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Hospitals face penalties if they don't please patients

In the coming months, Medicare will start taking patient satisfaction into account when reimbursing hospitals.

9 Nov 2011

State roundup: Kansas Medicaid announcement; pilot projects for nursing homes, C-sections; Calif. marijuana clinics

Gov. Sam Brownback, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer and three Cabinet officials have scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Tuesday to describe details of their plan for making over the Kansas Medicaid program. ... The plan is expected to include a significant expansion of managed care.

9 Nov 2011

Many parents still place their infants in unsafe sleep settings

The nearly two-decades-long national "back to sleep" campaign that promotes infant safe sleep is credited with reducing the rate of sudden infant death syndrome in the United States.

8 Nov 2011

UC Santa Barbara's ImmuNet project focuses on targeted immunizations for infants, children

The University of California, Santa Barbara announced today that it will receive funding through Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that enables researchers worldwide to test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and development challenges. Professors Elizabeth Belding and Amr El Abbadi in the Computer Science Department will pursue an innovative global health research project, titled "ImmuNet: Targeted Immunizations for Infants and Children".

8 Nov 2011

Health Net expands Improving the Patient Experience toolkit

Health Net, Inc. has expanded its Improving the Patient Experience toolkit for its contracted providers in three new markets. Piloted first in California in 2010, the insurer now offers the toolkit in Arizona, Oregon and Washington.

8 Nov 2011

Comprehend Systems closes $1.2 million seed round funding

Driven by increasing demand from drug and medical device developers for cost-effective and user-friendly data analytics tools, Comprehend Systems, Inc. closed $1.2 million in seed round funding to support further development of Comprehend Clinical, its clinical data visualization and analytics software.

8 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 8, 2011

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including stories on malpractice reforms and previews of voting in Ohio on two ballot questions affecting health care issues and a Mississippi abortion issue.

8 Nov 2011

Two decades since Magic Johnson’s HIV announcement

It is 20 years since basket ball legend Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, now 52 years-old, retired from the Lakers basketball team while announcing his diagnosis of HIV, a virus that causes AIDS.

8 Nov 2011

Study to explore how people with disabilities can better access personal health records

Personal health records have been going electronic, and patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers are learning to navigate the new digital world of health information. Now three institutions are teaming up to discover how a large population—people with disabilities—can best access this information.

8 Nov 2011

UM launches campaign on medication adherence in Baltimore

Months before U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, came to Baltimore on Nov. 2 to officially launch the city's leg of a three-year national campaign to raise awareness about medication adherence, pharmacy students had already taken up the challenge, said Cherokee Layson-Wolf, PharmD, CGP, associate professor of pharmacy practice and science at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

8 Nov 2011

Medics fail to give patients crucial information about link between obesity and cancer

People who work in health care are failing to give patients crucial information about the link between obesity and cancer according to new research presented today at the National Cancer Research Institute Cancer Conference (NCRI) in Liverpool.

8 Nov 2011

CWRU to establish umbrella program for integrative oncology

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is honored to announce gifts to establish the inaugural Parker Hannifin - Helen Moss Cancer Research Foundation Professorship in Integrative Oncology. This professorship will establish the School of Medicine and its affiliate hospitals as national leaders in teaching, research, and patient care in the field of integrative oncology.

8 Nov 2011

QUBYX releases its medical display calibration software PerfectLum Version 3.

QUBYX has announced the official release of the new version 3 of its medical display calibration and verification software PerfectLum. The software is designed to improve imaging precision of medical monitors, used for X-Ray viewing, mammoghraphy, MRI and other radiology subindustries, and is based on such standards, as NEMA DICOM part 14 GSDF, AAPM TG18, DIN 6868-57, JESRA X-0093 and IEC 62563-1.

8 Nov 2011

Suggestions for making a difference in fighting hunger, food shortages

Kristi York Wooten, founder of SustenanceGroup.org and an advocate for fighting hunger and poverty, "canvassed a panel of colleagues and experts for thoughts on how corporations and governments and the rest of us can make a difference to ensure a sustainable future," and presents her findings in this post on the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

8 Nov 2011

Forbes cover story profiles Bill Gates, Foundation's work in global health

The November 21 cover story of Forbes magazine profiles Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has focused its global health efforts on vaccine development and distribution, according to the article.

8 Nov 2011

Teaching hospitals might provide better radical prostatectomy results

Prostate cancer patients who undergo radical prostatectomy get better results at teaching hospitals than at non-academic medical institutions, according to the findings of an international study led by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital.

8 Nov 2011

South Korea considering food assistance for North Korea, official says

"Signaling South Korea may be attempting to cool tensions with its neighbor, Seoul has vowed to actively review sending humanitarian aid to North Korea through third channels," CNN reports.

8 Nov 2011

Congress examines options to improve availability of prescription drugs

Shortages of prescription drugs are leaving a growing number of patients waiting for life-saving medicines. Federal officials say the number of prescriptions in short supply tripled from 2005 to 2010. Limited supplies of some drugs have sent prices soaring 1,000 times above normal.

8 Nov 2011

Private sector companies should contribute to GAVI Matching Fund

The GAVI Alliance has "announced a major new initiative aimed at engaging private sector leaders: the GAVI Matching Fund," through which "the British Government's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide a 100 percent match of contributions to GAVI from corporations and foundations as well as their customers, members and employees," Bill Roedy, former CEO of MTV Networks and a GAVI Alliance envoy, writes in a post on the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

8 Nov 2011

Commitment of USAID promises future R&D breakthroughs in global health

Since USAID launched 50 years ago, the agency "has had a rich history of supporting global health, including research and development (R&D)," Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) Director Kaitlin Christenson writes in the organization's "Breakthroughs" blog.

8 Nov 2011