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Benefits of drug L-methionine for neurogenic bladder disorders unclear

It is unclear whether patients with neurogenic bladder disorders benefit from the drug L-methionine. The only study currently available provides neither proof of benefit nor proof of harm. This is the result of a report published by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) on 12 July 2010.

20 Jul 2010

Abortion fight again heats up over high-risk pools, other health reform news

Anti-abortion activists have "scored a victory" after a decision last week by the Obama administration to not allow the new high-risk pools in America to cover most abortions, The Associated Press reports.

20 Jul 2010

A look into HIV related issues

According to a report from US health officials, the poorer neighborhoods of America's cities harbour at least 1 in 50 heterosexual adults infected with HIV. These figures are more than elsewhere in the country. According to the research team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), being poor and getting HIV are linked and this was regardless of race or ethnicity.

19 Jul 2010

Applying a supermarket strategy to patient-specific marketing

Some hospitals are using a "customer management system" to "market to patients and physicians the same way supermarkets do -- by sending information they think a customer needs or wants based on their history," American Medical News reports. "The use of CRM software by the health industry is aided by the increasing automation of data ranging from physician referrals to electronic medical records.

19 Jul 2010

Mental health care suffers as recession hurts state's bottom lines

Mental health budgets are suffering as a lingering recession affects state bottom lines in America, Stateline reports. "States have taken the lead role in publicly funded care for the mentally ill, and paid the majority of the expenses. Even through recessions, the states have steadily increased their mental health budgets every year to meet increasing demand.

19 Jul 2010

New health care leaders named

News outlets report on new leadership appointments at key health care groups.

19 Jul 2010

International Health News: German hospitals worry over end of compulsory military service; Britain tops study on end-of-life care

The Wall Street Journal: German hospitals are worried that the end of compulsory military service could hurt their workforce as most young German men end up fulfilling their duties there and in other public-service venues. "Increasingly … conscription's main impact has little to do with military training at all.

19 Jul 2010

e-MDs selected for IFMC's HITREC Preferred Vendor List

e-MDs, an industry leader in the development and implementation of electronic health record (EHR) and practice management (PM) solutions, announced they have been chosen for the IFMC's Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (HITREC) Preferred Vendor List. The list represents the best products designed to help smaller practices and clinics achieve meaningful use of EHRs.

19 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: Public opinion and health reform; Hospitals and cost cuts; Medicare fraud 'gusher'

Less than four months after Congress approved historic health care reform legislation, the Obama administration has been making good progress in bringing some early benefits to fruition and issuing rules to guide the reform process. Despite all of the critics' hype and scare tactics, some polls suggest that the public perception of reform is slowly improving (7/18).

19 Jul 2010

KHN column: When bad news about health reform isn't bad

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, done in collaboration with The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes: "The weekend's newspapers included a pair of headlines about health care reform. And they were probably not the kind that reform advocates like to see" (7/19).

19 Jul 2010

Microarrays acquired from Vanderbilt University

Microarrays, Inc. (MI), an innovator of array-based technologies for biological research, detection and diagnostics, today announced that the company's management team and a group of independent investors have purchased MI from Vanderbilt University. The new company structure will allow MI to more quickly and nimbly respond to client's rapidly expanding needs, especially within the diagnostic and health care arenas.

19 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 19, 2010

Today's headlines include the latest news regarding the politics of implementing health reform as well as developments from the international AIDS conference now underway in Vienna.

19 Jul 2010

Sen. Roberts lashes out at recess appointment of Berwick

"Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts is taking aim at President Barack Obama for making a recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as the new head of the federal agency overseeing Medicare and Medicaid," CNN reported.

19 Jul 2010

Businesses, states seek solutions to rising health insurance costs

News outlets, including The New York Times, reported on health insurance in light of the new law: "the country's biggest insurers are promoting affordable plans with reduced premiums that require participants to use a narrower selection of doctors or hospitals.

19 Jul 2010

SuiteMed applauds HHS final rules on "meaningful use" of EHR

SuiteMed, LLC applauds the long-awaited final rules from the US Health and Human Services Department on "Meaningful Use" of an Electronic Health Record.

17 Jul 2010

Montana hospitals to get increased Medicare payments; Federal funding for New Orleans health clinics is expiring

"Come this fall, several of Montana's hospitals will start benefitting financially from an obscure provision in the federal health reform bill that ups Medicare payments in 'frontier states.' It's worth up to $4.5 million a year for some of Montana's largest hospitals, which for years have been getting paid less for Medicare-covered patients than hospitals in urban areas. Hospitals in Billings, Missoula and Kalispell are the big beneficiaries. While the money may not seem like much in Montana's multibillion-dollar health industry, it's certainly helpful, hospital executives say — and it's part of the bill's overall effort to improve what many believe is an imperfect system of paying for health care" (Dennison, 7/15).

17 Jul 2010

GOP wants to know if Supreme Court nominee Kagan would recuse herself from health reform case

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee want more information on if Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan would recuse herself from considering a health reform case because of her involvement with the Obama administration.

17 Jul 2010

Medicaid directors worried over expansion, Indiana's says federal government is not giving enough guidance

The new health law calls for dramatic increase in Medicaid programs, the joint federal-state health coverage for low-income residents. Some state Medicaid directors say they are worried about how that expansion will work and some are complaining that they are not getting enough guidance from federal officials.

17 Jul 2010

DOJ-HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force charges 94 people for $251 million in false claims

Ninety-four people have been charged for their alleged participation in schemes to collectively submit more than $251 million in false claims to the Medicare program in the continuing operation of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Miami; Baton Rouge, La.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Detroit and Houston, announced Attorney General Eric Holder, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of HHS.

17 Jul 2010

New Hampshire launches accountable care pilot ahead of schedule

Five separate groups of New Hampshire hospitals and other health care providers are forming "accountable care organizations" as part of a pilot program intended to keep patients healthy and costs down, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The program "attempts to tackle what many consider to be a big problem in the current system: having accountability spread across hospitals, doctors' offices, insurance carriers and employers with no one group responsible for the overall management of care."

17 Jul 2010