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Abiomed presents PROTECT II study data in percutaneous coronary intervention at SCAI 2011

Abiomed, Inc., a leading provider of breakthrough heart support technologies, today announced results from further 90 day clinical and economic analyses, based on data from the PROTECT II study.

7 May 2011

Roundup: Fla. lawmakers to vote today on Medicaid changes; Calif. court expands deadline for tobacco suits

With a sponsor calling it the "most significant transformational change" since Florida's Medicaid program started, lawmakers will vote Friday on a long-awaited proposal to shift almost all beneficiaries into managed-care plans.

7 May 2011

Viewpoints: Will GOP back away from Medicaid plan too?; exchanges geared to politics, not health

All but seven House Republicans voted for a budget plan last month that would eliminate Medicare's guarantee to the elderly. It was always bad policy. But now that the vote has proved to be wildly unpopular, the party is suddenly running in the opposite direction.

7 May 2011

Longer looks: States creating health compacts; IPAB under fire; is GOP redefining rape?

In late April, Colorado and Oklahoma became the latest states to vote on whether to join an interstate agreement with like-minded legislatures to put health care decisions more firmly into the hands of state governments.

6 May 2011

A new round of deficit talks begins amidst roadblocks, debt-ceiling concerns

How to handle entitlement spending issues including Medicare will be central to the discourse. Meanwhile, AARP launches a campaign to protect Medicare in the midst of it all.

5 May 2011

Congressional Republicans advance legislation to repeal Medicaid maintenance-of-effort provisions

The measure's supporters say it would lead to savings for the federal government of nearly $3 billion over the next five years.

5 May 2011

Cantor warns that health law will lead to care rationing

The House Majority Leader expressed this concern while speaking to the College of American Pathologists.

5 May 2011

House GOP votes to defund state exchanges in health law

The legislation, which was approved Tuesday, passed mostly along party lines, though five Democrats voted with the Republicans in favor of cutting funds for state health exchanges. The measure is not likely to fare well in the Senate.

5 May 2011

Roundup: Vt. universal care bill advances; Duluth, Minn., seeking to change retiree health benefits; Texas steps back from plan to close centers for disabled

Dr. James Mongan, a physician with a specialty in politics who for decades helped shape the health care debate in Washington, D.C., and the Commonwealth, and who formerly served as president of Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare, died in MGH yesterday.

5 May 2011

ACOs, employer mandate continue to draw attention

The Hill reports that the Internal Revenue Service is seeking public comment on the health law's employer mandate while PBS NewsHour "decodes" accountable care organizations.

5 May 2011

House Republicans continue health law defunding push

More bills will move through the House this week designed to strip funding from specific provisions of the health law. The Obama administration has made clear its opposition - even threatened vetoes.

4 May 2011

Viewpoints: Dem representatives on health spending; Star Tribune praises IPAB; NY Times on stem cells

When the debate over the fiscal 2012 budget began, the country — or, more accurately, the media — was focused on Rep. Paul Ryan's proposal. Introduced on behalf of the Republican House majority, our colleague's plan puts the interests of wealthy corporations first by slashing Medicare and Medicaid and spending trillions on a new corporate tax cut. Indeed, cutting is all it seems to do. ... That's not a jobs plan — that's an economic death sentence.

4 May 2011

First Edition: April 3, 2011

Today's headlines include reports on the GOP's ongoing efforts to defund the health law as well as the impact a new rule might have on Medicaid provider payments.

3 May 2011

Viewpoints: Ryan plan politics; senior care; health care consumerism

Democrats spent the last week of Easter recess bashing the GOP on the Medicare reforms in the Paul Ryan budget, and Republicans tell me they are feeling the heat back home.

3 May 2011

State news highlights: Texas Senate approves Medicaid savings bill

The Senate unanimously approved Sen. Jane Nelson's bill to find extensive cost savings in Texas' Medicaid program, the primary health care provider for children, the disabled and the very poor. ... The measure expands Medicaid managed care into South Texas, where it has long been carved out — expected to save the state $290 million over the biennium.

30 Apr 2011

Research roundup: Saving lives through health literacy

Health Literacy And Outcomes Among Patients With Heart Failure -- This study examines the correlation between health literacy, or the ability to understand basic health information, and the mortality rate among patients with heart failure, which is a condition that "requires self-management and frequent interactions with the health care system."

30 Apr 2011

CBO offers savings estimate on GOP plan to repeal health law provision

According to the Congressional Budget Office, a bill approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee that would abolish the law's planning grants designed to help states establish health insurance exchanges could save about $14 billion over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, discussion and debate continues regarding pending legal challenges to the measure.

29 Apr 2011

Longer looks: Autism researcher's legacy; methadone for prisoners

Andrew Wakefield has become one of the most reviled doctors of his generation, blamed directly and indirectly, depending on the accuser, for irresponsibly starting a panic with tragic repercussions: vaccination rates so low that childhood diseases once all but eradicated here —whooping cough and measles, among them — have re-emerged, endangering young lives. And yet here he was in Texas, post-career-apocalypse, calmly discussing his work, and a crowd of around 250 people showed up to listen.

29 Apr 2011

New innovative pilot project to combat surgical infections

Roughly one out of every 24 patients undergoing surgery acquires a surgical site infection. With 40 million operations performed in the U.S. each year, between 800,000 and 2 million individuals contract these infections annually.

29 Apr 2011

Viewpoints: Taking the deficit seriously; despite low numbers, high-risk pools are succeeding

The deficit debate, now fully engaged, is also an evaluation of political seriousness. House Republican leaders have passed the test, supporting a politically risky budget that changes Medicare into a premium-support program and eventually returns federal spending to sustainable levels.

28 Apr 2011

Health Reform News and Research

Abiomed presents PROTECT II study data in percutaneous coronary intervention at SCAI 2011

Roundup: Fla. lawmakers to vote today on Medicaid changes; Calif. court expands deadline for tobacco suits

Viewpoints: Will GOP back away from Medicaid plan too?; exchanges geared to politics, not health

Longer looks: States creating health compacts; IPAB under fire; is GOP redefining rape?

A new round of deficit talks begins amidst roadblocks, debt-ceiling concerns

Congressional Republicans advance legislation to repeal Medicaid maintenance-of-effort provisions

Cantor warns that health law will lead to care rationing

House GOP votes to defund state exchanges in health law

Roundup: Vt. universal care bill advances; Duluth, Minn., seeking to change retiree health benefits; Texas steps back from plan to close centers for disabled

ACOs, employer mandate continue to draw attention

House Republicans continue health law defunding push

Viewpoints: Dem representatives on health spending; Star Tribune praises IPAB; NY Times on stem cells

First Edition: April 3, 2011

Viewpoints: Ryan plan politics; senior care; health care consumerism

State news highlights: Texas Senate approves Medicaid savings bill

Research roundup: Saving lives through health literacy

CBO offers savings estimate on GOP plan to repeal health law provision

Longer looks: Autism researcher's legacy; methadone for prisoners

New innovative pilot project to combat surgical infections

Viewpoints: Taking the deficit seriously; despite low numbers, high-risk pools are succeeding

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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