men were far more likely to trust the healthcare system than women, a trend that was not influenced by the gender of the healthcare provider. Dr Marles says the cause of the distrust was not obvious from the findings, speculating it could be the result of more women seeking medical help for complex conditions including psychological issues. 'That's not to say that they have more psychological issues, it's just that they may seek help for mental health complaints more than men,' she says. 'Maybe there's some element of that medical misogyny, where they may feel dismissed around their concerns. It's very hard to drill down and find out exactly why that statistic is there based on the results.' Dietitians Australia president Dr Fiona Willer believes the findings show the need for allied health professionals to be better embedded into primary care. 'We're failing at best practice here, it makes no sense for Australians at risk of, or living with, diet-related chronic diseases, like type-2 diabetes, not to be getting adequate access to dietitians,' she says. 'We can't expect GPs to be managing complex chronic conditions alone, for patients with multiple chronic conditions, comprehensive multidisciplinary team care is absolutely essential – and not the reality in Australia yet.' It is hoped the findings will be used by policymakers and doctors to help fill national healthcare gaps. Lesley Hoatson hopes that happens. 'This is really about social justice issues, because not everyone gets access to those sorts of services like continuity of care,' she says. 'It's made a big difference to my life, and I reckon there'd be very few people who wouldn't want that. It's just that they can't necessarily get access to it.'
CBS News
24-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Orange County family hoping clinical trial saves their mother from brain cancer
An Orange County mom, who survived the unimaginable pain of losing her three young children, is in a desperate fight to save her life. Lori Coble's son and daughters were killed in a crash on the 5 Freeway in 2007. Almost exactly a year later, she gave birth to triplets who are now about to start their senior year in high school. Jake, Ellie, Ashley and their dad Chris are praying and hoping that Lori's glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, discovered just a few weeks ago can be cured. "So much has happened to my family and I can't help but think, why is this happening again?" Ellie said. "It's just so unfair but through both of these trials, we've really built a community and we have so many people looking out for my family and helping us. I couldn't be more grateful for the support." Chris said the brain cancer affects Lori as if she had a stroke. "A bad stroke that affected the left side of her body," he said. "Her motor control is highly restricted. She also can't really see very well because the tumor behind her right eye is affecting her vision. She needs pretty much constant care every moment of the day." Lori recently had surgery to remove part of the tumor. An online fundraiser is collecting money to help cover the costs of in-home care. She'll have a second surgery at City of Hope next week to remove the rest of the tumor, which Chris described as necessary but risky because she could lose complete mobility on her left side. "She's definitely fighting this fight," Ashley said. "I know she's going to try her hardest." Lifting the family's spirits is a new clinical trial at City of Hope. Doctors will use the DNA from a cancerous tumor to create a personalized vaccine. "There have been some patients on this vaccine trial that have lived longer," Lori's neurosurgeon Dr. Benham Badie said. "There is some hope and some preliminary data that this vaccine may work. Every patient is different. We don't know if she will get the vaccine and whether it's going to work for her." The clinical trial is randomized, meaning half of the patients will get the vaccine. Chris said he's run out of tears and is kept awake at night thinking about what his family is going through. "I feel like we've had enough pain in our lives that we could really use a break somewhere along the line," Chris said. "That's not fair to say because every person that has this aggressive brain cancer is going through those same concerns, same tragic realization. I just hope we can see her, keep her alive for as long as possible now."
Daily Mail
23-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Elderly Brit couple held in Afghan jail are receiving medical treatment, Taliban claim after UN warned they could die after 'rapid deterioration' of their health
An elderly British couple held in Afghanistan for over five months are reportedly 'receiving medical care' and are 'in occasional contact with their families'. The update on the couple was given by the Taliban 's foreign minister after UN experts warned that Peter, 80, and Barbie Reynolds, 75, could die in custody. They were arrested on February 1 in Bamiyan province along with an Afghan interpreter and their Chinese-American friend Faye Hall, who has since been released. The pair, who have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and were married in Kabul in 1970, ran a training organisation offering education programmes, including parenting skills courses. At a press conference in Kabul, the minister said: 'All their human rights are being respected. They are being provided with medical care. 'They are in occasional contact with their families.' He added that 'efforts are underway to secure their release, but the process is not complete'. The statement is similar to what was said in April when questions about their release arose. In the UN special rapporteur, Alice Edwards' warning, she said their conditions could lead to 'rapid deterioration in mental and physical health. She also cautioned that they face 'irreparable harm or even death'. Although no charges have been levelled against the pair, they were held in a maximum security prison for several months. They were also detained in underground cells without daylight. They were eventually moved to the Taliban's intelligence headquarters in Kabul. The UN report went into details about Peter's worsening health - he suffers from tremors, eye infections, and needs heart medication after he suffered a stroke in 2023. Barbie is also said to be 'weak and fragile'. She is also anaemic and has numbness in her feet. Their children, who live in the UK and the US, have repeatedly pleaded for their parents' release, saying they fear they may 'die in custody'. Although officials from the UK Foreign Office were allowed to perform a welfare visit, the promise of the couple's quick release by the Taliban government has not materialised. Taliban sources have sometimes described their arrest as a 'misunderstanding' and blamed paperwork issues for their incarceration. However, people in the know have told AFP that authorities had concerns that they owned 'non-Islamic' books. In a rare phone call from prison, Peter, who has both Afghan and British citizenship, said his stay in prison was 'the nearest thing to hell'. He claimed he was locked up alongside murderers and was limited to a single meagre daily meal of bread and chickpeas. Peter also said he sleeps on a mattress on the floor, a situation which is reportedly still happening at his current location.
Free Malaysia Today
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Taliban says detained British couple receiving medical care
Taliban officials have refused to detail the reasons for the couple's arrest. (AP pic) KABUL : An elderly British couple detained for months in Afghanistan are receiving medical care, the Taliban government's top diplomat said today, after UN experts warned they were at risk of dying. Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 80-years-old and 75-years-old, had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years when they were arrested in February along with Chinese-American friend Faye Hall, who has since been released, and an Afghan translator. 'All their human rights are being respected,' Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told a news conference in the capital Kabul. 'They are being provided with medical care. They are in occasional contact with their families.' Muttaqi said 'efforts are underway to secure their release, but the process is not complete', echoing similar comments by the government in April. Independent United Nations experts warned on Monday of the 'rapid deterioration' of their physical and mental health, stating that they 'risk irreparable harm or even death'. The couple, against whom no charges have been brought, were held 'in a high-security facility for several months, then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred last week' to the intelligence services in Kabul, according to the UN. The experts said Peter Reynolds requires heart medication following a stroke in 2023. Since his detention, he has suffered two eye infections and intermittent tremors in his head and left arm. His wife, who is anaemic, is 'weak and fragile' and has reported numbness in her feet, the experts said. The couple, who married in Kabul in 1970, had been running education programmes in Afghanistan and held Afghan passports. Taliban officials have refused to detail the reasons for their arrest but a source familiar with the case told AFP in April that the couple were in possession of several non-Islamic books.
