Research Offers Insight into Evolving Clinical Practice SAN ANTONIO—The massive VA health database revealed unique insights into the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in actual clinical practice to a team of researchers based at the South Texas Veterans Health...
VA Steps Up Foot Mat Program to Prevent Diabetic Foot Amputations
WASHINGTON—For diabetic veterans, a new device available through the VA may prevent foot ulcers—and possibly amputations. The VA treated more than 75,000 diabetic foot ulcers last year at a median cost of $47,000. That’s more than $3.5 billion just for foot care....
Iron Deficiency Linked to Higher CKD Mortality
SALT LAKE CITY—Is abnormal iron balance associated with increased mortality in predialysis patients with chronic kidney disease? A study in Kidney International suggested that the answer is not clear, because parameters have not been well characterized. To remedy...
What Is Link Between Kidney Injury Recovery, Function Loss?
NASHVILLE, TN—While future chronic kidney disease is linked to the extent of recovery of kidney function following acute kidney injury, how the timing of recovery affects the rate of future loss of kidney function is not as well understood. In response, a...
Nephrologists Face ‘Emotional Burden’ in Treating CKD
BOSTON—Even though U.S. clinical practice guidelines generally recommend that nephrologists discuss all treatment options, including conservative management, with Stage 4 and 5 chronic kidney disease patients, that rarely occurs, according to a new study. The report...
Agent Orange Effects on Spirometric Restriction Under-Researched
WASHINGTON—With no published reports on spirometric restriction in herbicide-exposed Vietnam War veterans serving in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, a group of researchers decided to examine the issue. The review in the International Journal of Environmental Research...
Do VA PCPs Over-Prescribe Corticosteroids for Mild-Moderate COPD?
CLEVELAND—Veterans are three times more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than the general population, and COPD is the fifth most prevalent disease in the veteran population, affecting about 15% of VHA patients, according to previous research. A...
Obesity Doesn’t Affect BP Declines with Sleep Apnea Therapy
PHILADELPHIA—Many, but not all, patients with obstructive sleep apnea see a decline in blood pressure with positive airway pressure treatment. A new study raised the question of whether the BP response related to sleep apnea therapy might be linked to obesity. The...
VA Gears Up for Benefit Claims Influx Related to Blue Water Navy Act
As Many as 90,000 Veterans Could Become Eligible WASHINGTON—With as many as 90,000 veterans waiting in the wings to apply for benefits, the VA said it will be ready to handle the influx of new claims when the provisions of the Blue Water Navy Act go into effect on...
Internet ‘Spoofing’ Often Targets Veterans; Related Stress Affects Health
WASHINGTON—While anyone can be the target of online scams, veterans might be especially vulnerable to internet fraud and social media identity theft, according to veterans’ advocates. Making the situation even worse, they testified before the House Veterans Affairs...
Legislators Concerned about VA’s Slow Response to Cybersecurity Threats
WASHINGTON—While VA is moving swiftly forward with a number of major technology projects, including a new electronic health records system, the agency’s advancements in cybersecurity are progressing at a glacial rate, according to reports from VA watchdogs. This has...
VA’s Innovation Chief Sees Himself as a Catalyst to Bring People, Ideas Together
PALO ALTO, CA—The journey of Thomas Osborne, MD, into medicine was not a straight line, but it was a path that seems strangely appropriate considering his role now as Director of VA’s brand new National Center for Collaborative Healthcare Innovation. An art student at...
Common Blood Test Identifies Veterans at High Risk of Diabetes
ATLANTA—A test included in nearly all routine blood chemistry panels provides a surprising window on a patient’s future health. The random plasma glucose test—at levels previously considered unremarkable—can predict whether a patient is likely to develop diabetes in...
Why Do Women Veterans Report More Symptoms Following Mild TBI?
WASHINGTON—Following a mild traumatic brain injury or concussion, female veterans report more neurobehavioral symptoms, use more outpatient services and are more often diagnosed with depression than their male counterparts, according to a recent VA study.1 But why?...
Drug Shortages Put Veterans at Risk, Often for Months at a Time
VA Is Part of Group Looking at National Solutions WASHINGTON—Drug shortages have plagued hospitals with their frequency, breadth and duration over the past decade, with more than 100 drugs in shortage as of mid-November, according to the U.S. Food and Drug...
“Not Part of the Ordinary Medical School Curricula”
“Treating mass casualties or performing emergency procedures in the middle of a firefight or while under chemical attack are not part of the ordinary medical school curricula.”
Rep. Constance A. Morella (R-MD) Constance “Connie” Morella was a Republican representative for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District from 1987-2003 during the Bill Clinton presidency and made the above comment in 1994.
At that time, Vice President Al Gore and a team of congressional leaders were working to reduce the nation’s deficit. They were planning the demise of the Uniformed Services University, suggesting that military physicians and nurses could be procured from civilian medical institutions through health professions scholarship programs at significantly less cost than graduates from America’s only military medical school. Clinton’s spending plan for the 1994 fiscal year called for the first significant steps to close the institution.
No Higher Rates of Exacerbation in COPD Patients Using Beta-Blockers
VA Researchers Also Can’t Identify Protective Effects BIRMINGHAM, AL—Multiple observational studies have suggested that beta blockers benefit patients with moderate or severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coexisting cardiovascular disease, with outcomes...
OIG Report: VA Did Opposite When It Came to Protecting Whistleblowers
WASHINGTON—The Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, created in 2017 to make it safer for VA employees to come forward about problems they identify with the agency, actually has been doing the opposite of its stated purpose, according to a report from...
U.S. Medicine Supplements
CE Credits
