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First Edition: August 27, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about Kevin Counihan, the person who take on the challenge of running healthcare.gov.

27 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: Check out those nursing home stars; Rove a 'bleeding heart liberal' on Medicare?

Medicare has devised a rating system for nursing homes that portrays many of them as much better than they really are.

27 Aug 2014

Who is exempt from health law's mandate to have insurance?

The Miami Herald looks at the religious groups that pool their money to pay medical expenses and whose members are therefore exempt from the law's requirement to carry insurance.

27 Aug 2014

Poor oral health can have negative impact on seniors' overall health

Research has shown that poor oral health can have a negative impact on seniors' overall health and well-being, but for many, there are significant barriers to visiting a dentist, finds a new report in the American Journal of Health Behavior.

27 Aug 2014

Report tallies funds committed to federal insurance exchange

The federal government has committed nearly $800 million to the project, according the Health and Human Services' inspector general.

27 Aug 2014

Americana announces strategic partnership with COMS Interactive

Americana Corporation is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with COMS Interactive, LLC (Clinical Outcomes Management Systems or COMS). The partnership supports an interface between Americana Corporation's AmeraCare products/services and the COMS Daylight IQ™ disease management software.

26 Aug 2014

State highlights: Calif. hospital accused of patient dumping; Wash. mental health changes

Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer has filed a lawsuit accusing Glendale Adventist Medical Center of dumping mentally ill and disabled homeless patients on L.A.'s skid row over the last four years. The six-page complaint, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, said the hospital improperly transported elderly and dependent patients to the downtown Los Angeles neighborhood, a 50-block area "known for extreme poverty, homelessness, rampant sale and use of illegal drugs and violent crime" (Holland, 8/22).

26 Aug 2014

Nursing homes can see improvements in quality of care with "culture change"

If a nursing home makes an extensive investment in "culture change" it will see improvements in quality of care, according to a new study led by Brown University gerontology researchers.

26 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: Spreading Ebola treatments; Dems can win running on health law

A radical but promising proposal to help treat victims of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa appears to be gaining support among knowledgeable experts.

26 Aug 2014

At home or in facilities, care for elderly changing rapidly

News outlets cover the reliability of nursing home ratings, the growth of home health care aides and the return of the house call.

26 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 25, 2014

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations include reports on Medicare ratings of nursing homes, the growing demand for home-health aides and accounts of the Obama administration's new contraception coverage rules.

25 Aug 2014

Sanofi, Regeneron present alirocumab Phase 3 trial results at ESC Congress 2014

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Sanofi today announced that details from four pivotal trials in the alirocumab ODYSSEY clinical program will be presented on Sunday, August 31, during a Hot Line session at ESC Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain, the world's largest cardiology meeting.

25 Aug 2014

State highlights: Only 1/3 chose Medicaid plan in Fla.; Calif. Prop 46 money

A selection of health policy stories from Florida, Oregon, California, New York, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Jersey.

25 Aug 2014

Seniors are less able to afford prescriptions, study finds

In its first few years, Medicare's Part D prescription drug program helped seniors pay for their medications, but that trend appears to be reversing, researchers found. Meanwhile, drugmakers fight over the rules for naming cheaper versions of biologic drugs.

23 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 22, 2014

Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews writes: "How much leeway do employers and insurers have in deciding whether they'll cover contraceptives without charge and in determining which methods make the cut? Not much, as it turns out, but that hasn't stopped some from trying. Kaiser Health News readers still write in regularly describing battles they're waging to get the birth control coverage they're entitled to" (Andrews, 8/22).

22 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: 'Raw judicial politics' on health law; Texas abortion trial; suicide and gender

The Affordable Care Act -- Obamacare -- has endured so many near-death experiences that digging into the details of still another effort to demolish it is admittedly not an inviting prospect. (My own reaction, I confess, to hearing some months back about the latest legal challenge -- this one aimed at the supposed effect of a single word in the 900-page statute -- was something along the lines of "wake me when it's over.") But stay with me, because this latest round, catapulted onto the Supreme Court's docket earlier this month by the same forces that brought us the failed Commerce Clause attack two years ago, opens a window on raw judicial politics so extreme that the saga so far would be funny if the potential consequences weren't so serious (Linda Greenhouse, 8/20).

22 Aug 2014

Longer looks: Falling teen birth rate; the right to pain relief; limiting access to Sovaldi

An infectious disease doctor at Tulane University, [MarkAlain] Dery treats people living with HIV in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the two largest cities in the southern state of Louisiana, which itself has the fourth-highest rate of HIV in the United States, just behind New York, Florida and Maryland.

22 Aug 2014