Discussing health care costs with patients: an opportunity for empathic communication.

The purpose of Nonviolent or Empathic Communication Training is to facilitate the flow of information necessary for people to work cooperatively and resolve differences effectively. Such training is widely used in medical communities where the…

BACKGROUND: While an extensive literature documents the influence of depression on general medical services utilization, estimates of the economic burden of depression have focused on the direct costs of depression treatment. Higher use of general…

Many cost containment strategies advocate that physicians should use fewer or less costly resources. In order to place these strategies in perspective, components of charges (costs) for medical patients at an urban center were examined to ascertain…

We estimated the health-care costs accrued by inner-city asthma patients over 1 year and identified patient characteristics associated with high cost patterns. The direct cost to the health-care provider of 1205 patients with an active diagnosis of…

The goal of this study was to estimate the health care resources spent by type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients in Spain during the year 2002.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Recurring annual costs of caring for patients with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a large economic burden on health care systems, but information on costs of SCI care beyond the acute and initial postacute phase is sparse.…

Background: The economic burden associated with fibromyalgia in the U.S. is substantial. The objective of this study was to compare changes in health care costs in fibromyalgia patients initiated on pregabalin and duloxetine in real-world settings.…

Detailed information on the cost burden of atrial fibrillation (AF) is limited. To provide an up-to-date estimate of the national cost of AF, we conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study using administrative claims from the MarketScan…

OBJECTIVE: The rising costs of health care are of great concern, particularly for the chronically ill. Interventions that promote health status and well being while teaching appropriate use of the health care system have led to cost savings among…

The prevalence of gout has been increasing. Serum uric acid (sUA) levels 6 mg/dL have been associated with high morbidity and increased health care utilization.