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Heart bracelet system could prevent cases of sports-related sudden death

The use of heart bracelets connected via ICT to a system of tracking and monitoring could prevent cases of sudden death in sports activities.

13 Jan 2012

ACO news: Cigna, Weill Cornell docs join forces; Pediatric ACO concept falls through the cracks

Yet even as the latest accountable care organization effort is announced, it appears that plans have stalled to create a Medicaid children's version of ACOs.

13 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Recession's effect on health spending; The flaws in raising Medicare eligibility age

Health care spending in the United States increased at the slowest rate in half a century in 2009 and 2010. ... That looks like good news after decades of soaring health care spending that outpaced economic growth. The hitch: the main factor was the recession that left millions of Americans unemployed, uninsured, short of income, and unable or unwilling to spend money on health care.

13 Jan 2012

India marking health achievement in polio-free year but cautious optimism remains among some experts

"On Friday, India marks a huge public health milestone -- a year since a case of polio was found in the country -- a critical step in being declared polio-free and an achievement that many experts long argued was impossible," the Globe and Mail reports.

13 Jan 2012

GC-Rise presents at J.P. Morgan's 30th annual Healthcare Conference

GC-Rise Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, in which European healthcare venture capital firm INVENTAGES holds a majority stake, has debuted at J.P. Morgan's 30th annual Healthcare Conference in the United States.

13 Jan 2012

NIH official discusses reaction to bird flu studies, development of publishing mechanism in Nature interview

Nature interviews Amy Patterson, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Science Policy, which administers the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), about the board's decision in December to advise against full publication of "two papers on avian flu (H5N1) that could pose a biosecurity risk if published in their entirety."

13 Jan 2012

Tips to optimize your health care budget this year

You can help lower your out-of-pocket health care costs by understanding what your health plan covers, what it does not cover and how to make the most of every dollar spent on health care and health insurance.

13 Jan 2012

International health groups ally to fight cholera in Haiti; Officials emphasize need for sanitation infrastructure

"Unless steps are taken to eliminate cholera from Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic, the disease will likely resurge and could even spread to other parts of the Caribbean, international health officials said Wednesday," CQ HealthBeat reports.

13 Jan 2012

Hospital lobbyists prepare push against doc-owned facilities; SGR 'dilemma' could play into efforts to pass a 'doc fix'

A provision to loosen restriction on physician-owned hospitals found its way into the December tax extension bill, making the national hospital lobby wary that it may be included in the House-Senate negotiations for a long-term compromise. Meanwhile, as always, efforts to repeal Medicare's SGR are complicated.

13 Jan 2012

Racial discrimination may impact your health and wellness

Racial discrimination may be harmful to your health, according to new research from Rice University sociologists Jenifer Bratter and Bridget Gorman.

12 Jan 2012

Sutter Health enters two-year contract agreement with Aetna

Aetna and Sutter Health today announced that they have reached agreement on a two-year contract renewal maintaining network access for Aetna members in Northern California.

12 Jan 2012

Roundup: SEC pursuing managed care execs in Fla.; Minn. emergency medical assistance program ends; Ore. lawmakers consider reforming medical liability laws

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is going after some former WellCare Health Plans executives in federal civil court regarding their alleged actions concerning WellCare's managed-care contracts for behavioral health in the state of Florida. In 2010, WellCare agreed to pay about $334 million to settle legal actions with various entities related to an alleged $40 million, five-year pattern of fraud in those contracts without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.

12 Jan 2012

Health Secretary stands firm on the issue of removal of faulty breast implants

Britain’s Health Secretary Andrew Lansley intends to take cosmetic industry companies that are refusing free operations to women wanting substandard breast implants removed to court. Lansley is ready to take action after the declaration of the Harley Medical Group that it will not pay for removal of the PIP implants that have triggered great anxiety in women in the UK and in France. Transform and the Hospital Group have also said that women will have to pay.

12 Jan 2012

U.N. poised to take on challenge of global health

"In just over two decades, global health has gained a political visibility and status that some authors have called a political revolution," Ilona Kickbusch, director of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, writes in a U.N. Chronicle opinion analysis.

12 Jan 2012

HRSA's Wakefield talks about ACOs and community health centers

Joining me today is Dr. Mary Wakefield, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). An agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, HRSA is committed to improving access to healthcare services for some of our nation's most vulnerable citizens.

12 Jan 2012

Reaching WHO PMTCT goal in Zimbabwe

Researchers in this PLoS Medicine article examine the efforts necessary to reach the WHO goal of reducing mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT) risk to less than five percent in Zimbabwe.

12 Jan 2012

National Biosecurity Board to review state of bird flu research

Federal officials have asked the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) "to review the state of the science looking at human transmission of deadly bird flu, says panel chief Paul Keim of Northern Arizona University," USA Today reports.

12 Jan 2012

Few New Hampshire GOP voters cite health care as top concern

Exit polls from Tuesday's New Hampshire primary found the economy to be the highest ranking issue among voters. Meanwhile, as campaigns move on to South Carolina, GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is set to run a new ad about rival Mitt Romney's abortion positions.

12 Jan 2012

As the nation's elderly population grows, so does concern for their care

They're weak, physically or mentally disabled or both, and often at the mercy of people they depend on the most: relatives and caretakers. They're the nation's fast-growing elderly population, and many are prime targets for abuse - physical, financial, sexual or emotional. Concern among the elderly and their advocates is mounting as the number of seniors soars and more of them live longer.

12 Jan 2012

States file briefs against health law's Medicaid expansion

In a brief filed Tuesday, the 26 states that are involved in a challenge to the health law argued the measure's Medicaid expansion is "unconstitutional coercion" and linked it to the individual mandate.

12 Jan 2012