Health and Human Services News and Research

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Action Alliance to address preventable public health tragedy of suicide

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, a public-private partnership created in September to address the preventable public health tragedy of suicide, announced today the creation of its first three task forces.

20 Nov 2010

HRSA awards $8 million for Community Health Center Cooperative Agreements

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the awarding of nearly $8 million for existing Community Health Center Cooperative Agreements.

20 Nov 2010

McKesson's Horizon Clinicals software suite achieves Complete EHR certification

McKesson's Horizon Clinicals®, the industry's most comprehensive software suite used by clinicians, patients and healthcare executives to promote high quality, safe care, has received Complete EHR certification — deeming the software capable of enabling providers to meet the Stage 1 meaningful use measures required to qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

20 Nov 2010

HRSA awarded $1.6M in grants to support Hepatitis C Treatment Expansion Initiative

The Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded $1.6 million in grants to support the Hepatitis C Treatment Expansion Initiative. The funds will aid organizations implementing effective, focused interventions designed to increase access to and completion of Hepatitis C treatment for HIV-positive patients.

20 Nov 2010

PIPC's white paper provides guidance in defining CER procedures

The Partnership to Improve Patient Care today released a white paper that defines a Procedural Framework for the Conduct of Comparative Effectiveness Research. The paper and its executive summary provide guidance for policy-makers, patient and providers for establishing CER procedures that foster openness, transparency and patient-centeredness.

20 Nov 2010

Task Force for National Conference on Diabetes issues Call to Action to improve diabetes care

The Task Force for the National Conference on Diabetes issued a Call to Action today entitled Shaping our future: a call to action to tackle the diabetes epidemic and reduce its economic impact. This Call to Action is a result of the National Conference on Diabetes, held earlier this year in Washington, D.C., which was attended by nearly 100 participants representing the Administration, Congress, government officials, public health organizations and industry.

19 Nov 2010

HHS, AARP to provide tips for seniors to stay healthy during flu season

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Catherine Alicia Georges from AARP will lead an important webcast for seniors to discuss tips on how to stay healthy this flu season.

19 Nov 2010

Substance abuse treatment facilities offering nicotine replacement therapy increased by 6%: Report

The percentage of substance abuse treatment facilities offering nicotine replacement therapy to clients gradually increased by about 6 percentage points from 2006 to 2009, according to a new Spotlight report issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released in conjunction with the "Great American Smokeout."

19 Nov 2010

SAMHSA: 4.8% U.S. adults suffer from serious mental illness

According to new results from a national survey, 19.9 percent of American adults in the United States (45.1 million) have experienced mental illness over the past year. The survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates that 11 million adults (4.8 percent) in the U.S. suffered serious mental illness in the past year a diagnosable mental disorder has substantially interfered with, or limited one or more major life activities.

19 Nov 2010

Health law revision suggestions pour in from lawmakers, groups

Kaiser Health News reports that vulnerable Democrats are looking for alternatives to the health law's mandate that nearly all Americans carry health insurance. "Under political pressure as a result of the new health law, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., has asked the Government Accountability Office to study alternatives to the controversial mandate requiring most Americans to obtain coverage." Because Nelson is from a typically "red" state, Republicans have targeted him as one Democrat willing to play ball on scaling back the law (Vaida, 11/17).

19 Nov 2010

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation launches projects to improve care, reduce cost

Kaiser Health News: "Promising fast action, the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is launching a series of initiatives aimed at improving medical care while reducing its cost, officials said Tuesday. ... In one initiative, eight states will participate in a Medicare demonstration project to evaluate the effectiveness of doctors and other health professionals working 'in a more integrated fashion and receiving more coordinated payment,' according to CMS, the parent agency of the center and a part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

18 Nov 2010

Researchers reveal mechanism of early-stage anthrax infection

Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have determined a key mechanism by which Bacillus anthracis bacteria initiate anthrax infection despite being greatly outnumbered by immune system scavenger cells. The finding, made by studying genetically modified mice, adds new detail to the picture of early-stage anthrax infection and supports efforts to develop vaccines and drugs that would block this part of the cycle.

18 Nov 2010

AMIA's Annual Symposium provides informatics program for work force

The 34th Annual Symposium on Biomedical and Health Informatics opened this week with keynote speaker Susan Dentzer, editor in chief of Health Affairs, addressing a crowd of more than two thousand professionals who are central to modernizing the nation's health sector by applying the science of informatics to a variety of specialized health domains, including public health, clinical practice, clinical research, and translational bioinformatics.

17 Nov 2010

TexanPlus HMO provides affordable access to cholesterol-lowering prescription drugs

TexanPlus HMO powered by CCRx, a Medicare Advantage plan offered through the Universal American's family of healthcare companies, will provide broad and affordable access to LIPITOR and CRESTOR, two popular cholesterol-lowering prescription drugs.

17 Nov 2010

One in seven Medicare patients harmed by problems in hospital, HHS report finds

The New York Times: "One of every seven Medicare beneficiaries who is hospitalized is harmed as a result of problems with the medical care there, according to a new study [.pdf] from the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services. The study said unexpected adverse events added at least $4.4 billion a year to government health costs and contributed to the deaths of about 180,000 patients a year."

17 Nov 2010

Medicare roundup: Payment cuts irk healthcare industry; officials mull new prostate-cancer treatment

Doctors across the United States are taking a wait-and-see approach while Congress decides whether or not to allow a scheduled 23% cut in Medicare reimbursement rates to take effect on Dec. 1.

17 Nov 2010

States seek ways to balance Medicaid budget, contemplate dropping out of program

Kaiser Health News: "As budget-weary state officials contemplate dropping out of the state-federal Medicaid program, a potentially game-changing question has arisen in Washington: Would poor people who lose Medicaid be eligible for subsidies to buy private coverage in an insurance exchange beginning in 2014? Cindy Mann, director of the federal Center for Medicaid and State Operations, last week said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was considering the question.

16 Nov 2010

Yukon receives grant under QTDP program for SmartMix delivery platform

Yukon Medical, LLC, a medical device firm located in Research Triangle Park, NC, is proud to announce it has received a grant under the 2010 Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) for their SmartMix delivery platform.

16 Nov 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Congress needs conservative leadership; reviving tort reform; can states afford to drop Medicaid?

Nothing has gone quite so awry as the massive, government-run Obama health program, and it is plain that the individual mandate, the employee mandate, the abortion funding, the tangle of outsider/insider councils like the comparative effectiveness board and the effective nationalization of healthcare under grants of authority to the Department of Health and Human Services.

16 Nov 2010

OncoEMR certified as Complete EHR by CCHIT

Altos Solutions, Inc. today announced that OncoEMR Version 2.6 is the first oncology-specific electronic medical record (EMR) to be certified as 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a Complete EHR on November 11, 2010 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable eligible provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

16 Nov 2010

Health and Human Services News and Research

Action Alliance to address preventable public health tragedy of suicide

HRSA awards $8 million for Community Health Center Cooperative Agreements

McKesson's Horizon Clinicals software suite achieves Complete EHR certification

HRSA awarded $1.6M in grants to support Hepatitis C Treatment Expansion Initiative

PIPC's white paper provides guidance in defining CER procedures

Task Force for National Conference on Diabetes issues Call to Action to improve diabetes care

HHS, AARP to provide tips for seniors to stay healthy during flu season

Substance abuse treatment facilities offering nicotine replacement therapy increased by 6%: Report

SAMHSA: 4.8% U.S. adults suffer from serious mental illness

Health law revision suggestions pour in from lawmakers, groups

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation launches projects to improve care, reduce cost

Researchers reveal mechanism of early-stage anthrax infection

AMIA's Annual Symposium provides informatics program for work force

TexanPlus HMO provides affordable access to cholesterol-lowering prescription drugs

One in seven Medicare patients harmed by problems in hospital, HHS report finds

Medicare roundup: Payment cuts irk healthcare industry; officials mull new prostate-cancer treatment

States seek ways to balance Medicaid budget, contemplate dropping out of program

Yukon receives grant under QTDP program for SmartMix delivery platform

Today's Op-Eds: Congress needs conservative leadership; reviving tort reform; can states afford to drop Medicaid?

OncoEMR certified as Complete EHR by CCHIT

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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