Mortality Rates

NEW YORK -- Managed-health-care plans markedly reduce hospital costs, length of hospital stays and mortality rates, a new study shows.The survey of 1,300 hospitals looked at 50 U.S. cities with low, moderate and high levels of managed care, ranked by the percentage of the population enrolled in the plans and other factors.In cities with a high concentration of managed care -- including Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Minneapolis -- discretionary hospital costs were an average of 11.5 percent lower than the national norm.

Maryland's governor wants the state's gambling issues in his rear view mirror, and expressed exasperation about the persistence of the debate on the eve of a special session he is calling to add another casino and allow Vegas-style games. "I'm so sick of this issue," said Gov. Martin O'Malley, speaking to reporters at an event to tout lower infant mortality rates Wednesday morning. "I just want to get it behind us. " Later in the roughly ten minute question and answer session, he came back to the theme.

The U.S. is the world's richest nation, yet proportionately more children die here before reaching the age of 5 than in some developing countries. That should be unacceptable in a nation that prides itself on having the best health care system on the planet. But according to the authors of two recent reports — one global, the other local — it's a price we've chosen to pay for the growing inequality of our society. On Monday, population health researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington reported that the U.S. now ranks 42 n d worst among the world's nations in child mortality rates, down from 29 t h place just 20 years ago. The next day, a study by the Baltimore City Health Department warned that residents with low incomes and little education were much more likely to become sick or die from a variety of ailments than their better-educated, more-affluent neighbors.

After moving aggressively in recent years to make a dent in Maryland's stubbornly high infant mortality rate, city and state officials plan to announce Wednesday a significant drop, to the lowest level on record. Data from the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show a drop to 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2010. That's a 7 percent drop from the year before, a 16 percent drop from two years before and the lowest rate since recording began in the 1940s. "It's definitely going in the right direction," said Frances B. Phillips, deputy secretary of the state health department.

The state's reported progress in reducing infant mortality is to be cheered, but the fact that infant mortality increased slightly for African-Americans in 2009, and that a smaller percentage of black women received prenatal care that year, should be deeply troubling to public health officials. Persistent racial and class disparities in access to health care are the principal reasons Maryland's infant mortality rate — the number of infant deaths per thousand live births — has remained disturbingly high over the years.

WASHINGTON -- Bush administration officials intend to finance a proposal by President Bush to combat infant mortality in 10 cities by taking money from other health programs that serve pregnant women, poor children and the homeless.In a letter yesterday to Congress, Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, secretary of health and human services, said the administration planned to take $24 million from community health centers and $34 million from the existing Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant this year.

Officials at Harford Memorial Hospital and the Maryland Hospital Association said last week that they have misgivings about the recent "Consumer Guide to Hospitals," which lists the Havre de Grace hospital as having the second-highest death rate in Maryland.Allan Acton, vice president of the Upper Chesapeake Health System, which operates the 275-bed hospital, said he questions the study because it is based on federal Medicare figures, which are concerned with mortality rates for people 65 and older.

THE trouble with President and Mrs. Clinton can be captured in three words: They love government. And that makes them political fossils.This is an age when many of the world's developed nations are facing the final crisis of socialism (Marx had predicted a final crisis for capitalism) -- high unemployment rates, low or negative economic growth, stifling bureaucracies and restless populations. From Bonn to Stockholm, Moscow to Tel Aviv, socialist and formerly communist states are facing the same wrenching problems.

High incidences of drug abuse, teen pregnancy and poverty have pushed Baltimore to third among big cities in the number of children who die before they reach their first birthday, said city health officials reacting yesterday to a report by the Children's Defense Fund."

A month after a Harvard study found Baltimore residents had shorter life expectancies than most Americans, city officials released new data showing improvement in the city's public health in recent years. Baltimore's mortality rate fell by nearly 20 percent since 1999, according to the data released yesterday. During the same period, statewide mortality rates dropped by about 12 percent. Life expectancy, another measure of health, rose in Baltimore from 69.2 years in 2000 to 71.6 years in 2005.

As the state continues to struggle with a high infant mortality rate that undercuts its relative wealth, Maryland's overall rank in child well-being remained in the middle of the pack nationally, according to an annual report released by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation. The 2010 Kids Count Databook released Tuesday placed Maryland 25th in overall child well-being, the same ranking as a year ago. Although Maryland has the second-lowest percentage of children living in poverty (10 percent)

The state's reported progress in reducing infant mortality is to be cheered, but the fact that infant mortality increased slightly for African-Americans in 2009, and that a smaller percentage of black women received prenatal care that year, should be deeply troubling to public health officials. Persistent racial and class disparities in access to health care are the principal reasons Maryland's infant mortality rate — the number of infant deaths per thousand live births — has remained disturbingly high over the years.

Maryland's infant mortality rate dropped to its lowest point in 2009, according to preliminary statistics, but state public health officials say there is still need for improvement. The overall rate decreased to 7.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in Maryland last year, down from 8 in 2008 — a 10 percent decrease. The teen birth rate also decreased, from 2.8 births to women under 18 to 2.6, with declines recorded for black and white women. "We are so pleased this is showing positive progress," said Frances Phillips, Maryland's deputy secretary for public health.

The U.S. is the world's richest nation, yet proportionately more children die here before reaching the age of 5 than in some developing countries. That should be unacceptable in a nation that prides itself on having the best health care system on the planet. But according to the authors of two recent reports — one global, the other local — it's a price we've chosen to pay for the growing inequality of our society. On Monday, population health researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington reported that the U.S. now ranks 42 n d worst among the world's nations in child mortality rates, down from 29 t h place just 20 years ago. The next day, a study by the Baltimore City Health Department warned that residents with low incomes and little education were much more likely to become sick or die from a variety of ailments than their better-educated, more-affluent neighbors.

To Alma Roberts, Maryland's grim statistics on infant mortality affect more than babies. They serve as an indicator of the state's overall health. And she's alarmed. Maryland has struggled for a decade with infant death rates above the national average - it ranked 31st in 2005 statistics - and figures released last month showed the problem getting worse. In 2007, the infant mortality rate increased, and the racial disparity in infant deaths widened. Last year, 14 newborns died per 1,000 live births, and black infants were three times as likely as white infants to die within their first year.

Medicine has made life-saving advances in treating and preventing heart disease, the major killer of people with diabetes, yet female diabetics are dying at higher rates than three decades ago, researchers reported this week. "There's good news here; we are making progress," said Dr. Deborah Burnet, a diabetes expert at the University of Chicago. "The bad news is it appears to be limited to men." The trend has ominous public-health consequences, experts note. Diabetes is growing more common in the U.S. as the population gets older and fatter, and elderly women are the fastest-growing segment of society.

ANNAPOLIS - The percentage of Maryland infants who are dying in their first year of life declined sharply last year, reaching the lowest level since record-keeping began more than a century ago. Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and state health officials said yesterday that Maryland's infant mortality rate fell nearly 11 percent, to 7.4 deaths for every 1,000 live births. That's down from 8.3 in 1999 and 9.7 in 1990. Strong gains were recorded for both whites and blacks. Officials credited a variety of programs that improve access to health insurance, prenatal care and health information, and they praised the cooperative efforts of state and local health departments and private care-givers.

A month after a Harvard study found Baltimore residents had shorter life expectancies than most Americans, city officials released new data showing improvement in the city's public health in recent years. Baltimore's mortality rate fell by nearly 20 percent since 1999, according to the data released yesterday. During the same period, statewide mortality rates dropped by about 12 percent. Life expectancy, another measure of health, rose in Baltimore from 69.2 years in 2000 to 71.6 years in 2005.