All Articles on Health

• From “pre-cancer” to back pain: The tide is turning on overtreatment

  Is American medicine finally waking up to the harm caused by overtreating common health conditions? And is Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) on track in finding practical ways to improve care while reducing harms from too much treatment?
• Dementia risk tied to blood sugar level, even with no diabetes

  A joint Group Health–University of Washington (UW) study in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that higher blood sugar levels are associated with higher dementia risk, even among people who do not have diabetes. Blood sugar levels averaged over a five-year period were associated with rising risks for developing dementia, in this report about more than 2,000 Group Health patients age 65 and older in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study.
• CT scans—with radiation and cancer risk—rose in children

  Use of computed tomography (CT) scans—and thus exposure to ionizing radiation—increased over 15 years in children at a set of nonprofit health care delivery systems in a new study. But currently available strategies could greatly reduce this cancer risk, according to the HMORN Cancer Research Network study, published in JAMA Pediatrics.
• Beyond gun control: practical tools to prevent suicide

  Whether suicide occurs in a notorious shooting like Newtown, Connecticut, or as a quiet family tragedy, the question is always the same: Was there anything we could have done to prevent this?
• Documentary Escape Fire inspires innovative action at a critical time

  Group Health’s care and coverage work together to achieve healthier outcomes for patients; and how we have become a national leader by staying true to our founders' mission.
• Innovation grant leads to improvements for diagnosing shoulder problems

  The Partnership for Innovation is a Group Health Foundation donor-funded program that allows Group Health providers and staff to test innovations with the potential to improve care, lower costs, and boost patient satisfaction.
• Biennial mammograms best for ages 50–74, even with dense breasts

  Screening for breast cancer every two years appears just as beneficial as yearly mammograms for women age 50–74, with significantly fewer “false positives”—even for women whose breasts were dense or who used hormone therapy for menopause.