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Do small military hospitals meet the grade?

The New York Times takes a critical look at small military hospitals where the limited number of patients may compromise doctors' ability to treat serious problems. Other stories look at a surge in surgery prices and at programs to standardize children's surgical care.

3 Sep 2014

Tenn., Utah exploring Medicaid expansion options

Tenn. Gov. Bill Haslam says state may soon send a proposal to Washington while Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said he is hopeful about expansion for his state.

3 Sep 2014

Federal judge's ruling blocks shutdown of Texas abortion clinics

Another ruling in Louisiana also puts on hold a restrictive law in that state -- one that would require abortion providers have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

3 Sep 2014

BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring reduces mortality in heart failure patients, saves costs

Experts discussed the benefits of Home Monitoring technology from the perspective of patients, hospitals and payers for the first time at a press conference held by BIOTRONIK at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual congress, ESC Congress 2014.

3 Sep 2014

Study suggests phages are sophisticated bacterial predators and can prevent infections

In the battle between our immune systems and cholera bacteria, humans may have an unknown ally in bacteria-killing viruses known as phages.

3 Sep 2014

Doctors, retail clinics adopt new business models

The financial ground is changing for doctors in private practice and for patients seeking care. Being a doctor in private practice today is more complicated than it used to be, with growing financial pressures, more government regulation, greater oversight by insurers, rapid developments in medicine and pressure to keep up with technology.

3 Sep 2014

Bypassing politics, insurers pay for end of life talks

These doctor-patient conversations had been labeled "death panels" by opponents of the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, in a bid to reduce backlogs, Medicare offers a deal to hospitals to pay 68 percent of short-term stay medical claims that were rejected by outside auditors.

3 Sep 2014

More big firms shifting to high-deductible health plans

The New York Times examines the movement among large employers towards high-deductible plans that shift more health care costs to workers. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal looks at how the ACA may affect job-based plans next year.

2 Sep 2014

Nomination signals new approach to drug abuse policy

The nomination of Michael Botticelli to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy symbolizes the shift toward dealing with drug use as a public health rather than as a criminal justice issue, writes The Washington Post. Reuters looks at how opioid abuse fears keep cancer patients from getting pain relief.

2 Sep 2014

Soligenix announces promising preliminary results from study on ricin toxin vaccine

Soligenix, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing products to treat serious inflammatory diseases where there remains an unmet medical need, as well as developing several biodefense vaccines and therapeutics, announced today promising preliminary results from a preclinical study with its ricin toxin vaccine RiVax™, in a non-human primate (NHP) lethal aerosol exposure model.

2 Sep 2014

First Edition: September 2, 2014

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including an analysis of care at small military hospitals and a look at the $8 billion in health law taxes that come due Sept. 30.

2 Sep 2014

Researchers find way to take pediatric patient's skin cells

Researchers have found a way to take a pediatric patient's skin cells, reprogram the skin cells to function as heart valvular cells, and then use the cells as part of a tissue-engineered pulmonary valve. A proof of concept study in the September 2014 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery provides more detail on this scientific development.

2 Sep 2014

CRHC launches new fully-featured website coruralhealth.org

The Colorado Rural Health Center (CRHC) – Colorado's nonprofit State Office of Rural Health and member-based association - today announced the launch of its new fully-featured website coruralhealth.org.

2 Sep 2014

Permanent atrial fibrillation twins risk of stroke than paroxysmal AF

Permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) doubles the risk of stroke compared to paroxysmal AF, according to research in more than 6 000 patients presented at ESC Congress today by Dr Thomas Vanassche from Belgium. The findings suggest that a simple clinical assessment of the type of AF can help doctors to better estimate stroke risk.

2 Sep 2014

Extracting Cardiac Leads: An Interview with Barry Norlander from Cook Medical

The pacemaker or ICD unit, which is the implanted box or generator i.e. the electrical component of the device that's implanted in the chest, usually lasts between seven to 10 years before the generator’s battery is depleted.

From COOK MEDICAL INC. 2 Sep 2014

Research: 7 key issues need to be addressed to ensure future success of doctor revalidation

New research launched today, 1st September 2014, has concluded that there are seven key issues that need to be addressed to ensure the future success of doctor revalidation, the most profound revision in medical regulation since the Medical Act of 1858.

1 Sep 2014

Researchers come up with new technique to diagnose malaria

Over the past several decades, malaria diagnosis has changed very little. After taking a blood sample from a patient, a technician smears the blood across a glass slide, stains it with a special dye, and looks under a microscope for the Plasmodium parasite, which causes the disease.

1 Sep 2014

Novel document on ventricular arrhythmias published in EP Europace

The first expert consensus on ventricular arrhythmias is published today. The novel document compiles current evidence on the diagnosis and management of ventricular arrhythmias and was agreed by international experts from three continents.

30 Aug 2014

Commercial health care spending up from higher medical service costs

Recent growth in health care spending for commercially insured individuals is due primarily to increases in prices for medical services, rather than increased use, according to a new study led by researchers at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, published in the August issue of the American Journal of Managed Care.

30 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: GOP's 2015 Obamacare opportunities; the need for community health workers; WHO's Ebola response

In another sign that the politics of Obamacare continue to shift, the Medicaid expansion is now all but certain to come to another big state whose Republican governor had previously resisted it: Pennsylvania. ... The details of the final deal will matter. But broadly speaking this looks like another sign of just how hard it is for Republican governors in non-deep-red states to resist the expansion - and of how the politics of this issue continue to change (Greg Sargent, 8/28).

30 Aug 2014