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Administration says online insurance marketplaces will have robust competition

The new health care law is injecting more competition into health insurance markets nationwide, drawing additional insurance companies into states long dominated by a few carriers, Obama administration officials said Thursday. Such competition offers the prospect of more choices for millions of consumers who will be shopping for insurance this fall. Companies entering the market could also put downward pressure on prices, partly offsetting factors that tend to increase premiums (Pear, 5/30).

1 Jun 2013

First Edition: May 31, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports from the administration about the number of insurers that will be offering policies on the new online marketplaces.

31 May 2013

State highlights: Calif. counties stand to lose $2.5B as state shifts Medicaid costs; Odd bedfellows push for hospital payment equity in Mass.

California counties may lose as much as $2.5 billion in state funding over the next three years for indigent health care as the state assumes responsibility under the federal Affordable Care Act, Gov. Jerry Brown said. The most populous U.S. state plans to cut $300 million this year from counties as its [Medicaid] program expands, Brown told local officials yesterday in Sacramento. The governor projected that figure will grow to $900 million next year and $1.3 billion in the year beginning in July 2015 (Nash, 5/29).

31 May 2013

Raman spectroscopy algorithm has potential to diagnose breast lesions with high precision

A newly developed, single-step Raman spectroscopy algorithm has the potential to simultaneously detect microcalcifications and enable diagnosis of the associated breast lesions with high precision, according to data published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

31 May 2013

Viewpoints: Obamacare is already working; George W. Bush on 'personal responsibility'; Medicaid expansion and the mentally ill

The Affordable Care Act has been under siege since before it even had a name. Some on the right saw it as government overreach. Some on the left considered it better for insurance companies than for consumers. As many of the law's provisions take effect over the next year, we're hearing from both sides all over again. This time the theme is that the law is too complex. ... Read the discussion (5/29).

31 May 2013

Longer reads: How to choose a hospital; Empowered patients cost more; The 'war on sleep'

Hospital marketing has reached a frenzy. It is nearly impossible to drive around metropolitan areas in the U.S. without being barraged by billboards trumpeting hospitals' cutting-edge technology, luxurious facilities, or the lives of patients they have saved.

31 May 2013

Discovery opens doors to new therapies for sepsis

Despite numerous advances in treating infections and disease, effective treatments for sepsis remain elusive. A new discovery published in the June 2013 issue of The FASEB Journal not only could help health care providers predict who is more and less likely to develop sepsis, but it also opens the doors to new therapies that actually address the root cause of the problem, rather than just managing the symptoms.

31 May 2013

Medicaid expansion: Arizona foes look to voter referendum, brewing fight in N.H.

Meanwhile, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown seeks to expand Medi-Cal and New Hampshire lawmakers set up a fight over the expansion.

31 May 2013

NYC public health officials launch new program to locate lost to follow-up patients with HIV

Public health officials in New York City have launched a successful program to locate HIV-positive patients who have been "lost to follow-up" and reconnect them with treatment services, reports a study published in AIDS, official journal of the International AIDS Society.

31 May 2013

New rule allows employers to increase the use of wellness incentives

The final regulation gives businesses more leeway to tie workers' premium costs to efforts to get them to use more healthy behaviors, such as increasing exercise or quitting smoking.

31 May 2013

SLU assistant professor receives grant to identify policies that improve health of African-American men

An assistant professor at Saint Louis University's College for Public Health and Social Justice has received a $100,000, two-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to determine which behaviors and policies are most likely to improve the health of African-American men.

31 May 2013

Republicans double down on IRS role in carrying out health law

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is weighing in. Meanwhile, witnesses at an IRS hearing Wednesday questioned how the health law's individual mandate will be enforced.

31 May 2013

Using germ-killing soap, ointment reduces presence of MRSA in ICUs, study finds

Using germ-killing soap and ointment on all intensive-care unit patients can reduce bloodstream infections by up to 44 percent and significantly reduce the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in ICUs, according study results published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

31 May 2013

Immigrants help Medicare stay solvent, study finds

Immigrants to the U.S. contributed $115.2 billion more to Medicare's Hospital Trust Fund during the past decade than they withdrew, casting doubt on criticism they overburden the health plan for the elderly and disabled, according to a study by researchers from Harvard and the City University of New York.

31 May 2013

N.Y. hospital alleged to have pressured heiress for donations

For the last 20 years of her life, Huguette Clark, a wealthy and reclusive copper heiress, lived in a Manhattan hospital room, shades drawn, door closed.

31 May 2013

Billions of people across the globe suffer from major untreated dental problems

Billions of people across the globe are suffering from major untreated dental problems, according to a new report led by Professor Wagner Marcenes of Queen Mary, University of London, published in the Journal of Dental Research.

31 May 2013

Calif.'s Supreme Court considers whether school workers who are not nurses can administer insulin shots to children

The justices appear cool to the idea that only licensed nurses should be able to give the shots, despite arguments by the state nurses association.

31 May 2013

For family caregivers, Older Americans Act provides help

It's been nearly 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson signed the Older Americans Act in the White House Rose Garden.

31 May 2013

Innovative approach helps Virginia mount effective response to contaminated steroid crisis

An innovative "hybrid" surveillance strategy-highlighted by close cooperation between public health officials and clinical partners-helped Virginia mount an efficient and effective response to the ongoing outbreak of fungal meningitis and other infections, according to a report in the July/August issue of Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

31 May 2013

Competition, narrow networks key to exchange premiums

California Healthline reports that among the reasons for Covered California's lower-than-expected insurance rates are plans with narrow networks that exclude some of the state's best-known providers, while the Washington Post wonders how competition can work in New Hampshire's online marketplace where only one plan may sell policies.

31 May 2013

Health Care News and Research

Administration says online insurance marketplaces will have robust competition

First Edition: May 31, 2013

State highlights: Calif. counties stand to lose $2.5B as state shifts Medicaid costs; Odd bedfellows push for hospital payment equity in Mass.

Raman spectroscopy algorithm has potential to diagnose breast lesions with high precision

Viewpoints: Obamacare is already working; George W. Bush on 'personal responsibility'; Medicaid expansion and the mentally ill

Longer reads: How to choose a hospital; Empowered patients cost more; The 'war on sleep'

Discovery opens doors to new therapies for sepsis

Medicaid expansion: Arizona foes look to voter referendum, brewing fight in N.H.

NYC public health officials launch new program to locate lost to follow-up patients with HIV

New rule allows employers to increase the use of wellness incentives

SLU assistant professor receives grant to identify policies that improve health of African-American men

Republicans double down on IRS role in carrying out health law

Using germ-killing soap, ointment reduces presence of MRSA in ICUs, study finds

Immigrants help Medicare stay solvent, study finds

N.Y. hospital alleged to have pressured heiress for donations

Billions of people across the globe suffer from major untreated dental problems

Calif.'s Supreme Court considers whether school workers who are not nurses can administer insulin shots to children

For family caregivers, Older Americans Act provides help

Innovative approach helps Virginia mount effective response to contaminated steroid crisis

Competition, narrow networks key to exchange premiums

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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