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State highlights: Mass. insurers back out of disabled adults experiment

Massachusetts health insurers' reluctance to join a national experiment to improve care for disabled lower-income adults has forced the state to scale back the program even before it starts. Massachusetts is among the first states to roll out the national program, but half the insurers that were expected to participate backed out because they feared losing money. That will mean fewer options for patients when enrollment opens for the voluntary "One Care" program in October (Conaboy, 7/29).

30 Jul 2013

Mississippi, Nevada Wrestle with the development of their health exchanges

In other state and local health law implementation news, the health law may prove key to Detroit's efforts to manuever its bankruptcy process. Also, opponents in many states focus on limiting what they see as "the long arm of Washington."

30 Jul 2013

Maryland regulators approve premium rates much lower than insurers sought

The Maryland insurance commissioner Therese M. Goldsmith approved premium increases Friday for nine insurance companies who applied to sell plans to individuals through a state exchange, which was established by the health law.

30 Jul 2013

Fewer doctors treating Medicare patients, CMS says

Amid payment rates and rules they dislike, more doctors are opting to not treat Medicare patients, say the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In the meantime, health care providers ready different models to change how Medicare pays doctors.

30 Jul 2013

Houston Methodist, Istanbul University Hospitals to collaborate on educational projects

Houston Methodist Global Health Care Services, the global subsidiary of Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, USA, and Istanbul University Hospitals - General Directorate in Istanbul, Turkey, have signed a collaboration agreement in the areas of education and training.

30 Jul 2013

FDA approves Rebiotix's IND application to begin RBX2660 Phase 2 study for recurrent CDI

Rebiotix Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the company's Investigational New Drug application to begin the Phase 2 clinical study of RBX2660 for the treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.

30 Jul 2013

Hepatitis C (HCV) testing for baby boomers: an interview with Dr. Donald Jensen, Director, Center for Liver Diseases, University of Chicago

The USPSTF agreed with the CDC that since most patients (75%) who are currently infected with hepatitis C were born between 1945 - 1965, and since risk-based screening has not been successful in identifying these individuals, that a one time age-based hepatitis C blood test was necessary.

29 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 29, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the White House's strategy for building support for the health law.

29 Jul 2013

Saudi and UK scientists provide detailed picture of MERS coronavirus

Saudi and UK scientists provide the most detailed picture yet of the clinical and laboratory characteristics of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, revealing a wide range of clinical symptoms and an extremely high death rate among patients with co-existing medical conditions.

29 Jul 2013

Low-income mothers who cannot afford diapers are likely to suffer mental stress

Many low-income mothers cannot afford an adequate supply of diapers and are likely to suffer mental stress that can harm their children, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.

29 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 26, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about an effort by some GOP lawmakers to force a showdown over health law funding.

26 Jul 2013

Leapfrog unveils new tool that allows purchasers to calculate money spent on medical errors

During a time of flux for U.S. health care, employers and purchasers are increasingly concerned about how much value they receive for their enormous investment in health care. In a presentation yesterday evening at the World Health Congress Innovative Drivers of Value Based Purchasing Seminar, Leah Binder, president and CEO of the employer-driven nonprofit The Leapfrog Group, unveiled a new tool that allows purchasers to calculate how much they spend annually on unnecessary costs due to medical errors that occur within general acute care hospitals.

26 Jul 2013

Viewpoints: Doctors' sway over Medicare pay; hospital rankings not all they seem; legal immigrants' health needs overlooked

Reporters Peter Whoriskey and Dan Keating have opened Post readers' eyes to the fact that Medicare pays for physician services - a $69.6 billion item in 2012 - according to an arcane and little-known price list, over which doctors themselves exercise considerable and less-than-totally-transparent influence (7/24).

26 Jul 2013

State highlights: D.C. to use cash reserves to pay Medicaid providers off; Texas, Planned Parenthood reach overbilling settlement; Veteran health centers at colleges

How do you spend $48 million in unbudgeted taxpayer money without getting an OK from elected lawmakers? In the District of Columbia, there's pretty much only one way, and that's the way Mayor Vincent C. Gray is proposing to settle a high-stakes dispute with D.C. Chartered Health Plan. Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro confirmed Wednesday that the plan is to pay the District's share of the settlement -- a little over $35 million, with federal Medicaid dollars accounting for the rest -- out of the city's contingency cash reserve (DeBonis, 7/24).

26 Jul 2013

Weekend reading: The mystery of some innovations that are slow to be accepted; myths about the obesity crisis

Why do some innovations spread so swiftly and others so slowly? Consider the very different trajectories of surgical anesthesia and antiseptics. ... On October 16, 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Morton administered his gas through an inhaler in the mouth of a young man undergoing the excision of a tumor in his jaw. ... By February, anesthesia had been used in almost all the capitals of Europe, and by June in most regions of the world.

26 Jul 2013

Health Care News and Research

State highlights: Mass. insurers back out of disabled adults experiment

Mississippi, Nevada Wrestle with the development of their health exchanges

Maryland regulators approve premium rates much lower than insurers sought

Fewer doctors treating Medicare patients, CMS says

Houston Methodist, Istanbul University Hospitals to collaborate on educational projects

FDA approves Rebiotix's IND application to begin RBX2660 Phase 2 study for recurrent CDI

Hepatitis C (HCV) testing for baby boomers: an interview with Dr. Donald Jensen, Director, Center for Liver Diseases, University of Chicago

First Edition: July 29, 2013

Saudi and UK scientists provide detailed picture of MERS coronavirus

Low-income mothers who cannot afford diapers are likely to suffer mental stress

First Edition: July 26, 2013

Leapfrog unveils new tool that allows purchasers to calculate money spent on medical errors

Viewpoints: Doctors' sway over Medicare pay; hospital rankings not all they seem; legal immigrants' health needs overlooked

State highlights: D.C. to use cash reserves to pay Medicaid providers off; Texas, Planned Parenthood reach overbilling settlement; Veteran health centers at colleges

Weekend reading: The mystery of some innovations that are slow to be accepted; myths about the obesity crisis

Crunch time in the countdown to health exchanges' opening day

Report shows almost 4 million Canadians struggle to afford food

Some warn of 'overwhelming' mental illness care cost without new research investment

GAO analysis: Health premiums vary widely

EGFR mutation testing dropped once funding from pharmaceutical industry discontinued

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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