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Medicare beneficiaries file class action suit over hospital 'observation status'

The lawsuit challenges Medicare's use of this practice, which classifies certain hospital patients as not having been formally admitted for billing purposes, even though they might have been in the hospital for days.

5 Nov 2011

ALFA hosts meeting for executives interested in advancing excellence in senior living

The Assisted Living Federation of America, today hosted a meeting of 140 executives interested in advancing excellence in senior living. The day-long event at National Harbor, Maryland offered executives briefings on topics shaping their businesses today and peer discussions groups to help find answers to some of the big shared questions on their minds.

5 Nov 2011

CLASS Act provision of health care reform depicts a practical but disappointing reality

The Obama Administration's recent decision not to implement the Community Living Assistance and Services Act provision of health care reform represents a practical but disappointing reality - voluntary enrollment in health and long-term care insurance programs is anything but a sure bet among Americans.

5 Nov 2011

Abbott wins 2011 Scrip Award for Corporate Social Responsibility

Scrip, a leading global pharmaceutical and biotech news organisation, honored Abbott and its philanthropic foundation, the Abbott Fund, with a 2011 Scrip Award for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Scrip's seventh annual awards ceremony in London on Thursday evening.

5 Nov 2011

MedPAC offers recommendations for changes to dual eligibles program

Medicare's advisory panel recommended several changes that aim to improve and expand a small program for some of the highest-cost beneficiaries in the program.

5 Nov 2011

Guardian profiles Anglo American CMO's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS

The Guardian profiles Brian Brink, chief medical officer at Anglo American, South Africa's largest private-sector employer, and the company's efforts to treat and prevent HIV among its employees.

5 Nov 2011

New IOM report examines health IT to improve patient safety

The federal government is investing billions of dollars to encourage hospitals and health care providers to adopt health information technology so that all Americans can benefit from the use of electronic health records by 2014. However, concerns about potential harm are emerging as providers increasingly rely on electronic medical records, secure patient portals, and other information technologies to deliver care.

5 Nov 2011

Great Point announces growth equity investment in Aris

Great Point Partners, LLC, a Greenwich-based private investment firm focused on the health care industry, today announced a growth equity investment in Aris Teleradiology.

5 Nov 2011

Gates delivers report to G20 leaders calling for increased development efforts

"In a report about financing for development delivered [Thursday] at the G20 summit, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, urged leaders to commit to increasing the pool of resources dedicated to development, or risk causing irreparable damage to the livelihoods of millions of the poorest people," a Gates Foundation press release states (11/3).

5 Nov 2011

Incorporating mental health into agenda to ensure access to services for all

In this Lancet editorial, Giuseppe Raviola, Anne Becker and Paul Farmer, professors with the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, write, "Unprecedented opportunities to promote excellence and equity in health care delivery for the world's most underserved populations are upon us," but "delivery of mental health services in low-resource settings lags unacceptably and unjustly far behind that of other services."

5 Nov 2011

Tackling global hunger through the empowerment of small-scale farmers

In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Rick Leach, president and CEO of World Food Program USA, examines the empowerment of small-scale farmers to become active participants in the global economy as a strategy to tackle world hunger.

5 Nov 2011

APF launches new online educational module on safe use of CAM

The American Pain Foundation (APF) announced the launch of a new online educational module focusing on safe use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as part of its PainSAFE initiative.

5 Nov 2011

New study shows that worksite health promotion may improve health benefits

A workplace program designed to teach employees to act more like consumers when they make health care decisions, for example, by finding and evaluating health information or choosing a benefit plan, also improved exercise, diet and other health habits, according to a new study in the latest issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

5 Nov 2011

State roundup: Puerto Rico settles disability battle with Feds

Puerto Rico has reached an agreement with the U.S. government ending a 12-year legal battle to improve the island's health system for the mentally disabled, local justice officials said Thursday. Federal officials had accused the U.S. territory of abusing and neglecting hundreds of mentally disabled people by not providing food, medication, adequate housing, therapy or mental health care.

5 Nov 2011

Angolan health officials on high alert after polio case confirmed

Health officials in the northern Angolan province of Uige are on high alert "after a 14-month-old boy tested positive for polio, which has made a resurgence in the country, UNICEF said Thursday," Agence France-Presse reports (11/3).

5 Nov 2011

Health Care REIT prices underwritten public offering of common stock

Health Care REIT, Inc. today announced the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 11,000,000 shares of common stock at $50.00 per share.

5 Nov 2011

Boehner sends signals on deficit deal

The speaker of the house said Thursday that there is room for revenue increases in a deficit-reduction deal as long as such proposals are accompanied by major changes in government benefit programs.

5 Nov 2011

AHRQ awarded $34M in fiscal year 2011 to expand fight against HAIs

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality announced that it has awarded $34 million in fiscal year 2011 for grants and contracts to hospitals, academic medical institutions, and health care research organizations to expand the fight against healthcare-associated infections.

5 Nov 2011

Health insurers predict they will pass on health law's new tax to consumers

A report financed by insurance trade group America's Health Insurance Plans predicts that premiums will increase by about 2 percent in 2014, and 3 to 4 percent by 2023.

5 Nov 2011

Majority of RN respondents report error disclosure in nursing home settings

Nurses have an obligation to disclose an error when one occurs. While errors should be avoided as much as possible, the reality is the health care delivery system is not and will never be perfect; errors and adverse events are an inevitable part of care.

5 Nov 2011