Respiratory failure is a common complication of acute neuromuscular disease and high cervical cord lesions and should be monitored by measuring forced vital capacity and respiratory rate. Urgent imaging is mandatory if there is any clinical suspicion of spinal cord disease. Treatment of Guillain-Barré syndrome with plasma exchange or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) speeds up the rate of recov...

Overuse can be defined as the chronic overloading of muscles in daily life activities resulting in physical complaints such as muscle fatigue and pain. Overuse can develop in case of a reduced capacity of muscle to endure loads due to paresis (slight or partial paralysis), but also when normal muscle is chronically overloaded, for instance when a muscle has to compensate for other paretic muscl...

measures varies and may overestimate asthma control: an analysis of the goal study. J Asthma 2007;44:667–73. 27. Bereznicki BJ, Peterson GM, Jackson SL, et al. Pharmacist-initiated general practitioner referral of patients with suboptimal asthma management. Pharm World Sci 2008;30:869–75. 28. Price D, Thomas M. Breaking new ground: challenging existing asthma guidelines. BMC Pulm Med 2006;6(Sup...

Rural enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) and other prepaid plans grew by 15% from December 2008 to December 2009, faster than the 10% national growth rate. Preferred provider organization (PPO) plans drove the increased enrollment in MA plans in rural areas in 2009, while private fee-for-service (PFFS) plans continued to dominate the market with over 50% of enrollment. This landscape could c...

The Affordable Care Act has altered payment policy for private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, with the goal of lowering costs closer to the level in traditional Medicare. Using newly available information on 2009 MA plan costs, this analysis com­pares plans' estimates of per capita costs for providing Parts A and B benefits to their enrollees, on a risk-adjusted basis, against what government d...

In a reversal of recent trends, private fee-for-service (PFFS) enrollment fell dramatically in rural areas in early 2010. As a result, Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment in rural areas (excluding other prepaid plans) fell slightly in early 2010 for the first time in years. The dramatic drop in PFFS enrollment was offset by increases in enrollment in preferred provider organization (PPO) and hea...

The costs of providing benefits to enrollees in private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are slightly less, on average, than what traditional Medicare spends per beneficiary in the same county. However, MA plans that are able to keep their costs comparatively low are concen­trated in a fairly small number of U.S. counties. In the 25 counties where the cost differences between MA plans and traditio...

The Medicare Advantage (MA) program offers beneficiaries a choice of private health plans as alternatives to the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program. MA plans potentially provide additional value, but as plan choices have proliferated, consumers contemplating their options have had difficulty understanding how they differ. Through "standardization" more consistent types of information ...

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