Press Room

May 1, 2015:  Hospital costs for treating drug-exposed newborns doubled between 2009 and 2012 to a staggering $1.5 billion every year, 80 percent of which is paid for by taxpayers, according to a government-funded study released yesterday — a spike researchers and lawmakers are attributing to the deepening opioid crisis. “We are seeing not only that opioid addiction is taking a human toll, but a financial toll as well,” Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark said. “This is a huge cost to the taxpayers.” Stephen Patrick is quoted. 

A nationwide study, “Uncovering Waste in U.S. Healthcare,” from authors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, finds that spending on post-acute care in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) provides a key signal of inefficiency in the health care system, leading to higher spending and lower patient survival. It’s not yet entirely clear whether mortality for patients in this study was hastened by poor initial hospital care leading to the need for SNF care, or by poor quality SNF care.

In an editorial piece published April 22, 2015, the New England Journal of Medicine responds to the Supreme Court ruling in favor of same sex marriage, acknowledging same-sex marriage should be accepted both as a matter of justice and as a measure that promotes health. The Department's newest incoming faculty member, Gilbert Gonzales, PhD, is cited.

In a new study published today in the journal Pediatrics, the use of prescription narcotic painkillers is common in pregnancy and increases the likelihood a baby will be born small or early, or go through painful drug withdrawal, a new study finds.

Research revealed that millions of used bars of soap from hotels worldwide are sent to landfills every day while many people in developing nations are dying from illnesses that could be prevented with access to simple hygiene products. One non-profit, Clean the World, is changing all of that. Health Policy Professor Dr. William Schaffner is quoted.

Hospitals that discharge patients to expensive skilled nursing facilities are raising costs and reducing care quality, write John Graves, assistant professor of health policy, and MIT researchers Joseph Doyle and Jonathan Gruber.

Davidson County is in the midst of an economic boom and, in many ways, a cultural renaissance, but the state's capital lags its neighbors in several important health factors, according to a county health rankings report featuring data from the Department's Melinda Buntin, Carrie Fry, and Robert Gambrel.