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Insurers defend less generous policies, medical loss ratio definitions; Obama to talk with insurance commissioners

Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with USA Today, reports on insurers who are defending less generous "limited-benefit" health policies as implementation of the health law proceeds. That law forbids annual dollar limits in such plans. "Starting this fall, most health care policies — except existing policies purchased by individuals on their own — will have to cover at least $750,000 in medical care per person.

13 Aug 2010

Cox Business light-speed computer connection provides TGen with fastest supercomputer link

A Cox Business light-speed computer connection coupled with advanced, military-grade technology now provides Translational Genomics Research Institute with the nation's fastest supercomputer link among life-sciences facilities.

13 Aug 2010

UCLA Professor receives 2010 Rumelhart Prize for research on AI

The Cognitive Science Society today announces that Professor Judea Pearl of University of California at Los Angeles has received the 2010 Rumelhart Prize for his leading research in Artificial Intelligence and systems that reason plausibly from uncertain evidence. His work on graphical models addresses one of the deepest challenges in philosophy and science: The dynamics of beliefs and the analysis of causality.

13 Aug 2010

Four Mass. hospitals investigate trashing of patient health records, Calif. employers worry about workers using marijuana on job

"Four Massachusetts community hospitals are investigating how thousands of patient health records, some containing Social Security numbers and sensitive medical diagnoses, ended up in a pile at a public dump. The unshredded records included pathology reports with patients' names, addresses, and results of breast, bone, and skin cancer tests, as well as the results of lab work following miscarriages. By law, medical records and documents containing personal identifying information must be disposed of in a way that protects privacy, and leaving them at a dump is probably illegal, privacy lawyers and hospital officials said" (Kowalczyk, 8/13).

13 Aug 2010

Travelers launches MedFirst to address new combination of risks in medical technology industry

The evolution of software and electronics for medical devices and the transferring of electronic personal identity records is creating a new combination of risks in the medical technology industry. To address these risks, Travelers announces MedFirstSM - a combination of three liability coverages packaged in a single insurance policy: products/completed operations liability, errors & omissions and information security liability.

13 Aug 2010

Obama Administration should adopt new regulations to insulate Americans from rate increases: Consumer Watchdog

Consumer Watchdog called on the Obama Administration to adopt new regulations requiring broad financial disclosures by health insurance companies to help insulate Americans from double-digit rate increases. Insurers should provide details of shadowy multibillion-dollar transfers to out-of-state affiliates and parent companies when they are required to justify "unreasonable" rate increases under the health reform law, said the group.

13 Aug 2010

Behavioral health problems affect every community throughout America: Report

A new report shows that behavioral health problems affect every community throughout America - but in unique, and sometimes surprising ways. The report, based on a nationwide survey commissioned by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, offers detailed analyses of the substance use problems occurring within these smaller geographical areas.

13 Aug 2010

Arizona lawmakers challenge health overhaul

A group of Arizona lawmakers has become the latest to challenge the federal health law as they "joined a conservative watchdog group Thursday in filing a 78-page lawsuit" challenging the law's mandate on Americans to carry health insurance and its Independent Payment Advisory Board in Medicare, Fox News reports.

13 Aug 2010

Legal scholar calls for FDA to regulate all health-related genetic tests

An opinion piece by a legal scholar from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics in this week's issue of Nature calls for the Food and Drug Administration to regulate all health-related genetic tests — whether available directly to consumers or through a health care provider — using an approach that imposes requirements proportionate to a test's level of risk.

13 Aug 2010

UT System Board of Regents approve plans for new University Hospital at UT Southwestern Medical Center

The UT System Board of Regents today gave its approval to plans for a new state-of-the-art University Hospital at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The project now will go to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for its review and final approval.

13 Aug 2010

Today's opinions: Rep. Ryan's plan to aid Medicare; The burden on health law supporters in Va.; Evaluating Medicare actuary's estimates

Only in Washington could the government raid one entitlement program to finance a brand-new one and still claim that deficits have been reduced and entitlements have been reformed (Rep. Paul Ryan, 8/13).

13 Aug 2010

BIOTRONIK DREAMS implanted in first patient as part of BIOSOLVE-I clinical study

A significant milestone has been reached in the development of a new therapy for patients suffering from coronary artery disease. On July 27, 2010 the BIOTRONIK DREAMS (Drug Eluting Absorbable Metal Scaffold) was successfully implanted in the first patient by Prof. Dr. Michael Haude at the Lukaskrankenhaus in Neuss, Germany as part of the first-in-man clinical study BIOSOLVE-I.

13 Aug 2010

Hospitals' 'bad debts' grow as even insured patients have trouble paying medical bills

A "local hospital group says the fastest-growing part of what hospitals call 'bad debt' -- basically, uncollectible bills -- is money owed by patients who have insurance. As employers dump costs onto workers, so now are workers dumping costs onto hospitals. Because of rising deductibles and cost-sharing rules, patients are increasingly faced with bills that would have been unusual for someone with insurance a few years ago. Growing numbers of them can't pay, or won't. Total bad debt grew 12 percent, from $490 million in fiscal 2007 to nearly $550 million in fiscal 2008, at 36 area hospitals that responded to a 2009 survey by the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council of HAP, a hospital association that released the data this week. But bad debt from insured patients grew twice as fast: 28 percent, from $76 million to $97 million."

13 Aug 2010

Researchers identify second type of complete sporadic disease

A new sporadic prion protein disease has been discovered. Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy, as it has been named, is the second type of complete sporadic disease to be identified since Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was reported in the 1920s. The landmark finding from the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University is published in the August issue of Annals of Neurology.

13 Aug 2010

Electromed prices 1,700,000 shares of initial public offering

Electromed, Inc., which is a leader in developing innovative airway clearance therapy products for use by patients with compromised pulmonary function, today announced pricing of its initial public offering of 1,700,000 shares of common stock at a price of $4.00 per share, before underwriting discounts and commissions.

13 Aug 2010

Dyadic second-quarter 2010 total revenue decreases to $2.2 million

Dyadic International, Inc., a global biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of specialty enzyme products and solutions for the bioenergy, industrial enzyme and biopharmaceutical industries, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

13 Aug 2010

KHN column: Medicaid rescissions worse than private insurers

On Tuesday, members of the House of Representatives interrupted their August vacation and returned to Washington to vote on a bill to send money to the states. The issue that dominated the news was saving the jobs of teachers, police officers and other public employees. But most of the money allocated will prevent the states from cutting off health benefits for millions of people.

13 Aug 2010

Nearly 1100 foodborne outbreaks reported nationally in 2007: CDC analysis

A total of 1,097 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported in 2007 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a CDC analysis. State investigators reported 21,244 illnesses and 18 deaths as a result of these outbreaks. The report also provides the most recent data on how many illnesses were linked to specific types of foods.

13 Aug 2010

ACAM, AAEM sign agreement to host joint conference in Portland

The American College for Advancement in Medicine and the American Academy of Environmental Medicine are excited to announce they have reached an agreement to host a joint conference and tradeshow, November 16 - 20, 2011 in Portland, Oregon.

13 Aug 2010

Quick-Med Technologies, Biosara sign development agreement

Quick-Med Technologies, Inc., a life sciences company that is developing innovative technologies for the healthcare and consumer markets, announced today that it has signed a development agreement with Biosara Corporation, a medical device company targeting wound dressings for major medical and healthcare providers, along with the multi-billion dollar organized sports athlete markets.

13 Aug 2010

Medical News

Insurers defend less generous policies, medical loss ratio definitions; Obama to talk with insurance commissioners

Cox Business light-speed computer connection provides TGen with fastest supercomputer link

UCLA Professor receives 2010 Rumelhart Prize for research on AI

Four Mass. hospitals investigate trashing of patient health records, Calif. employers worry about workers using marijuana on job

Travelers launches MedFirst to address new combination of risks in medical technology industry

Obama Administration should adopt new regulations to insulate Americans from rate increases: Consumer Watchdog

Behavioral health problems affect every community throughout America: Report

Arizona lawmakers challenge health overhaul

Legal scholar calls for FDA to regulate all health-related genetic tests

UT System Board of Regents approve plans for new University Hospital at UT Southwestern Medical Center

Today's opinions: Rep. Ryan's plan to aid Medicare; The burden on health law supporters in Va.; Evaluating Medicare actuary's estimates

BIOTRONIK DREAMS implanted in first patient as part of BIOSOLVE-I clinical study

Hospitals' 'bad debts' grow as even insured patients have trouble paying medical bills

Researchers identify second type of complete sporadic disease

Electromed prices 1,700,000 shares of initial public offering

Dyadic second-quarter 2010 total revenue decreases to $2.2 million

KHN column: Medicaid rescissions worse than private insurers

Nearly 1100 foodborne outbreaks reported nationally in 2007: CDC analysis

ACAM, AAEM sign agreement to host joint conference in Portland

Quick-Med Technologies, Biosara sign development agreement

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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