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Viewpoints: 'Implosion' of the ACA; Administration 'spin machine'; Republicans on 'search-and-destroy' mission

July 3 was the quiet afternoon that a deputy assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy announced in a blog post that the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate would be delayed one year. Something about the "complexity of the requirements." ... Even if you are a liberal and support the goals of the Affordable Care Act, there has to be an emerging sense that maybe the law's theorists missed a signal from life outside the castle walls. While they troweled brick after brick into a 2,000-page law, the rest of the world was reshaping itself into smaller, more nimble units whose defining metaphor is the 140-character Twitter message (Daniel Henninger, 7/10).

12 Jul 2013

State highlights: N.Y. expects $20M savings with psychiatric care overhaul; $4M settlement in Mich. over heart procedures

New York plans to overhaul its psychiatric services over the next four years by consolidating 24 inpatient hospitals into 15 regional centers and establishing two dozen outpatient hubs. The plan released to The Associated Press by the Office of Mental Health on Wednesday begins in 2014 and is expected to save $20 million the first year (7/10).

12 Jul 2013

Study: Health professionals find difficult to provide support to children of mental illness patients

A study in Norway has found that health professionals caring for people with mental illness have difficulty providing follow-up services to the children of these patients. The law in the country has changed to mandate follow-up care for children, and health professionals believe it is a good thing, but struggle to overcome organisational and professional barriers.

12 Jul 2013

House Republicans, Dems spar over employer mandate delay; Senate GOP petitioning president for 'permanent delay' of Obamacare

Encouraged by the administration's delay of the employer mandate provision by one year, Republicans were active on both sides of Capitol Hill Tuesday, renewing their calls for repeal.

12 Jul 2013

Semi-quantitative pregnancy tests: an interview with Dr. Paul Blumenthal, Stanford University School of Medicine

Regular pregnancy tests work a little bit like a simple light switch that you have on your wall. It’s either on or off. When it’s on, that means the test is positive; if it’s off, obviously, it’s negative.

12 Jul 2013

Louisiana Blue Cross: Insurance costs will drop for many under health law; other states cope with law's impact

The Miami Herald: Educating Florida About Health Care Reform Starts With Conversation Enroll America, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit whose mission is to educate Americans about their healthcare options under the Affordable Care Act, kicked off its Florida campaign Wednesday in Miami with a training session for more than 25 newly hired organizers who will be reaching out to residents statewide.

12 Jul 2013

CMS to settle payment fight over Gamma Knife

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a new rule that would effectively put to rest a provision inserted into last year's fiscal cliff bill by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) to help a U.S. company.

12 Jul 2013

Aflibercept drug shows minor added benefit for overall survival in colorectal cancer patients

The drug aflibercept (trade name: Zaltrap) has been approved in Germany since February 2013 in combination with a certain chemotherapy for adults with metastatic colorectal cancer in whom chemotherapy with oxaliplatin could not stop the disease from progressing.

12 Jul 2013

Studies find pediatrician slow to use interpreters when needed, fewer surgeries for doctors in training

Close to half of pediatricians do not use a professional interpreter when seeing patients and families with a limited understanding of English, according to a new study. ... Using family members is not recommended because they are more likely to make errors while translating or to withhold sensitive or painful information for emotional reasons, [Lisa DeCamp of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore] told Reuters Health by email (Doyle, 7/10).

12 Jul 2013

Weekend reading: Doctors who decide, death desires, and decisions

On the last week of April earlier this year, a small committee of doctors met quietly in a midsized ballroom at the Renaissance Hotel in Chicago. There was an anesthesiologist, an ophthalmologist, a radiologist, and so on - thirty-one in all, each representing their own medical specialty society, each a heavy hitter in his or her own field.

12 Jul 2013

Maryland's action may offer middle ground in debate over abortion clinic regulation

After woman was hurt during an abortion, the state tightened its oversight. Americans continue to hold complex views on the subject, even as lawmakers on Capitol Hill gear up for a possible Senate fight on a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

12 Jul 2013

Global recruitment drive to bring best cancer experts to Manchester now underway

A global recruitment drive to bring 20 of the world's best cancer experts and their teams to Manchester, in the United Kingdom, is now underway.

From The University of Manchester 12 Jul 2013

Unitedhealth sees shift toward outcome-based incentives, bundled payments

The nation's largest insurer predicts it will have $50 billion in accountable-care contracts with health care providers by 2017, up from $20 billion now.

12 Jul 2013

Comprehensive analysis of disease burden in US

In nearly every major cause of premature death - from ischemic heart disease to diabetes to interpersonal violence - the United States trails its economic peers, according to new research from a global collaborative of scientists led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

12 Jul 2013

Longer life for Americans, but obesity problem persists

Americans are living longer than they did 20 years ago, but they still lag other countries on life expectancy and the obesity rate, a new study has found.

12 Jul 2013

Community health centers get $150 million to help enroll people in new marketplaces

Community health centers across the country will share in $150 million in grants that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday will help them enroll up to 3.7 million Americans in the new marketplaces this fall. HHS on Wednesday announced that 1,200 centers will get at least $59,000 each, money available through the health care law (Bunis, 7/10).

12 Jul 2013

Analysis finds Obamacare opponents outspent supporters on ads by 5-1

Meanwhile, supporters are looking for innovative ways to attract young health people to join plans offered on the online marketplaces.

12 Jul 2013

UIC researchers help minority patients to manage their health with common blood thinner

Minority patients trying to self-manage their health with the blood-thinning drug warfarin face difficulties, and researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy are trying to help overcome them.

12 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 11, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations including reports from Capitol Hill about GOP efforts to repeal or delay the health law.

11 Jul 2013

Office nurses' role evolves in marketplace; Studies look at heart procedures

The Wall Street Journal examines how companies, facing higher insurance costs, are using office nurses to "nudge employees about long-term, expensive conditions." Meanwhile, heart studies probe where hospitals are building new angioplasty centers and how Medicare Advantage handles cardiac treatment.

11 Jul 2013

Health Care News and Research

Viewpoints: 'Implosion' of the ACA; Administration 'spin machine'; Republicans on 'search-and-destroy' mission

State highlights: N.Y. expects $20M savings with psychiatric care overhaul; $4M settlement in Mich. over heart procedures

Study: Health professionals find difficult to provide support to children of mental illness patients

House Republicans, Dems spar over employer mandate delay; Senate GOP petitioning president for 'permanent delay' of Obamacare

Semi-quantitative pregnancy tests: an interview with Dr. Paul Blumenthal, Stanford University School of Medicine

Louisiana Blue Cross: Insurance costs will drop for many under health law; other states cope with law's impact

CMS to settle payment fight over Gamma Knife

Aflibercept drug shows minor added benefit for overall survival in colorectal cancer patients

Studies find pediatrician slow to use interpreters when needed, fewer surgeries for doctors in training

Weekend reading: Doctors who decide, death desires, and decisions

Maryland's action may offer middle ground in debate over abortion clinic regulation

Global recruitment drive to bring best cancer experts to Manchester now underway

Unitedhealth sees shift toward outcome-based incentives, bundled payments

Comprehensive analysis of disease burden in US

Longer life for Americans, but obesity problem persists

Community health centers get $150 million to help enroll people in new marketplaces

Analysis finds Obamacare opponents outspent supporters on ads by 5-1

UIC researchers help minority patients to manage their health with common blood thinner

First Edition: July 11, 2013

Office nurses' role evolves in marketplace; Studies look at heart procedures

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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