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State Highlights: Calif. prop 45 ad truth check; Medi-Cal autism coverage

Proposition 45 would give California's elected insurance commissioner the authority to reject excessive health insurance rate hikes, a power the commissioner already wields for auto and homeowners insurance rates. The campaign against it -- for which the insurance industry has so far put up $37.3 million -- is now airing a 60-second radio ad narrated by a nurse named Candy Campbell.

16 Sep 2014

State highlights: States want home care worker wage changes delayed; Ga. delays nursing home rate hike

State officials that argued against providing overtime and minimum wage protections to the nation's 2 million home care workers are asking the Department of Labor to push back a Jan. 1 start date for the policy to take effect. State Medicaid officials concerned that their costs will rise are asking for a delay and tweaks to the policy, even though the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized the rule a year ago.

15 Sep 2014

State highlights: Scrutiny on for-profit surgery centers after Joan Rivers' death; Kaiser agrees to $4 million fine

A selection of health policy stories from New York, California, the District of Columbia, North Carolina and Georgia.

11 Sep 2014

Latest health care products demonstrated at Novation's annual Innovative Technology Expo

Novation, the leading health care services company, held its annual Innovative Technology Expo today in Irving, Texas. Medical suppliers, both large and small, are at the Expo to demonstrate the latest innovative health care products and meet with hospital clinicians and decision makers.

10 Sep 2014

State highlights: Texas lawmaker proposes '3 strikes' for nursing homes

New Yorker Deadra Malloy was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, but she remained healthy for so long she wasn't completely convinced she was positive.

9 Sep 2014

Exchange customers now receiving subsidies should review tax issues

The Associated Press examines the tax credit issue. Other outlets look at issues surrounding the state insurance marketplaces in California, Maryland, Illinois, Connecticut and Minnesota.

26 Aug 2014

Poll: Californians support stronger regulation of insurance rates

The ballot initiative, which will likely be the subject of a costly campaign battle, is championed by consumer groups but opposed by many in the medical and insurance industries.

22 Aug 2014

Big support for insurance rate regulation measure in California

A proposal to randomly drug test doctors and increase the limit on medical malpractice lawsuit awards also has a strong show of support in the poll.

21 Aug 2014

State highlights: Mass. hospitals see 70% jump in mistakes; changes coming to Md.'s state employee health plan

Massachusetts acute-care hospitals reported 753 serious medical errors and other patient injuries last year, a 70 percent annual jump that health officials attributed mostly to expanded definitions of what constitutes medical harm. So-called serious reportable events in other types of hospitals, including those that provide psychiatric or rehabilitative care, rose 60 percent from 2012, to 206.

15 Aug 2014

Bee, snake, scorpion venom could form basis of new generation of cancer-fighting drugs

Bee, snake or scorpion venom could form the basis of a new generation of cancer-fighting drugs, scientists will report here today.

12 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: GOP lawsuit against Obama on health law is not a 'stunt'; 'wisdom' lacking in the House; the danger of cyberattacks on hospitals

"So sue me" is President Obama's message to Congress. And on Wednesday the House of Representatives took up his taunt, authorizing a lawsuit to challenge the president's failure to faithfully execute provisions of the Affordable Care Act as passed by Congress. The House lawsuit is no "stunt," as Mr. Obama has characterized it.

1 Aug 2014

Botanical Dietary Supplement Screening using NMR and MS

An interview with Kim Colson from Bruker Biospin, discussing the applications of NMR and mass spectrometry in the field of botanical science.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 1 Aug 2014

Survey offers progress report on California's insurance enrollment efforts

The survey of uninsured people within the state, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that nearly six of 10 gained insurance during the first open enrollment period -- but reaching the remaining holdouts will become more difficult.

31 Jul 2014

State highlights: Calif. insurance commissioner asks for premium power

A selection of health policy stories from California, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, New Mexico, Kansas and New York.

30 Jul 2014

Calif. small businesses can keep non-conforming health plans next year

Elsewhere, a lawsuit accuses a big California insurer of deceptive enrollment practices, and consumers see that provider lists are often out-of-date and inaccurate.

9 Jul 2014

Wake Forest Baptist Physician offers tips to prevent bites and rashes in summer

When summer rolls around, nothing beats soaking up the rays, hiking in a forest or playing Frisbee with the family … until a mosquito, bee or poisonous plant ruins the fun.

28 Jun 2014

Calif. marketplace officials raise concerns about initiative's effects on rate regulation

Backers of the ballot measure say it will not disrupt how the exchange works in the state but allow the insurance commissioner more authority over premium increases.

21 Jun 2014

State highlights: Illinois Medicaid digital shift delayed; N.C. hospitals fight cuts; heroin in New England

Alexian Brothers Health System is suspending its effort to launch a new Medicaid program, blaming the difficulty of connecting physicians using different electronic records systems. The Arlington Heights, Ill.-based health system was spearheading a so-called accountable care entity (ACE) to coordinate the care of about 46,000 patients on Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled. The ACEs are a form of managed care, one of Gov. Pat Quinn's initiatives to focus on preventative treatment to keep patients healthy and reduce health care costs (Schorsch, 6/17).

19 Jun 2014

Shooting spree renews mental health, firearms debates

Friday's shootings spur California lawmakers to look at "gun violence restraining orders," to enable a subject's family or friends to petition a judge to grant orders prohibiting someone from keeping or purchasing a gun.

29 May 2014

Viewpoints: heath insurance and mortality; newly insured vs. previously insured on marketplaces

The connection between health insurance and mortality is really hard to pin down, even if insurance truly has strong protective effects. The uninsured in America are mainly non-elderly adults.

13 May 2014