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Diabetes patients who receive medications by mail are less likely to visit emergency room

Patients with diabetes who received prescribed heart medications by mail were less likely to visit the emergency room than those patients who picked up prescriptions in person, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.

25 Nov 2013

Insurers cut doctors' fees in new health plans

Insurers are reducing payments to medical practices in many of the plans they sell through the new health-law marketplaces, raising concerns that enrollees will have fewer doctors to choose from if low fees spark an exodus. Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times reports that the success of the law depends in part on the actions of insurance companies, doctor groups and hospitals, all of whom are financially vested in it.

23 Nov 2013

House Speaker Boehner enrolls in Obamacare after initial errors

The Washington Post examines if Sen. Mary Landrieu actually cast the "deciding vote" for the health law as a conservative group is saying she did in an advertising campaign against her. In the meantime, House Speaker John Boehner enrolled Thursday for health coverage through the District of Columbia's online insurance marketplace -- after initially receiving errors.

23 Nov 2013

Financial analysts say in addition to political turmoil, website problems could send stocks into turmoil

Wall Street health care analysts warned Thursday that a failure to successfully launch HealthCare.gov by Nov. 30 could send Democrats fleeing from Obamacare and industry stocks into turmoil. "If the website is not functioning on Nov. 30, then I think you see a stampede of Democratic legislators in risky elections next year," said Carl McDonald, a senior analyst at Citi Investment Research, at a conference organized by the Center for Studying Health System Change (Cheney, 11/21).

23 Nov 2013

Consumers shopping on health insurance exchange experience 'sticker shock'

USA Today reports prices may be higher than expected for some middle-class consumers who are not eligible for the health law's subsidies. Meanwhile, Politico highlights how one group -- older Capitol Hill staffers -- is reacting to this marketplace experience.

23 Nov 2013

FDA approves OLYSIO (simeprevir) for treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection

Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP, announced today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved OLYSIO (simeprevir), an NS3/4A protease inhibitor, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection as part of an antiviral treatment regimen in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in genotype 1 infected adults with compensated liver disease, including cirrhosis.

23 Nov 2013

Administration delays 2015 individual plan rate requirements

The change is designed to give insurers more time to compute the costs of individuals who come in late during the plan's first year -- which might avoid higher premiums and steer clear of the 2014 elections.

23 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 22, 2013

Today's headlines include reports that the Obama administration will push back 2015 Obamacare enrollment by a month, starting Nov. 15, 2014, instead of Oct. 15, 2014.

22 Nov 2013

Patient Safety Technologies announces closing of $5 million senior secured term loan

Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. today announced the closing of a $5 million senior secured term loan. At close, $4 million of the term loan was funded. The Company has the ability to draw an incremental $1 million under the term loan, subject to certain conditions. The five-year term loan matures in 2018 and bears interest at 13% per annum.

22 Nov 2013

Health law opinions: Obama asks you to talk ACA at Thanksgiving; Rove says Dems views on success are 'delusional'

Here's a hypothetical scenario: You're the president. You've just botched the roll out of what should have been your signature accomplishment, a major reform of the health insurance system. The public's hopping mad because you said anyone who liked his insurance plan would be able to keep it, but that wasn't true. So what do you do now? What the actual president did was suggest we all discuss health insurance with their families this holiday season (Andrew Rosenthal, 11/20).

22 Nov 2013

Vaccination campaign launched to prevent outbreaks of measles and polio in Philippines

WHO and the Philippine Department of Health have launched a vaccination campaign to prevent outbreaks of measles and polio among survivors of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

22 Nov 2013

High court's 'alarming' move on abortion; tragic attack in Virginia points to needs in mental health services; a better way to reduce hospital readmissions

In an alarming 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court turned away an emergency application to block a new Texas law that is impeding access to safe and legal abortion care in the state. The ruling leaves in place an order by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that allowed the law go into effect while it considers an appeal (11/20).

22 Nov 2013

HealthCare.gov: It's getting better all the time -- but system flaws, failures persist

Some states and insurers are contemplating alternatives if the website isn't ready by a critical December deadline. Meanwhile, just as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was talking up the website in Florida, it crashed before her eyes.

22 Nov 2013

EYLEA Injection gets approval in Japan for treatment of macular edema following CRVO

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that EYLEA (aflibercept) Injection has received approval for the treatment of Macular Edema Following Central Retinal Vein Occlusion from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

22 Nov 2013

Research report focuses on the impact of real-time cost information within a primary care

Health care costs continue to go up, and physicians control more than 80 percent of those costs. Could providing physicians with real-time information about the cost of what they order help to restrain excessive testing? This is the question addressed in an article- in the Journal of General Internal Medicine-, published by Springer. The research project was led by Daniel Horn of the Massachusetts General Hospital's Division of General Medicine in the US, and is among the first to focus on the impact that the passive display of real-time laboratory costs can have within a primary care, non-academic setting.

22 Nov 2013

State highlights: N.Y. hospitals scramble to sign uninsured up for care; N.C. lawmakers debate Medicaid; Ore. data questions immigrant 'burden' on Medicaid

Many of [New York City's] financially strapped hospitals are scrambling to sign up people for health coverage through New York state's exchange or through Medicaid as they brace for federal cuts to providers of so-called charity care for the uninsured. At Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, the staff is posting insurance information on social-networking websites and giving presentations at churches and mosques. At Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, officials have met with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to ensure small businesses know their insurance options. Some hospitals are recruiting patients for coverage plans in emergency-room lobbies (Dawsey, 11/20).

22 Nov 2013

Oregon health law insurance exchange never worked, officials questioned on problems

Oregon residents are facing a state health exchange application deadline in two weeks to get coverage at the beginning of 2014, even as the online aspect of the marketplace still doesn't work -- and never did. In the meantime, Oregon lawmakers question officials on the exchanges problems and when they knew about them.

22 Nov 2013

New Medicaid 'doughnut hole' creating some pressure on states, federal officials

Health law advocates are concerned about low-income residents who are left out of health overhaul in states that are not expanding Medicaid. Meanwhile, in other states, the new enrollment in the joint federal-state program is strong.

22 Nov 2013

Patients to have online access to their prescription data for improved safety

As part of its mission to accelerate the adoption of health information exchange throughout California, the UC Davis Institute for Population Health Improvement's California Health eQuality program awarded $400,000 to L.A. Care, the nation's largest publicly operated health plan, to develop Blue Button functionality.

22 Nov 2013

Electronic health records may be used to measure patient-centeredness of primary care practices

Although electronic health records (EHR) are primarily used to store patient clinical data, the non-clinical data they collect may be used to measure patient-centeredness of primary care practices, finds a new study in Health Services Research. In addition, two of the process of care measures collected via EHRs, volume of between clinician e-messages and frequency of in-person patient visits, were associated with better patient health outcomes.

22 Nov 2013

Health Care News and Research

Diabetes patients who receive medications by mail are less likely to visit emergency room

Insurers cut doctors' fees in new health plans

House Speaker Boehner enrolls in Obamacare after initial errors

Financial analysts say in addition to political turmoil, website problems could send stocks into turmoil

Consumers shopping on health insurance exchange experience 'sticker shock'

FDA approves OLYSIO (simeprevir) for treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection

Administration delays 2015 individual plan rate requirements

First Edition: November 22, 2013

Patient Safety Technologies announces closing of $5 million senior secured term loan

Health law opinions: Obama asks you to talk ACA at Thanksgiving; Rove says Dems views on success are 'delusional'

Vaccination campaign launched to prevent outbreaks of measles and polio in Philippines

High court's 'alarming' move on abortion; tragic attack in Virginia points to needs in mental health services; a better way to reduce hospital readmissions

HealthCare.gov: It's getting better all the time -- but system flaws, failures persist

EYLEA Injection gets approval in Japan for treatment of macular edema following CRVO

Research report focuses on the impact of real-time cost information within a primary care

State highlights: N.Y. hospitals scramble to sign uninsured up for care; N.C. lawmakers debate Medicaid; Ore. data questions immigrant 'burden' on Medicaid

Oregon health law insurance exchange never worked, officials questioned on problems

New Medicaid 'doughnut hole' creating some pressure on states, federal officials

Patients to have online access to their prescription data for improved safety

Electronic health records may be used to measure patient-centeredness of primary care practices

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