Health Care News and Research

RSS

First Edition: February 6, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about how the day-after debate about the Congressional Budget Office's updated health law projections played out on Capitol Hill.

6 Feb 2014

State highlights: Colo. County may sue over no change to insurance ratings; Oregon Medicaid patients visit ER less; Iowa Universities face subsidies lawsuit

Enraged that Colorado officials are refusing to change health insurance rating systems for this year or next, Garfield County's attorney and commissioners are considering suing the state.

6 Feb 2014

Sound Physicians agrees to provide hospitalist services to Whidbey General Hospital

Sound Physicians, a leading hospitalist group based in Tacoma, Wash., has agreed to provide hospitalist services to Whidbey General Hospital beginning Feb. 5, 2014.

6 Feb 2014

RxWiki launches digital medication resource

RxWiki, Inc. announced today the launch of RxWiki.com 3.0, a leading digital medication resource. The website now offers enhanced navigation, richer video integration, social media sharing and an expanded medication encyclopedia.

6 Feb 2014

Invacare reports net loss per share of $0.19 in fourth quarter 2013

Invacare Corporation today announced its financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2013.

6 Feb 2014

Tips to maintain heart-healthy lifestyle for kids and adolescents

It's never too early for you to start taking care of your heart.

6 Feb 2014

Reports indicate rural women more likely to have depressive mood and anxiety symptoms

Women living in rural communities are less likely than urban-dwelling women to receive sufficient mental health care, in large part due to limited access to services and societal stigma, according to medicine and public health researchers.

6 Feb 2014

CBO projections find health law's increased access to health care could lead many to quit work or reduce hours

The Congressional Budget Office report, released Tuesday, which updated estimates regarding how many people will be able to gain health insurance without necessarily having a job, became an immediate political flashpoint and reignited the political debate surrounding the health law.

6 Feb 2014

Viewpoints: CBO report on health law: Damaging the labor market or freeing workers from 'insurance trap'?

There are 7.8 million Americans working part-time who want full-time work, including a fry cook whose restaurant cut his hours to avoid Affordable Care Act mandates and confronted President Obama in an online Google Q&A last week: "We can't survive. It's not a living." Mr. Obama changed the subject to raising the minimum wage. But he can't dodge reality forever as the evidence piles up that ObamaCare is harming the labor market.

6 Feb 2014

CVS to stop selling cigarettes by fall

The move is part of a trend of pharmacies becoming health providers.

6 Feb 2014

Study shows decline in obesity rate among low-income pre-school children

In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama referred to an August 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that showed a decline in the obesity rate among low-income pre-school children, saying, "Michelle's Let's Move! partnership with schools, businesses and local leaders has helped bring down childhood obesity rates for the first time in 30 years, and that's an achievement that will improve lives and reduce health care costs for decades to come."

6 Feb 2014

Quality leaders outline action plan for national oversight, collaboration and patient-centered approaches

How best to implement key recommendations recently identified by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for the delivery of high-quality cancer care is the focus of two peer-reviewed articles from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

6 Feb 2014

UCSF scientist, major pharmacy launch national move to halt tobacco sales in drugstores

Pharmacies, focused on the health and wellbeing of their customers, have long been saddled with a paradox: they sell cigarettes and other tobacco products, even though tobacco use is the nation's leading cause of preventable death.

6 Feb 2014

HHS to insurers: You may have to add more doctors, hospitals in Obamacare plans

Other stories today examine the administration's enrollment effort and how many people it could reach if it just focused on 116 of the nation's 3,143 counties. Also examined is how the insurer WellPoint's bottom line is changing because of the law.

6 Feb 2014

Surgeon general nominee faces skeptical senate GOP at hearing

Republicans questioned the bona fides of President Obama's choice for surgeon general, grilling him over his stance on gun control and the health law.

6 Feb 2014

AAMC presents Nickens award to Stritch School student

Ray Mendez, third-year medical student at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, was named a 2013 Herbert W. Nickens Medical Student Scholarship recipient.

6 Feb 2014

GOP gubernatorial candidate says Mass. should seek Obamacare waiver

Charlie Baker, a former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care who is running for governor, said Massachusetts ran into problems because it tried to meld its successful state law with new federal requirements. Meanwhile, a mini-health exchange in Florida, which will sell discount cards and other products to "fill benefit gaps," nears launch and Connecticut exchange officials announce they are close to their enrollment goals.

6 Feb 2014

Women must visit obstetricians, primary care doctors after childbirth

Medical associations widely recommend that women visit their obstetricians and primary care doctors shortly after giving birth, but slightly fewer than half make or keep those postpartum appointments, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

6 Feb 2014

GOP hammers "risk corridors" as bailout; Democrats worry about explaining law

Republicans are trying to tie a vote raising the debt ceiling to repealing the health law's "risk corridors," which help mitigate insurer risk. In the meantime, President Obama faces some pushback on the law's rocky rollout from his own party.

6 Feb 2014

Expanded Medicaid enrollment in Washington state exceeds expectations

By Jan. 30, the state had enrolled 172,700 people, already surpassing its goal for April. But in Missouri, enrollment in the government health program has actually declined with state officials blaming error-ridden data from the federal exchange. Media outlets also follow developments in Arkansas and Nevada.

5 Feb 2014