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Viewpoints: 9 'brilliant legal minds' wrestle with tough biological questions in gene case; Drug overdoses take surprising toll in Calif.; VA case raises privacy questions

When the Supreme Court took up the question Monday of whether genes could be patented, the justices were clearly concerned about preserving innovation in medicine and biotechnology. But the issue presented by Myriad Genetics' patents on the BRCA genes cuts both ways, leading to a potential split among the justices (Jon Healey, 4/15).

17 Apr 2013

Rule on home health care workers causing rift between Medicaid directors, labor advocates

Directors of state Medicaid programs and disability rights groups are warring with labor advocates over a long-awaited federal regulation that would extend federal minimum wage and overtime pay to in-home health care workers.

17 Apr 2013

Roundup: Ariz. lawmakers revive vetoed health care price transparency bill; Big tobacco starts health care payments to states

The Arizona Senate voted Monday to revive the major provisions of a medical pricing transparency bill that was vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer just last week. Senate Bill 1115 by Republican Sen. Nancy Barto would have required health care providers to post prices for common medical procedures (Christie, 4/15).

17 Apr 2013

Panel expected to give Tavenner the nod, send nomination on to the full Senate

This week brings a full schedule as top federal health officials head for Capitol Hill to defend their 2014 budget requests.

17 Apr 2013

In Rhode Island, Blue Cross signals rate increase

Rhode Island Blue Cross, the state's largest insurer, indicated that it would increase its average rates for small businesses by 15 percent, according to filings released on Monday. In Georgia, the push for earlier renewal dates is billed as an effort to avoid "rate shock."

17 Apr 2013

With Bio-patch sensor, health care can be moved into home, researcher says

The future of health care could be found in a tiny, paper-thin skin patch that collects vital information. The Bio-patch sensor developed by researchers at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology is inexpensive, versatile and, best of all, comfortable to wear.

17 Apr 2013

Medicare auditors say millions could be saved by limiting advance payments to insurers

According to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the federal program prepays private insurers approximately 20 days before they pay their pharmacy bills but does not require them to return any of the interest earned during the time they hold that money.

17 Apr 2013

High court seems skeptical that biotech firm can patent human genes

Supreme Court justices seemed to express skepticism Monday that a biotech company can patent human genes isolated from the body that signal a greater likelihood of ovarian or breast cancer.

17 Apr 2013

Study compares clinical outcomes of routine screening mammography with and without CAD

A costly and widely used mammography add-on increases detection of noninvasive and early-stage invasive breast cancer but also makes more mistakes than mammography alone, researchers from UC Davis and the University of Washington have found.

17 Apr 2013

House panels kick off hearings on slowing Medicare, social security spending

Among the proposals that will be discussed and debated are increasing Medicare premiums for higher-income seniors and raising the program's eligibility age.

17 Apr 2013

Cardiovascular risk factors may be overlooked during survivorship care, research finds

Many people survive their cancers, but end up dying of cardiovascular disease. New research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center finds that CVD risk factors may be overlooked during survivorship care.

17 Apr 2013

Arkansas compromise on Medicaid expansion hits roadblock

The compromise, which was viewed as a model for other states, failed to garner the necessary 75 votes in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

17 Apr 2013

Abortion opponents use regulation as weapon against clinics instead of banning them

Abortion opponents have shifted their strategies away from pursuing outright bans to using regulations to hamper the availability of the procedure, Stateline reports. In Mississippi, a judge has stopped part of a state law that would have likely forced the closure of the state's only abortion clinic.

17 Apr 2013

Large numbers of ER visits go unreported in calculating hospital readmission rates

A study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University School of Medicine has found that nearly one quarter of patients may return to the emergency department within 30 days of being discharged from a hospitalization.

17 Apr 2013

New generation of innovative medical devices to be created by Curie-Cancer and Vygon partnership

Curie-Cancer, the body responsible for developing Institut Curie’s industry partnership activities and Vygon, a French family-run business that develops, produces and markets medical devices, including catheters and implantable ports for administering chemotherapy treatments, today announce their partnership to develop a new generation of innovative medical devices; mainly for use in chemotherapy. The partnership aims to introduce them to European, the US and Asian markets.

16 Apr 2013

Average annual incidence of sepsis varies depending on method used

Though the toll of sepsis is known to be enormous - it is estimated to cost the U.S. health care system $24.3 billion each year, and is the nation's third-leading killer, behind heart disease and cancer - the true magnitude of incidence of and death from the illness remains unknown.

16 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 16, 2013

Today's headlines include coverage of the Supreme Court oral arguments regarding whether patents should be granted for human genes.

16 Apr 2013

U.N. secretary general calls for renewed focus on MDGs as deadline nears

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday "rallied the United Nations community in a Call to Action, capping off a week of activities to spur accelerated progress in the 1,000 days to the end of 2015 -- the target date for achieving the eight anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," the U.N. News Centre reports (4/12).

16 Apr 2013

Reports of H7N9 cases, deaths continue from across China

"Two more people have died in China from a new strain of bird flu, raising the death toll from the virus to 13, state media reported Sunday," the Associated Press reports.

16 Apr 2013

USAID reform should be 'priority' for U.S. government

"The amount of good our nation has done for poor and hungry people around the world over the last 10 years is astounding," Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World; George Ingram, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; and former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a senior adviser at McLarty Associates, write in a Politico opinion piece.

16 Apr 2013

Health Care News and Research

Viewpoints: 9 'brilliant legal minds' wrestle with tough biological questions in gene case; Drug overdoses take surprising toll in Calif.; VA case raises privacy questions

Rule on home health care workers causing rift between Medicaid directors, labor advocates

Roundup: Ariz. lawmakers revive vetoed health care price transparency bill; Big tobacco starts health care payments to states

Panel expected to give Tavenner the nod, send nomination on to the full Senate

In Rhode Island, Blue Cross signals rate increase

With Bio-patch sensor, health care can be moved into home, researcher says

Medicare auditors say millions could be saved by limiting advance payments to insurers

High court seems skeptical that biotech firm can patent human genes

Study compares clinical outcomes of routine screening mammography with and without CAD

House panels kick off hearings on slowing Medicare, social security spending

Cardiovascular risk factors may be overlooked during survivorship care, research finds

Arkansas compromise on Medicaid expansion hits roadblock

Abortion opponents use regulation as weapon against clinics instead of banning them

Large numbers of ER visits go unreported in calculating hospital readmission rates

New generation of innovative medical devices to be created by Curie-Cancer and Vygon partnership

Average annual incidence of sepsis varies depending on method used

First Edition: April 16, 2013

U.N. secretary general calls for renewed focus on MDGs as deadline nears

Reports of H7N9 cases, deaths continue from across China

USAID reform should be 'priority' for U.S. government

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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