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Wednesday, January 15, 2003Among the biggest gains were those made in the percentage of heart attack patients being sent home from the hospital with prescriptions for beta blocker drugs; that figure rose on average from 72 percent to 79 percent. Another notable improvement was in the percentage of Medicare patients receiving pneumococcal vaccines -- up from 55 percent to 65 percent. No cause for celebration, though, according to those who make their living following such trends. For example, why isn’t that rate of immunization against pneumonia higher? "All you have to do is give the darn vaccine, you can give it any time of year, there isn't a shortage, and we're still not there," Jencks said. "Health care systems are still far too tuned to treating the acute illness rather than prevention." That may be, but immunization rates against pneumonia will never be 100% simply because some patients refuse to have it. They aren’t Barbie dolls, after all, or even infants whose parents can be coerced with mandatory immunizations for public school entry. I have no idea how many elderly people decline the vaccine when offered, but I know in my practice it’s significantly higher than parents who refuse to immunize their children. (The full study can be had for free here.) posted by Sydney on 1/15/2003 08:52:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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