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• Pain relievers seem not to prevent Alzheimer's in very old

  A new study shows that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as the pain relievers ibuprofen and naproxen, do not prevent Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia.
• Chronic Care Model helps improve people's health and care

  Ed Wagner, MD, MPH, and Group Health colleagues set out 15 years ago to explore how best to engage patients with chronic diseases in effective care. With Robert Wood Johnson Foundation support, they developed the Chronic Care Model. More than 1,500 U.S. and international medical practices have adopted the Model. Now the largest roundup of evidence on how the Model performs in practice confirms that it works.
• New online care for hypertension gets results

  Web-based care and at-home blood pressure checks can help control hypertension without office visits, according to the "e-BP" (Electronic Blood Pressure) study of more than 700 Group Health patients published in the June 25 Journal of the American Medical Association. "To our knowledge, this is the first large randomized controlled trial to use Web-based care and a patient-shared electronic medical record to improve treatment outcomes of a chronic disease," said study leader Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH.
• Group Health part of UW's new Northwest Institute for Genetic Medicine

  On April 18, 2008, the Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) granted University of Washington (UW) scientists and researchers a $5.3 million, four-year grant to support the translation of human genetic research into clinical medicine. The grant will be used to launch the Northwest Institute of Genetic Medicine, a collaborative effort between researchers at the UW, Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, Group Health, and local biotechnology companies.
• Two Group Health physician researchers elected to the Institute of Medicine

  Two leaders from the Group Health Center for Health Studies—Drs. Eric B. Larson and Ed Wagner—have been elected to The Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's top honors in medicine.
• Low libido in menopause linked to trouble sleeping

  Women whose sexual desire diminishes during menopause are more likely to report disturbed sleep, depression symptoms, and night sweats, according to Group Health research in the June American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. To the best of the research team’s knowledge, this marks the first time that sleep disturbance has been independently associated with diminished sexual desire during or after menopause.
• NCQA honors Dr. Ed Wagner for improving chronic illness care nationally

  Dr. Ed Wagner, director of the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation at Group Health Cooperative, is among four winners of the 2007 Health Quality Awards from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The awards, presented every two years, honor individuals and organizations whose energy, efforts, and vision have substantially helped improve U.S. health care quality.