Kara Gavin
Research and Policy Media Relations Manager
Gavin draws on more than 25 years of experience in communicating about science, medicine and health policy. She focuses mainly on the health services research done by members of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, who work to understand and improve the safety, quality, equity and affordability of health care. As part of the Michigan Medicine communication team, she has lead responsibility for primary care and mental health topics. Contact: [email protected]; Twitter: @Karag
Health Lab
How Medicaid Expansion Gave Enrollees a Major Financial Boost
Health care coverage for low-income patients produces fiscal benefits that include lower unpaid debts, fewer bankruptcies and higher credit scores.
Health Lab
Why Aren't More STD Patients Getting This Proven Treatment?
Expedited partner therapy is a federally recommended treatment approach for STDs but several barriers prevent antibiotics from being administered quickly. Learn more.
Health Lab
1 in 4 Older Patients Stay on Risky Sedative Too Long
Benzodiazepines pose special risks to older adults. New research finds many of those who start taking them aren’t stopping.
Health Lab
Survey Offers Hospital Biobanks a Lesson in Gaining Patient Trust
Universities that sell access to their biobanks to private companies should tell patients and be transparent about how profits are used, a new survey shows.
News Release
Michigan physicians save Medicare $45.5 million, while improving care for Michiganders
For the fifth year in a row, ten Michigan physician organizations have improved care for more than 113,800 Medicare participants across the state, while making a positive difference in the cost of that care.
Health Lab
Primary Care Providers Play a Key Role for Patients’ Aging Eyes
Focusing on those with the highest risk of vision problems — as well as sensitivity to costs — could help improve eye care decisions for people over 50, a new poll finds.
Health Lab
Affordable Meds Help Younger Stroke Survivors Manage Adherence
Younger stroke survivors are having less trouble paying for medications that can stave off a second stroke, thanks to expanded Medicaid and other ACA provisions.
Health Lab
Study: Higher Medication Spends for Insurers Saves Money Later
Making patients’ medication costs more affordable helps ensure compliance, a new study shows. And the investment can avoid costlier care in the future.
Health Lab
As Medicaid Work Requirements Grow, U-M Experts Offer Advice
New Medicaid work requirements rules in several states mean low-income people will have to work, or prove they’re too unhealthy to work.
Health Lab
Opioid Prescriptions for Wisdom Teeth Linked to Long-Term Use
Read results from a new study exploring the connection between prescribing opioids to teens for pain relief after wisdom teeth removal and long-term opioid use.
News Release
Doctors for humanity: U-M Medical School introduces new pledge for new medical students
On Sunday, the newest students will arrive at one of the nation’s oldest medical schools, and don the white coats that mark the start of their journey toward becoming physicians.
News Release
Opioids and older adults: Poll finds support for prescribing limits, and need for better counseling and disposal options
Nearly a third of older adults have received a prescription for an opioid pain medicine in the past two years, but many of them didn’t get enough counseling about the risks that come with the potent painkillers, how to reduce their use, when to switch to a non-opioid option, or what to do with leftover pills, a new poll finds.
Health Lab
Poll: Providers Aren’t Doing Enough to Warn Older Patients About Opioids
Many Americans over 50 favor limits on painkiller prescribing, and those who receive prescriptions need more counseling about risks and safe disposal options, a new poll finds.
News Release
Desperately ill patients will get better access to experimental treatments through new effort
Patients fighting life-threatening illnesses who have run out of conventional options will get a chance to try some of the most cutting-edge treatments available, through a national effort that just received nearly $4.8 million in funding from the federal government.
Health Lab
Very Empty (and Very Full) Hospitals Have Lowest C. Diff Risk
Patients are three times likelier to contract the dangerous infection when a hospital is at midlevel occupancy, a new way of tracking the data finds.
